A Novel of Suspense from the Victorian West

The healing powers of the Solomon Spring hold no miracle cure for murder...

— A child custody battle turns deadly on a windswept winter prairie in 1878.
— A man begins a quixotic search for lost love in an effort to mend his shattered life.
— A sacred Native American shrine is about to be defiled, but not if one determined woman can stop it.

These three seemingly unrelated stories collide at the Solomon Springs natural wonder held sacred for centuries because of its legendary healing properties. Murder shatters the spiritual calm that is Solomon Spring.

Seeking solace from the turbulent life she has led, Eden Murdoch returns to the Solomon Spring. The tranquillity of this timeless place will soon be corrupted by a local businessman who plans to exploit the sacred waters of the Spring.

Eden's earnest fight to prevent this sacrilege is interrupted by her own past. Brad Randall, her one-time lover, arrives with the astounding news that the infant son Eden lost fourteen years before has been located and is living nearby.

The joy of her reunion with her son and with Brad, is clouded by the reappearance of her long-estranged husband, Lawrence Murdoch, who seeks sole custody of the boy and of the prosperous ranch the boy will inherit from his adoptive father. The warring couple engage in a vicious battle, both legal and emotional, with an unexpectedly deadly outcome.

Reviews for Solomon Spring....

Finalist for the William Rockhill Nelson Book Awards "Lawyer and Native American specialist Michelle Black sets her absorbing Solomon Spring in what was then the wild, wild West of 1878 Kansas. In an intricate plot involving murder, family secrets and the enduring legacy of racial injustice, Eden is ultimately reunited with a former lover, a disillusioned Indian Affairs bureaucrat from Washington, and a child she has long given up for dead.
Black's graceful style and meticulous attention to historical detail render Solomon Spring a historical thriller of the first water."
-Raleigh News-Observer

"Eden Murdoch, the central figure in Michelle Black's second book set among the Cheyennes in Kansas in the 1870s, is one of those premature modernists who give life to so many fine historical mystery series--Miriam Grace Monfredo's Civil War books, for example, or Laurie R. King's stories about Mary Russell. There's a well-drawn murder plot, a credible and touching love story, and an homage not only to contemporary feminism but also to the civil disobedience taught by Henry David Thoreau".
-Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune

"The strong characters, the vivid details of life in the West in the late 1800s, and an engaging plot combine to make this an absorbing historical mystery."
- Booklist

"Credible and engaging characters, particularly the fearless and feisty heroine, Eden Murdoch, together with a well-paced, suspenseful plot make for a fine historical adventure yarn in a this sequel to Black's An Uncommon Enemy."
- Publishers Weekly

"The saga of Eden Murdoch began in An Uncommon Enemy and this latest work continues the life of this resilient 19th century woman...Readers of An Uncommon Enemy will not want to miss this sequel! And those who are meeting Eden for the first time receive enough back story to be thoroughly engrossed in this creative mixture of fact and fiction. This is a fast-paced enthralling read."
- Romantic Times

Note from the author...

I first learned about the Great Spirit Spring while researching An Uncommon Enemy. The mineral waters of the Spring were thought to hold wondrous healing properties by the Indian tribes who made pilgrimages to there. When the white populations moved into the area, they bottled and sold the waters as a miracle elixir. A health spa was opened at the site in the early 1880's and continued in operation until the 1950's.

The Spring was dredged in 1895. They found countless Indian offerings and artifacts, plus one item they did not expect a human skull. What mystery novelist could resist this setup?

Click here to order copies of Michelle's books.

Novels:
Lightning in a Drought Year • An Uncommon Enemy • Solomon Spring
The Second Glass of Absinthe • Séance in Sepia
Other Writings • About the Author • • Order Copies of Michelle's Books •