Only Good Indians, a novel of the 1820 west

In the tradition of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn - a realistic and colorful historical account of a fifteen-year-old boy's summer in the waning forty-year struggle between Indian tribes and white settlers for control of our nation's original American West (the Northwest Territory) - this book is a new western.

Award-winning author Richard T. Ryan (The Vatican Cameos; The Stone of Destiny; Three May Keep a Secret - A Sherlock Holmes Adventure, etc.) says: Mr. Dennerline has "crafted a compelling story with fully developed characters. I kept reading some nights because I genuinely wanted to know what happened next." -- "Like Huckleberry Finn, this is a richly layered book that will yield more the second time through."

Although readers may be familiar with our nation's 'late' western period - set in the territories of Arizona, New Mexico or Texas - in this new western set in 1820, in Indiana's rich, and rough, Ohio valley, bullets were just as deadly. Knives just as bloody. And boys became men just as quickly. Elihu, a rascally teenager, was no exception. After he is 'banished' from home, he is tasked to assist with the federal census - intending to keep him out of trouble. But it proves to be a catalyst for a series of events that transforms Elihu. Will he become a killer?

The arc of Elihu's story fits within one of the most little-known, and most remarkable true narratives from this early western period: The first time white killers are sought to be indicted and tried for the murder of Indian men, women and children.

News of these murders causes the first unexpected turn. Land grabbing and Indian 'removal' are afoot - when two families of Lenape (Delaware), including several children, are brutally massacred by a white Indian-hater - threatening to break the fragile peace between whites and Indians. For the first time in our nation's history, a bounty is placed on a white killer's head, now on the run. Elihu becomes unwillingly partnered with frontiersman, Tom Oglesby, whose skill with a rifle is matched only by his fondness for drink and desire to collect the bounty, white man or no. Thrust together, Elihu finds he must extricate himself from various predicaments which fate - and Tom - force upon him. After each moment of respite, he soon finds himself entangled in an ever more desperate situation.

Elihu unknowingly befriends the massacre's only survivor, a mixed-race Indian boy, whose existence he keeps secret. But upon learning his true identity, he must grapple with the friendship's conflict with his white community. After the twist and turns of 'Scott Turow' like trial (circa 1820), Elihu is forced to make his choice: to save his new friend. At stake is nothing less than a fate to a life of slavery or, worse, death.

Complicating matters along the way is troublesome romance. Elihu must fend off the beguiling Zerelda, who has set her cap for him while coming to the realization he is attracted to the comely Eliza whose wile matches that of Elihu's.

Elihu will encounter a hanging, thieves, killers, rescues and narrow escapes with his friends, in a land of unusual characters with its hollows, ridges, rivers and rough towns, filled with perils from panthers to menacing steamboats. And as his journey pulls him into the hunt for killers, his beliefs will be tested by obligations of family, friends and honor as he finds himself on his own unexpected path of revenge - transcending his ordinary life to reflect on death, Indian spirits, war and why men kill.

With dialog written in a dialect of the period, The Only Good Indians is a picaresque tale suitable for all ages. The themes it touches upon - coming of age, battle of the sexes, treatment of Native Americans by whites, the meaning of justice - are timeless and speak to us today.

Rhett R. Dennerline's new western is methodically researched for period accuracy; and, above