Justice at Redwillow

by John D. Nesbitt

Overview

Jim Fontaine wants to get a new start in life by settling on his own piece of land near the town of Redwillow. He isn't there very long, though, when a saloon girl named Emma turns up dead and a friend of his, Charley Drake, gets thrown in jail for the murder.

Nora Winterborne, who is new in town, confides to Fontaine that she is interested in the case because Emma was her sister, but she has to keep quiet. Fontaine also learns of the disappearance of a woman named Judith Deaver and is faced with a trespasser who seems to be looking for something on his homestead. Fontaine has to follow a trail of twisted stories, old crimes, and new murders to help bring about justice at Redwillow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781410485441
Publisher:	Gale Group
Publication date:	01/06/2016
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John D. Nesbitt lives in the plains country of Wyoming, where he is Professor of English and Spanish at Eastern Wyoming College. He writes western, contemporary, mystery, and retro/noir fiction as well as nonfiction, poetry, and song lyrics. He has had more than forty books published. John has won many awards for his work, including three awards from the Wyoming State Historical Society (for fiction), two awards from Wyoming Writers for encouragement of other writers and service to the organization, two Wyoming Arts Council literary fellowships (one for fiction, one for nonfiction), one Western Fictioneers Peacemaker Award, four Peacemaker Finalist Awards, five Will Rogers Medallion Awards, four Spur Awards from Western Writers of America, and two Spur Finalist Awards. His recent books include Good Water and Castle Butte. See his website at www.johndnesbitt.com.

Editorial Reviews

2015-06-15
A Wyoming homesteader finds his newly acquired quarter-section of land the center of unwanted and suspicious attention. Ben Spoonhammer, the old partner who sold Jim Fontaine his 160 acres, held the title to the parcel free and clear, and there's no legal reason why Fontaine shouldn't take possession of the little spread and live there peacefully. But Fred Barrett and George Call, a pair of hands from the much bigger Rocking B ranch, seem all too interested in his doings, both before and after they hire him to work alongside them rounding up stray cattle nobody can find and nobody seems very worried about. So does Gus Aldredge, owner of the Rocking B, who makes no bones about his desire to buy Fontaine's place even before he's settled in. The murder of Emma Porthouse, whose sweetheart, Charley Drake, is promptly jailed for the crime, provides more questions than answers. So does the arrival of Emma's sister, Nora Winterborne, who takes a waitress job while she gets Fontaine to nose further into Emma's death. The key to the mystery, it seems, is the late Judith Deaver, a working girl who was killed when she attempted to blackmail the man who'd strangled a friend of hers. But where has Judith been buried, and what does her murderer have to fear from her body's discovery? Despite the high body count—half the cast will be dead by the last sunset—Nesbitt (Don't Be a Stranger, 2015, etc.) as usual keeps things relaxed and neighborly, even though Fontaine's neighbors aren't the kind you'd want yourself.

Kirkus Reviews