Dead Broke, Colorado

The town got its unusual name when a pair of brokedown prospectors accidentally dropped a stick of dynamite in the Rockies-and unearthed a massive vein of silver. One of the two men dropped dead from excitement. The other one named the place "Dead Broke" in honor of his dead broke companion and declared himself mayor of a brand-new mining town. Mayor Allane Auchenleck-better known as Nugget-put Dead Broke on the map. But when the silver market takes an unexpected nosedive, the bustling boomtown goes bust. And all hell breaks loose. Almost overnight, Dead Broke turns into a lawless hotbed of angry out-of-work miners and out-for-blood merchants. In desperation, Mayor Nugget considers a few hairbrained schemes like bringing in mail-order brides, building ice castles to attract tourists, even planting other minerals in the mines to fool investors. But Dead Broke needs law and order, so Nugget sends for top gun Mick MacMicking. Of course, a notorious gambler named Connor Boyle has other plans-and with his band of hired guns he plans to blow Dead Broke off the map to get what he wants. For this town to survive, Nugget, Mick, a drunken lawman, and a woman gambler will have to put the dead back in Dead Broke . . . and some cool-hand killers in the ground.

Welcome back to Dead Broke, Colorado. Where the latest discovery-a giant boulder of zinc-ignites a kill-crazy war that rocks the Rockies to their core. Ever since the silver market crashed, the mining town of Dead Broke has been awfully quiet. The local marshal-legendary gunman Duncan "Mick" MacMicking-doesn't have much to do besides outshoot the occasional greenhorn looking to challenge him. But all this peace and quiet is about to end. Mayor Nugget has unearthed a mineral to rival his famous "Hope Diamond of Silver." He calls it the "Zinc of Zion," a 1,776-pound boulder of pure zinc carbonate. And when he announces his discovery, the quiet boomtown of Dead Broke goes boom-again-with a vengeance. First, a mining expert from Germany shows up-with his eyes on the prize. Then, a reporter from Baltimore arrives-and ends up dead in one of the mines. It doesn't take long for the town marshal and mayor to realize they've got a full-blown zinc war on their hands. Fueled by greed-and backed by gunpower-the German's business proposition turns into a hostile takeover. And then the German himself turns out to be a notorious outlaw with a long history of stealing whatever-and killing whoever-he wants. There's just one thing stopping him from painting the whole town red: a gunfighting legend who happens to be the town marshal they call Mick.