Absolution's Curse

Decades of scams litter Frank's past, but an impromptu return home brings a chance to start an honest life, setting into motion an adventure with stakes no ex-riverboat gambler should accept.

The son of a con man, Frank follows his late father's footsteps, ignoring childhood instructions to lead an honorable life. Time has finally arrived to put old debts to rest, but when the bodies of those he pledged to protect lay at his feet and a mysterious Indian elder uses his final breath to pass on an ancient burden, all hope for honor is ruined.

Frank is faced with the prospect of carrying his sins into a new century, unaged and unforgiven.

ABSOLUTION'S CURSE is a march across country and time from the near destruction of St. Louis in the riverfront fire of 1849, through the desert southwest, into San Francisco at the height of the California Gold Rush.