Book
Chenneville
First published 2023
Union lieutenant John Chenneville survives a severe head wound during the final months of the Civil War and spends nearly a year relearning how to walk, speak and remember. When he returns to Missouri, he discovers that his sister Lalie, her husband and their infant child have been murdered. Evidence points to Albert Dodd, a former deputy sheriff moving south towards Texas.
John follows Dodd through Arkansas, Indian Territory and Union-occupied Texas, aided by telegrapher Victoria Reavis while pursued by U.S. Marshal Giddens. The journey tests whether vengeance can be distinguished from justice in a region where official authority is fragmented and violence has outlasted the war. Telegraph lines, military government and frontier settlements form the network through which hunter and hunted close upon one another.
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