Fourth place, Western Fiction, Will Rogers Medallion Award, 2017.
Dunbar gets to the bottom of the mysterious death of a little boy many years earlier.
A stranger named Dunbar comes to Cantera and shows interest in the Frenchman’s Quarry and the death of the owner’s son twenty years earlier. Dunbar also asks about the town marshal and about Dolores Carreau, the Frenchman’s widow. Bodies begin to mount up—a young man who had asked questions about the boy’s death, the person who was sent to prison for the boy’s death, and then Dolores herself. Secrets that have lain silent for many years begin to come out, and it is Dunbar’s mission to pursue the perpetrator and bring him to justice.
“This book is an entertaining read. and although the pace is a little slow, the need to complete the book is compelling as the chase to capture the murderer begins to unfold. A surprisingly good mystery novel.” —Historical Novel Society
“Violent and smoothly paced, the book should appeal to western readers, for sure, but also to crime-fiction fans who like their mysteries in a historical setting.”—Booklist
“. . . this Western murder mystery . . . is part Agatha Christie, part Jack Schaefer, with a touch of Raymond Chandler and Owen Wister. And all John D. Nesbitt, who builds his story and tension slowly, focusing on all-too-human characters in an easy-to-read Western who-done it.”—Roundup Magazine
