Available on Amazon.com and from Elizabeth Gaucher:
Hayden Lowe may or may not have killed a man out west. No one seems to know why he’s back in River Town, though his friend, Lillian Conley, is keeping a private journal full of clues. Will Captain JD Dawson lose his beloved sternwheeler, the Miss Jayne Marie, in a winner-takes-all bet? Julia Hubbard has a secret project, Andrew Wilson is plotting on the dusty streets of River Town, and what about that strange Dame Roxalana? There is more to Roxie than anyone is willing to say. The men in the coal mines around River Town seem to be developing a mysterious condition that no one can explain, yet everyone is whispering about it.
Before all is said and done, each of these characters will intersect in unexpected ways. The resolutions are as suspenseful as they are satisfying.
River Town is a collection of short stories set in 1890s West Virginia. The combined work of six different authors, the tales range from adventure to romance, from intrigue to fantasy. Each story stands alone, yet together they take readers to a time along the Kanawha River just after the Civil War when families were still struggling to recover and before the railroad came through the mountains. The river was the center of everything.
Created by Eric Douglas, River Town features the work of Shawna Christos, G. Cameron Fuller, Elizabeth Gaucher, Katharine Herndon and Jane Siers Wright.
Gaucher’s contribution, They Hold Down the Dead, introduces a character she developed exclusively for River Town: Lillian Conley, the 16 year old daughter of a wealthy family living on the hill above the Kanawha River. Visit her blog for glimpses inside each of the six stories.
What follows is a witch hunt, a steamboat race, a love story, and a coal mine mystery. River Town is a great layered story and I hope that there’s a sequel written.
— Kristy F. Gillespie, YA novelist
Elizabeth Gaucher 