First published 1983
Sam Morrison boards a steamboat heading up the Missouri River with a simple assignment: cover the dedication ceremony for Fort Rawley. The newspaper reporter expects routine coverage of a frontier milestone. Instead, he encounters a passenger whose identity throws everything into question. This enigmatic stranger might be the legendary Rawley himself, the man for whom the fort is named. Or he could be someone else entirely. Sam's journalistic instincts kick in as he digs deeper into the mystery. His investigation reveals layers of lies and schemes built around the Rawley legend. The frontier hero's reputation begins to crumble under scrutiny. Sam discovers that distinguishing truth from elaborate fiction becomes a matter of survival. The past threatens to destroy everyone aboard as secrets surface. Sam must solve the puzzle of the mysterious passenger's true identity before old betrayals claim new victims.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, mystery, thriller, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: mystery, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Dakota Territory, United States
Period: Civil War, 1861-1865
279 pages · Hardcover · Holt Rinehart & Winston