Regular print version originally published in the U.S. by Macrae Smith.

"When Mark Destin arrived in La Cruz wearing a derby, he was taken for a tenderfoot dude. In a few hours, he had proved to that rough cow town that "tenderfoot" was not synonymous with "fool." He wore the clothes of a Bostonian, but his mind was as keen, his judgment of character as shrewd as any weather-beaten westerner's. Mark wanted to buy a ranch, and had been offered the Diamond D by A. B. Matoon, a land shark. He is considerably taken aback when young, pretty Janet Dunbar confronts him with the angry announcement that the Diamond D belongs to her and is not for sale. An unsuccessful holdup, the ransacking of his room, and an attempt on his life reveal that La Cruz is not a healthy place for Mark to be. He suspects that Matoon controls the town marshal and other shady characters in La Cruz, but he keeps up his pretense of being a gullible tenderfoot ready to do business with Matoon and Janet's devious stepbrother, Ray Wellerton - all in an attempt to help Janet, her ex-foreman Buck Salten, and her neighbors, the Bentons, outwit and outshoot their adversaries."--,Provided by publisher.