CHICAGO-THE GEM OF THE PRAIRIE-EARLY AUTUMN, 1871 The city was alive. Raw materials and finished goods moved as fast as the new railroads and lake schooners could carry them. Wisconsin white pine lumber was big business in a city composed of thousands of wooden structures connected by wooden sidewalks and wooden-block streets. Competition was fierce, ruthless, and deadly. An Eau Claire lumberman is killed in his hotel room and a competitor, Arlyn Rygg, from Green Bay, must work with the police to find the real killer in order to exonerate himself. His inquiries draw him into a maelstrom of intrigue and deception. Ultimately he races through the Great Fire and learns more than he ever wanted to know. Praise for Natural Drift, a contemporary Western action mystery pinning a Montana County Sheriff against a rogue U.S. Marshall. "I am writing to let you know how much I enjoyed your novel, Natural Drift. I found it to be a very good read with a realistic plot and well developed characters. I honestly could not put it down once I started it." -Sheriff Thomas Rieger, Carbon County, Montana