Old Mr. Benton had been murdered on his lonely ranch and there was only one suspect: the stranger who rode up in the downpour and sped off again before dawn. But looks can be deceiving and there were plenty of others acting suspiciously including Mrs. Zellar and Jack Montagne. Who had killed old Mr. Benton? The stranger, or Gus, or Mrs. Zellar? And why was Jack Montagnes behavior so gentlemanly? This is an old-fashioned Western mystery. Max Brand was one of many pseudonyms used by Frederick Schiller Faust (1892 1944), an American author known primarily for his thoughtful and literary Westerns.