In Defense of Delia

"1838: Four years after the events in Wishing Caswell Dead. Delia Pritchard gets a chilly reception when she returns to Sangamon, Illinois after a thirteen-year absence. She's riding a Palouse stallion, is dressed like a man, has a bullet in her shoulder, and leads a horse with a seven-year-old black boy astride.

Some think Delia left at the age of sixteen because she killed her parents and set fire to their cabin with the bodies inside. It is also rumored that Delia runs with outlaws and that she shot a lawman.

When Doc Hemmer insists Delia and the boy remain in Sangamon while she recuperates from surgery, he doesn't realize a vicious gang known as the Biedler brothers is on her trail. Preacher John Claymore, also unaware of the danger, wants to meet Doc's patient with the beautiful eyes.

Farmer Annie Gray kills one of the Biedlers and triggers a violent response from the gang. Delia knows the brothers will be relentless. She brought this disaster down on the town and its residents. Can she save them all?

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