Blood Moon: A Tale of the Old West

by Chip Bell

The year is 1888. The mines have flooded. Silver prices are falling and Tombstone, Arizona Territory, is bleeding its population.

The Earps and their supporters have long fled the Territory . . . the “Vendetta Ride” ending in flight to Colorado and beyond.

Many will have a place in the history of the Old West, but one, Sherman McMaster, a minor participant in the feud between the Earps and the Cowboys, has returned to Tombstone as a Deputy U.S. Marshall for the Arizona Territory.

Having mixed feelings about his past, being unsure of his place in present events, and facing a frightening and disabling disease, he is far from convinced that he will have a positive remembrance relative to the events he was part of and sees his return as a chance to prove himself worthy and be remembered for the good he accomplished.

Strange cosmic forces seem to be driving him to a final reckoning with evil, but the participants in that reckoning are far beyond what he has been expecting, and his effort to do good may only confirm his anonymity in a story of “The Town Too Tough To Die.”

124 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2026

About the author

Charles L. "Chip" Bell, Jr., lives in the City of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Linda, is the father of two daughters, Jennifer and Jessica, and is a practicing attorney specializing in personal injury litigation, with his main office in Arnold, Pennsylvania.

Born on February 23, 1950, in Harrison Township, Pennsylvania, he grew up in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Tarentum High School in 1968, attended Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, from 1968 to 1972, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude. He served in the United States Army from 1972 to 1974, attended Duquesne University School of Law from 1975 to 1979, and graduated Cum Laude. He practiced law as a personal injury trial attorney with the law firm of Rosenberg, Sewak, Pizzi and Bell from 1979 to 2002, and thereafter as a sole practitioner up to and including the present date.

He is a member of the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) and the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (formerly the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association) and has served on the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association from 1988 to 1990. He is also a member of the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and served on the Board of Governors in 1988. He is a founder and past president of the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Southwestern Pennsylvania, a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and certified in Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

He is the author of the Jake Sullivan series of novels, the first of which, Come Monday, was published in June of 2011, and the second, Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season, in October 2011. His third novel, Havana Daydreamin', was released in April 2012. His fourth novel, A Pirate Looks at Forty.has just been published as of June 2, 2014.