This historical novel is the result of many years of study into family history and American history of the period that is often called the Great Depression, but should also be called the Great Prohibition. Both of these national calamities collaborated to shape the lives depicted in the present work of historical fiction. It is inspired by the struggle of a real life family in northern Minnesota. It describes what they went through to survive in a country racked by poverty and moralistic values. "Moonshine, Murder and Mayhem's" climactic moment is described as follows: "As Katie stood up to face her jealous lover, she knew she had never seen him in such a state of rage and she began to wonder whether she could control the situation. "I told you many times, that if I caught you with another man, I would kill you!" Big Al said spitting out the words one at a time and emphasizing that final expression, kill you." The thirteen years that Prohibition held the country hostage to its morality has been called, a period of Mayhem. History has judged the country harshly over this curtailing of human rights. But while it was illegal to sell alcohol openly, moonshiners thrived and prospered. The story of the Shea family is a saga interwoven with the struggles over "White Lightning" and the ominous and pervasive poverty of the Depression. It takes place in northern Minnesota and finds its terrible peak on a cold March night in the year 1930. Katie Shea Gendreau, full of life at 33 years old, looses the struggle with Poverty and Prohibition. This is her story.
About the Author: Robert M. Johnson has published thirty novels to date and ten works of professional reflection in his field of Psychology and Mental Health. For the past twenty years he has been researching the information contained in this present work of Historical fiction. It blends together elements of personal history and creative insight. The Shea Saga that is portrayed in this work reflects the struggles that many Americans faced during the difficult era of the Prohibition and the Great Depression. Catherine Shea Gendreau was a survivor, someone who made the best of a life that was far from perfect. Her story, though emblematic of thousands of people who suffered through the troubling times between the two World Wars, deserves to be told. Her brothers and sisters and her parents display that which is greatest about America: when a family pulls together, they can overcome the seemingly impossible obstacles of culture and law. The author has done extensive study of this period of American history, but the story of Katie comes as much from the knowledge of family history as it does from the heart. When families face life as one unit, the combined force is extraordinary. Such is the story of Katie.