"Robert Conley spins a fast-action tall tale salted with Western humor."—Elmer Kelton, author of The Time It Never Rained Half Cherokee and Civil War veteran Captain Skylar Garret returns to the home of Phillip Garret his white father, seeking an inheritance that he believes to have belonged to his late mother. Intertwined now into the lives of his three half brothers—one a vocal atheist, one an aspiring minister, and the other a black slave boy who Phillip Garret doesn't claim—Skylar finds himself in more than a quarrel for money, but also in the middle of a love triangle with his own father, and ultimately on trial for patricide. Will Skylar Garret be the next hanging from Judge Parker's court? PRAISE FOR ROBERT J. CONLEY "Conley speaks with a clear Cherokee Indian voice to show how his tribe's cultural characteristics have survived centuries of abrupt change."—The Cherokee Advocate "...his prose and analyses, effortlessly blending indigenous and local knowledge with the larger Western cultural canon, have undeniable charm and enduring value."—Publishers Weekly "[Robert Conley is] in the ranks of N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, James Welch or W. P. Kinsella as interpreters of the many facets of the Native American experience." —Fort Worth Star-Telegram "No one weaves a tribal story quite like Robert Conley. Conley's books are entertaining, colorful, and chock-full of tribal history and culture."—Wilma R Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation "Robert Conley is one of the most underrated and overlooked writers of our time, as well as the most skilled."—Don Coldsmith, author of Moon of Madness