Jim Cummings

Behind nailed shutters in a Chicago back room, Jim Cummings writes the same name again and again until the forgery is perfect. “There’s the key that will unlock a little mint for us,” he says.

It is October 1886, and three conspirators are preparing to rob the Adams Express Company. Forged letters are meant to win Jim a place in the express car, where a safe carries the promise of $100,000. To strangers, he looks like a jovial man with ordinary appetites; at the table, he is cool, cunning, and ready to threaten anyone who hesitates. His partner Roe will join the plan—but draws a hard line at bloodshed. Can a paper pass, a speeding train, and a risky scheme deliver the fortune without turning the robbery into something worse?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.