The Devil's Dime

New York City 1896

The tattered blue folder that was handed to Jess Pepper his first week on the job bulged with reports of violent crimes against women. Lovely, dark-haired women, caught alone after dark on streets New Yorkers thought of as safe. They were brutal crimes, by a fellow who was never caught, because each time, just as the young woman felt certain she drew her last breath, a man stepped from the shadows. And saved her. Now, twenty years later, the crudely lettered words penciled on the folder's cover grabbed Jess and wouldn't let go. The Samaritan Files. Twenty women had survived those crimes two decades ago, because of one good man. One good Samaritan. Who was he? And why hadn't the city thanked him?

Chief Deacon Trumbull relished the lavish life he lived, a life of wealth and status far beyond what his salary and station should have garnered him. He wore only the best, smoked only the best, kept only the best in his well-stocked private bar, all paid for by years on "the take", years living on the devil's dime. He was not about to let an upstart investigative reporter at the New York Times threaten his lucrative empire. That would not happen. Not while Deacon Trumbull drew breath. Not as long as he could find that blasted Samaritan first. And make him disappear once and for all.

Addie Magee found a great deal more than she anticipated when she brought her violin to New York City. She found a group of young women ready to follow her lead into a promising career as the Avalon Strings. She found the father she hadn't seen for sixteen years. And the young man to whom she was losing her heart threatened to ruin it all.

Now Addie is abducted, her father is about to be executed, and an evil man's vengeance is unleashed, all because of Jess's reporting. 

And only Jess can save them.