White desert: U.S. Marshal Page Murdock is a tough cynic—and the last man you’d want on your tail. Though Montana-based, Murdock pursues a vicious gang into a harsh northern Canadian winter. While trying to outwit and outmaneuver groups of aggressive foes, Murdock pushes his luck as he struggles to get his man—and to survive in the unfamiliar wilderness.

Port hazard: Page Murdock doesn’t know why someone wants him dead, but he knows where the hired killers are coming from. Thus begins Murdoch’s descent into a hell more decadent, corrupt, and dangerous than even he has ever seen—San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. With an unwilling backup man, Murdock takes up temporary residence among the whores, gamblers, dope addicts, and cutthroats of the continent’s foulest district. No man here is trustworthy. But perhaps the men who seem respectable are the most insidious of all.