Lucy Lied

In Monterey, California of the late 1870’s religious tent camp meetings are held cheek by jowl with lynchings. At this intersection of the righteous and the profane, a triangle evolves linking Doctor Jason Garrett, would-be healer accustomed to putting the truth through a contortion or two, the mute Lucy Strang, and gunman Matt Clancy, eviction agent who forces settlers off railroad land yet stalwartly defends Chinese immigrants.

Under suspicion for the murder of her brutish common-law husband, Lucy is saved from the noose when Garrett falsifies medical testimony at trial. He plans to marry the maligned redhead and cure her muteness. But it’s whispered that Lucy has been dallying with the reviled Clancy. The fabric of love begins to fray.

LUCY LIED has received early praise from Will Howarth, coauthor (writing as Dana Hand) of DEEP CREEK who comments, “The characters are set up strongly and swiftly, and the plot is hard to beat!”

Through a story of deceit and desire, the novel explores nineteenth-century women’s health issues, anti-Chinese political rhetoric, conflict between grangers and the Southern Pacific Railroad, and vigilante justice.

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