After two slayings rock the small Pennsylvania town of Adamant, its young sheriff launches an investigation, leading him deep into a ring of counterfeiters in the bustling streets of the Iron City of Pittsburgh. The Shadow of Desire is the most ambitious novel in the Gideon Stoltz series to date.
In 1838, with the nation mired in a financial panic?banks fail, industries lay off workers, and hard cash vanishes into private hoards?people are facing starvation and crime is, inevitably, on the rise. A murder in the small town of Adamant, Pennsylvania launches Gideon Stoltz, a young sheriff, into the investigation. Gideon and his young friend Otis Johnson?who escaped from slavery the year before?leave Adamant behind to track the killer west to the bustling Iron City of Pittsburgh. There, Gideon must risk his life contending with a ruthless gang involved in extortion, prostitution, and counterfeiting.
The Shadow of Desire illuminates a largely forgotten chapter in American history, presented as an exhilarating and detailed crime novel that is the best of the series to date.
