Forthcoming debut novel by Jackie Burrell
There are a hundred different ways to die on the Oregon Trail, as every millennial, Xer or parent of one knows. You can drown fording a river. Tangle with a rattler. Get trampled by buffalo or crushed by your own wagon. Or die– famously – of dysentery. (Cue the old computer game music.)
Murder was actually a rarity, although the battered blackmailer from wagon six of the Armstrong Overland Convoy was surely asking for it in the forthcoming historical mystery, “The Jump: Murder on the Oregon Trail.” It’s 1849, and reluctant newlywed pioneer Josie French is incensed. She hadn’t wanted to journey into the wilderness. She never intended to marry Henry, a Shakespeare-quoting blacksmith. Tripping over a corpse? The convoy was supposed to include farmers, writers, an orchardist and a milliner, for heaven’s sake, not gamblers, addicts and now, apparently, a murderer. A very violent one. And zero detectives.
When your world consists of two dozen covered wagons in the wilderness, it is not wise to let a killer run free, not when harm may come to the people Josie loves most. As an ever-growing crowd gathers at her campfire each night, long-buried secrets about abuse and exploitation come to light. Josie learns that even the most damaged people can still write a new ending. That healing is possible. That you can still reclaim your flame, even when everything is lost.
Keep tabs on the launch at MurderOnTheOregonTrail.com.
Jackie Burrell, Writer 