Riverboat Blood

Murder, romance, and retribution. The Mississippi River is red with blood.

Special Agent John Crudder (aka, The Midnight Marauder) is called on by President Ulysses S. Grant to solve the murders and disappearances of people from riverboats on the Mississippi River. Rather than finding riverboat trips to be peaceful vacations, unsuspecting people are being murdered. The murders are accepted as normal and the disappearances are covered up.

As time passes, more people fall prey to outlaws who frequent the riverboats. Crudder uncovers evidence that riverboat captains are covering up the crimes in an effort to protect their profits.

Brother-in-law, Richie Hanson, joins Crudder on this adventure. At sixteen, Richie is mature beyond his years, having suffered through the murder of his mother and the hanging of her assailant.

What starts out to be the trip of a lifetime turns into a fortuitous meeting with the daughter of a United States Senator. Their relationship blooms as the bodies continue to fall.