Target: Tombstone

by John Culea

Tombstone, Arizona. 1882 was the height of its silver-mining fame and depths of its violent and bawdy shame; a town known as the “rottenest place you ever saw.” Endicott “Cotty” Peabody stepped off a stagecoach; a green, naive seminary student from Massachusetts who was entrusted with the spiritual well being of people as the new vicar for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Within minutes of his arrival, Cotty, who is a gifted baseball player and boxer, disarms a drunken Cowboy, but not before another passenger nearly has his head blown off. Tombstone, an historical novel follows for six months the adventures of Cotty as he encounters legendary characters that include Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and China Mary, the Asian super entrepreneur in the place later called “The Town Too Tough to Die”. Included in the novel is rogue frontier preacher Alex Davidson who sweet-talks Suzanne Daniels, a lovelorn postal clerk into tampering with the mail and helping him rig a massive sweepstakes. Sylvia Hernandez, just released from the Territorial Prison befriends Suzanne and adds intrigue to the story. In later years, Peabody was headmaster for future President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Groton School for Boys in Groton, Massachusetts and officiated at FDR’s marriage to Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as those of their children. Tombstone is John Culea’s fourth historical novel about Southwestern Arizona.

478 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 21, 2015