Book excerpt: Now in one volume, the complete Kansas Murder Trilogy. KING HARVEST In the summer of 1975 a group of young men known as “the boys” make their stab for freedom harvesting wild hemp, or marijuana, on the Kansas plains. Several are Vietnam vets, and all are somehow marked, at odds with their time. They see themselves as inheritors of the mythic West, like buffalo hunters in league with their captain, Frankie Sage. As long as they remain unarmed their crime is counted only a misdemeanor. But a rival gang led by Valentine LaReese is prone to gunplay. The two are fated to clash. Privy to the action is CC Holtz, “King of the county,” who like any king demands tribute. Early on a double murder on the border of two counties calls out both sheriffs. Their investigation and the free-spirited harvest run parallel till all trails converge, leading to a wry, dramatic climax. BANKS OF THE RIVER Jack Marshal, known as “the Lion,” is a prideful sinner and reckless womanizer. When his 15-year-old daughter, Bonny, winds up pregnant by an old running buddy, Jack is outraged. And when the man is found dead, Jack is charged with murder. Alongside the coming trial play the many goings-on in a small Kansas town, summer 1960. There’s Ruthie, Jack's sister and local femme fatale, who does what with whom and when she pleases; the old priest, Father Horabet, who harbors sins of his own; Anna, Jack's wife, who quietly sustains herself and her daughter through the storm of scandal; and Johnny, Jack’s son, who faces howls of scorn pitching in little league baseball. Finally the town gathers for Jack’s trial. Beyond the drama of guilt or innocence plays the question of how men and women grapple for meaning in their wary coexistence. For temptation like the sunrise returns each day, even as we imagine ourselves standing on the banks of the river, we are immersed, carried in a greater current. SKIN FOR SKIN Part mystery and part myth born of fact and rumor left buried in the Kansas dirt. The story opens with a murder as desperate as the voice that stirs from the dust in witness. This voice, or knowing, haunts a young man, Faris Clayton, who will play in events to come. Time and place, 1934, Elim, Kansas. The action involves six gamblers initially robbed and a seventh absent that fateful night who is killed through foolish mischance. And whose older brother vows vengeance. Amid the swirl of death two farm families, the Claytons and the Wales, struggle to survive the drought and depression. Faris knows the gamblers, the victim, and the widow. Guesses the why of things and carries the burden of his knowing. Vera Ellen Wales, or Elle, stands at a greater remove and innocence. Enters the story a girl of 14 and matures into a young woman of 16 when she and Faris finally meet and lace hands. Meanwhile in Elim, guilt and madness play to the final scene.