B W Peterson

Galveston '44 B W Peterson

When Justice Dies, Revenge is Born. It's 1944, and Sheriff Sam Baker has his hands full enforcing the laws of the wide-open town of Galveston, TX, a.k.a. the Free State of Galveston. Tourists are drawn to the island not only by its white-sand beaches but its quasi legal casinos and cathouses. It's been a crushing year for Baker. His son was killed in Italy by artillery fire while fighting the Nazis. Because his remains have yet to be identified, Baker can't come to grips with his death. He drinks. He has become reckless. His wife of twenty-three years fears for his life, and has begun to distance herself from him. Early one morning a call from headquarters awakens him from a dead drunk...someone close to him has been brutally murdered. At the scene, Baker discovers a menacing skull-and-crossbones medallion in the victim's bloody hands. Beyond that, there is no evidence. No witnesses. No nothing. Baker snaps out of his fog of grief and hunts the killer with the intensity he had as a former heavyweight boxer stalking his opponent in the ring. But every promising lead turns into a dead end. The case grows cold, but not Baker's rage. After narrowly escaping an attempt on his life, he realizes that powerful forces are protecting the man he hunts. But why? Is he more than just a stone-cold killer? Those questions propel Baker into a trip wire world of treachery and barbarity beyond the brutal murder of a cherished friend. Hitch a ride now with Sam Baker into that razor's edge underground on his pulse-pounding quest for justice. "I hope that this is the beginning of many more novels by Bruce Peterson because Galveston '44 is such a great read, fast-paced and well-written." - Carolyn V. Hamilton, author of Magicide and Implosion.