Death in Emily 3 by Preston Holtry
Preston Holtry’s debut mystery novel, Death in Emily 3 (282 pages, Amazon paperback $13.95, Kindle $5.99; Moonshine Cove Publishing) introduces Morgan Westphal, former Rough Rider, town sheriff, and now a private investigator. The novel’s setting is the mining town of Adobe Wells, Arizona in 1915 during a time of violent conflict between mine owners and mining unions.
When Morgan Westphal receives a telegram informing him Frank Shaw, his volatile younger half-brother, has been jailed for murder in Adobe Wells and needs help, he thinks Frank just might be guilty. Against his better judgment, Morgan goes to Adobe Wells and finds his brother accused of killing Phillip Hardesty in Tunnel 3 of the Emily Mine. Morgan questions whether the mangled body of the murdered man in the town morgue is even Hardesty. By the time Morgan discovers who was killed in Tunnel 3 and why, he will risk his life in the Emily Mine, become embroiled in a turbulent labor strike, and have a deadly confrontation with a sadistic deputy marshal.
Emily is the first in a four-book series of Westphal mysteries. Volume 2, A Troublesome Affair, is scheduled for publication by Moonshine Cove in the spring of 2014. http/presholtry.webs.com
