Dead to Rights: A Novel: Based on a True Story

On the Fourth of July, 1915, Red Forquer is gunned down in his own barn, shot three times with a long rifle while unarmed. He is ambushed by a murderer lying in wait, but by whom, and why? His murder remains unsolved to this day. William Haldane Red Forquer lives in Winnemucca, Nevada. He owns the Combination Bar, a large and prosperous brothel in a small town bursting with miners, ranchers, and construction workers. Red, a former lawman, is the town bully, quick to anger and slow to forgive. Red marries his wife, Jo, in 1913 and they live and work together, running the saloon and brothel that is the Combination. He abuses Jo regularly, driving her to offer a public plea for someone—anyone—to kill her husband and free her from her perilous circumstance. In short order, Red is dead in the barn. There are plenty of suspects aside from Jo. Is a member of the local Chinese Tong to blame, for Red certainly crosses them? Is it one of the local townsmen Red attacks and beats in public? Is it one of the wealthy businessmen Red blackmails? Or is it, in fact, his wife and a hired gunman?