Buttermilk Junction

Jim Hickory, fresh out of San Quinton after a hitch for manslaughter, is riding his thumb cross country to escape California and his past. A ride with Waldo Peppersmith ends in a secluded valley, Buttermilk Junction, where Jim discovers he is a ringer for the Peppersmiths’ dead son. Enter Delightful Foster and romance blossoms. Greed begets murder and murder begets revenge when coal is discovered under Buttermilk Junction. Lust and blackmail quickly follow, complicating the plot. Jim finds his safety threatened along with the lives, property and freedom of his new friends. Jim and Delightful join the search for the murderer, only to have fresh answers birth new questions. Suspects are murdered, creating a fresh list of suspects. Who is the killer â€" the mine owner, the company doctor, the mine foreman, the judge, the sheriff? Or could someone else be guilty?