Does the "Lady of the Lake," a large grey stone whose lower half resembles a woman's body, hold the key to who murdered two Washoe Indian men up at Lake Tahoe? W.W. Ronin, an ex-Episcopal priest turned bounty hunter, is about to find out. With help from his Washoe shaman friend, Happy Hands -- interpreter of dreams, earth-bound spiritualist and stranger to the white man's rituals -- Ronin is easing closer to an answer as the pair meanders up and down the Carson Valley in 1880s Nevada. It will take a plethora of people, including Emma Naumann, guardian of children at the local Christian mission ... his best buddy and occasional partner in crime Deputy Marcus T. "Dustsucker" Slade ... and the contrary but capable U.S. Marshal Augustus Ash ... to form an unlikely posse good enough to unravel the mystery. As Ronin's continuing adventures find him engaged in more gun battles and heartaches than any aging but still formidable former reverend ought to endure, he begins to discover what makes his own life shimmer even as he pursues the desperadoes who took the lives of the Indians at the lake. The second in the W. W. Ronin series of Westerns, by Gregg Edwards Townsley's: "Real people. Real places. The way the West was really won."
About the Author: I lived in Nevada for ten years, from 1983 until 1994 and, living there, enjoyed exploring the American west. Growing up in Philadelphia and watching Westerns, as a lot of folks my age did, it was awesome seeing the actual movie locations for films like The Shootist (one of my favorite John Wayne films, shot, in part, in Carson City) and the popular TV series Bonanza (filmed at Lake Tahoe and elsewhere, and basing a lot of its storyline in Virginia City). I was the Senior Pastor and Head of Staff of the First Presbyterian Church in Carson City during those years, "the oldest church in Nevada." Though not a churchgoer, Mark Twain attended there on at least one location, though the evidence argues he didn't enjoy the experience. My leadership in the church encouraged an interest in the state's historical discussions and, at times, gave me access to a wonderful set of characters state-wide: a county sheriff, for instance, who ended a high school graduation party by shooting holes in the kids' beer kegs, as well as the daily drama offered by a couple of the state's governors, a variety of state senators and assemblymen and women. I like to think my background as a former pastor--I hold a M. Div, a D. Min, and a second but unfinished doctorate in counseling and educational psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno--as well as my experience as a martial arts teacher and cowboy quick draw enthusiast situates me well for writing historical fiction. I get the flow between the details of an event and an event's significance, and am most fascinated by the effect real events have on the interior life of my characters. But the fact is, writing these books in the W. W. Ronin serious is a simple joy. I sit in a chair until ideas come to me and, listening to them, try to be an honest and accurate scribe.