The Hanging of Samuel Ash
by Sheldon Russell

Railroad bull Hook Runyon and his dog, Mixer, are chasing persistent pickpockets on the Santa Fe line, when Hook is called to investigate a malfunctioning wigwag signal in the middle of nowhere. A young man has been strung up there, hung from the signal, and left strangled to death. Hook finds no identification on the body, other than a bronze hero’s medal around the corpse’s neck, with the name Samuel Ash engraved on it. Refusing to bury what seems to be a World War II hero in a pauper’s grave, Hook vows to find the dead boy’s family, as well as his killer.

With the casket in tow, and slowed down by an over-educated sidekick, Junior Monroe, and a stream of new tasks from the head of division, Hook finally finds his way to Carmen, Oklahoma. But no one there has ever heard of anyone named Samuel Ash. There are secrets in Carmen, most of them associated with the local orphanage and its disliked director, and Hook is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of the hanging of Samuel Ash.

Vivid characterizations, searing descriptions, and a twisty plot make Sheldon Russell’s The Hanging of Samuel Ash a gripping read.

Other Books by Sheldon Russell

Time and Again

The Bridge Troll Murders
A Hook Runyon Mystery Book 5

The Dig
In Search of Coronado's Treasure

Dead Man's Tunnel
A Hook Runyon Mystery Book 3

The Insane Train
A Hook Runyon Mystery Book 2

The Yard Dog
A Hook Runyon Mystery Book 1

Sheldon Russell's Bio

Dr. Russell published his first novel, Empire, in 1993 with Evans Publications, Inc. He followed that suspense novel with two historic frontier titles—The Savage Trail (Pinnacle Books, 1993) and Requiem at Dawn (Pinnacle Books, 2000). Requiem at Dawn was a finalist for Best Original Paperback in the 2001 Western Writers of America, Inc., Spur Awards competition.

In 2006, the University of Oklahoma Press released Dreams to Dust: A Tale of the Oklahoma Land Rush, which was selected as an Official Oklahoma Centennial Project. It won both the Oklahoma Book Award for fiction and the Langum Prize for Historical Literature. With The Yard Dog: A Mystery (Minotaur Books, September 2009), Russell introduces the Hook Runyon series. The first book finds Hook investigating a murder at an Oklahoma railroad yard near a German POW camp during WWII. The Insane Train, second in the series, was selected as one of the six best mysteries of 2010 by Publishers Weekly.