Dead Man's Hand

★ Selah Award Winner for Middle-Grade Fiction ★ First published by Zonderkidz

Nick Caden's vacation at Deadwood Canyon Ghost Town takes a deadly turn toward trouble when the fifteen-year-old finds himself trapped in a livery stable with the infamous outlaw Jesse James. The shooter whirls, aims, and... vanishes. Great theatrics, Nick thinks, except now he's alone in the hayloft with the bullet-riddled body of Billy the Kid-or so it seems. And by the time he returns with his parents and the sheriff, the body is gone!

No one believes Nick saw a real corpse. "This is an authentic Old West ghost town, son," Sheriff Wyatt Earp explains with a wink. "Around these parts, the dead don't stay dead."

Soon Nick is caught in a deadly chase-from an abandoned gold mine, through forbidden buffalo hunting grounds, and across Rattlesnake Gulch. Around every turn, he finds another suspect. Will Nick solve the mystery of Billy the Kid's missing body? Or will the Old West town's infatuation with Hollywood theatrics and desperate need for tourism income bury the truth forever?

This charming middle-grade mystery blends classic whodunits with Scooby-Doo, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew-style mystery adventures.