Luke Short is the pen name of Frederick Dilley Glidden (1908-1975), the bestselling, award-winning author of over fifty classic western novels and hundreds of short stories. Renowned for their action-packed story lines, multidimensional characters, and vibrant dialogue, Glidden's novels sold over thirty million copies. Ten of his novels, including Blood on the Moon, Coroner Creek, and Ramrod, were adapted for the screen. Glidden was the winner of a special Western Heritage Trustees Award and the Levi Strauss Golden Saddleman Award from the Western Writers of America.

Born in Kewanee, Illinois, Glidden graduated in 1930 from the University of Missouri where he studied journalism. After working for several newspapers, he became a trapper in Canada and, later, an archaeologist's assistant in New Mexico. His first story, "Six-Gun Lawyer," was published in Cowboy Stories magazine in 1935 under the name F. D. Glidden. At the suggestion of his publisher, he used the pseudonym Luke Short, not realizing it was the name of a real gunman and gambler who was a friend of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. In addition to his prolific writing career, Glidden worked for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He moved to Aspen, Colorado, in 1946, and became an active member of the Aspen Town Council, where he initiated the zoning laws that helped preserve the town.

When the postman sees the letter addressed to Dave Coyle, he knows trouble is coming to Yellow Jacket and guns will soon be blazing. Coyle's face is plastered all over town on Wanted posters offering $7,000, dead or alive, but there's not a man in the territory fast enough to take him on. As word spreads that Coyle is to return, every man in town grabs a gun. But that won't be nearly enough.

Coyle sneaks back under cover of darkness. He wears his guns, but he hasn't come to use them. He's here for Carol McFee, the only woman who ever saw any good in him and needs him desperately now. In a town where every man wants him dead, Coyle will do a good deed-or die trying.

One of legendary author Luke Short's most popular westerns, Hardcase delivers a pulse-pounding story that twists and turns, and a wide cast of vibrant characters, including the memorable Dave Coyle, who embodies the courage, toughness, and loyalty of American frontiersmen.