The only hope of finding a US marshal who suspiciously vanished in the desert is rotting in a New Mexico jail!Because of reports of a potential range war in Peñasco County, New Mexico, US Commissioner Guilford dispatches Deputy US Marshal Ed Church to help clean up the mess. But after arriving in Agua Verde by stagecoach and renting a horse to ride to the troubled area, Church disappears. At the same time, two top men from rival ranching operations are found killed outside town the day after Church arrived in Agua Verde, apparently the deadly result of a shoot-out.Guilford knows that Ed Church’s best friend, Streak Mathiot, is currently sitting in the Pleasant City jail. Guilford visits and offers him the job of deputy US marshal to investigate Church’s disappearance. If Streak will accept it, the commissioner’s assignment will take precedence over any local charges against him, and the prisoner would be released into Guilford’s custody. Streak accepts Guilford’s offer to find his friend before it’s too late. But little does he know he’ll be dropped right in the middle of a fight that has already turned violent . . . and possibly deadly.Gunsmoke Masquerade finds Peter Dawson in top form, justifying his reputation as one of the most respected Western writers of all time.