Moon Medicine

When Honoré Greenwood sits down to tell his tale, people listen. Friend

of such stalwarts of the West as Kit Carson, Thomas Fitzpatrick, John

Hatcher, and the Brent brothers, Charles and William, Honoré, at

ninety-nine, has lived the life that has become the dime novel.

As

a young schoolboy, Jean Guy was considered a genius. The only thing

distracting him from his love of books was his love for a kitchen maid,

Nicole. When Nicole is raped and brutalized, Jean exacts revenge,

murdering the rapist and stowing away on an English packet bound for New

Orleans. It is there that the young Jean Guy changes his name and

becomes Honoré Greenwood, soon to become one of the legends of the

American West.

New Orleans is an exciting place for the young

Honoré, but falling in love with Gabriela Badfillo-a beautiful young

woman from Taos, New Mexico, who is promised to another in an arranged

marriage-forces Honoré to flee, brokenhearted into the wilderness. He

volunteers for a most dangerous project, building a fort right in the

heart of Comanche country. His orders are to establish trade with the

warlike, horse-rich Comanches.

The Mexican War and the California

Gold Rush usher chaos into the plains. And the Comanches are a proud,

powerful, and unpredictable people, but Honoré earns their trust, but

the vile whiskey trader, Bill Snakehead Jackson, is happy corrupting the

Comanches and breeding violence between them and their ancient enemies,

the Apaches.

It will take all of Honoré's genius and his strange

power to hold the trade together. Because his power follows the phases

of the moon enabling him to go without sleep for days, the Comanches dub

it Moon Medicine. Through it all, Honoré becomes a successful trader

and ransom negotiator, earning the title Plenty Man. But when Gabriela

desperately calls for help, Honoré will risk everything he has for the

woman he still loves.