Frontier Detective Digest Book: The Preacher's Bottle

The Taney County Trilogy is a gritty, pulp-noir saga set against the haunting hills and hidden hollows of 1930s-1940s Missouri, where the past is never truly buried. Across three interconnected mysteries-The Vigilante's Widow (1938), The Preacher's Bottle (1940), and The Drowned Ledger (1942)-private eye Frank Stryker and his loyal dog Bear uncover a legacy of violence, vengeance, and corruption spanning decades. From the ghost of the Bald Knobbers to poisoned sermons and a ledger drowned beneath the rising waters of a new dam, the trilogy peels back layers of Ozark justice and betrayal. Each installment stands alone, yet together they form a sweeping tale of blood, land, and the price of buried secrets-where the law is thin, and the truth runs as deep as the White River.