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Saturday, August 3, 2013

Vengeance and virtue in "Stone and Silt"

In Stone and Silt, gentle John Wales is suspected of murdering a local thug, Matthew Doyle.

Matthew's older brother, Elias, isn't waiting around while the colony policy investigate. He swears to avenge his brother's death by wreaking havoc on the Wales family.

Nikaia Wales knows that she's responsible for putting her father into peril, and desperately tries to identify the murderer. Time is short: Elias Doyle is on the move, and the colony judge will soon arrive by sternwheeler to rule on her father's guilt or innocence.

Desperation is a powerful motivator, and I found that it was interesting to explore it in different ways in the writing of this book.

Elias Doyle is seething at the bloody death of his brother. While his tactics are violent, it's not hard to find sympathy for a man mourning a brother who just had his lungs shot through.

The colony police are motivated to lay the heavy hand of justice on murderers and ruffians in the raucous gold rush town of Fort Yale. Quick, severe action on their part is a powerful deterrent to troublemakers... even if that results in an innocent man being found guilty.

Kate Wales, John's native Indian wife, struggles to defend her husband's name while reassuring her two daughters that all will come out well.

And at the center of it all is Nikaia, a brooding 16-year-old who finds herself in the most desperate time of her life. With a noose tightening around her father's neck, she follows clue after clue through the Fraser Canyon and into the bawdy, seedy underbelly of Fort Yale.


Stone and Silt will be released on Amazon (e-book as well as paperback) and on other online sites on August 19th. Sign up for the newsletter to get word on a special discounted price that will be available on that day only!

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