Commendable Discretion: A Detective Novel of the Old West (The Discretion Series Book 1) – J. Hoolihan Clayton

Description In this time when the world is coming to terms with the recognition that cultural differences should not be divisive, J. Hoolihan Clayton has written a compelling narrative based on obscure military records, personal journals and consummate research. In the 19th century American West, steeped in genocidal precepts and unerring faith in the dogma of Manifest Destiny, white settlers, gold seekers and federal policy precipitated a climactic battle that resulted in great misfortune for the Lakota and Cheyenne peoples. This story tells of quite another oppressed minority, caught in the snare of cultural schisms, racism and historical events that propelled them into deeds that would forever make them exiles and traitors. Charles Wolfe Collins is an Irish immigrant, ex-spy, Pinkerton operative, and a veteran of the Civil War. Collins is being sent on a hazardous assignment by President Grant in 1876, the nation’s centennial. President Grant has recently received intelligence in military dispatches that there had been white men fighting alongside the Indians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He wants Collins to investigate and report back regarding the identity of these men. Collins embarks on a long journey into remote regions of Montana Territory, picking up clues along the way, and is eventually accompanied by a Native American woman guide, whose motives for taking Collins deep into Indian country are inscrutable. As the two proceed into the middle of a deadly conflict between vengeful soldiers and embittered Lakota warriors, they must cross an expansive cultural gap and learn to trust each other. At great risk, they seek to solve a mystery, documented in forgotten historical and military records, which could pose serious ramifications for American politics and the course of Federal Indian Policy in the territories of the United States.