"For some acts there is no redemption, for some sins no forgiveness, no matter the sum of a man's works" - Those were the last words of Gina Porter penned in the institution where she spent her last years living in madness. The scribble found on a hastily drawn note would prove prophetic as the two secrets she kept buried deep inside her soul most of her life would collide. Meanwhile, the secret the six conspirators thought they had buried more than twenty years ago was not buried deep enough as someone has returned to seek vengeance from the ashes of the long-forgotten tavern. One by one the keepers of the secret sin are being killed in brutal fashion, the words Red Dog written in their own blood at the scenes of the macabre crimes. For the conspirators, the words are like writing on the wall, forewarning them of their fate, reminding them of the atrocities they committed long ago. The time for restitution is gone, payment now demanded for the tab they ran up at the long gone honkytonk, a tab for which each of them is equally responsible. For Sheriff Sam Delaney the words are the only clue to solving who or what has turned the normally peaceful Castle County into a killing field, the body count rising nightly. The veteran lawman seems to stay one step behind the force which the press dubs the Red Dog Killer, the community losing faith in the sheriff in light of the homicidal rampage which seems to have no end. To stop the killing spree the sheriff must first solve a crime that is two decades old, a cold case which is getting colder by the day. Even as he races against time to solve the puzzle, forces will stop at nothing to make sure the secret of the Red Dog stays hidden. Making his challenge even tougher is the fact the witnesses to the crime are the ones dying, each falling victim to the mysterious reaper as the sheriff gets tantalizingly close to exposing the long-kept secret. Faced with their own mortality, the conspirators become their own worst enemy as they struggle to not only keep the secret but to avoid becoming the killer's next victim, each ready to do anything to avoid their fate even if it means sacrificing an old friend. The question begs, when everything is exposed to the world in the end, which is worse, their secret sin or the one who has come to exact vengeance for their horrific evil?
About the Author: R.D. Sherrill is the Senior Writer for the Southern Standard newspaper in McMinnville, Tennessee where he has served as crime and courts reporter since 1990. He has received numerous awards during his career, including state honors for news writing and in column writing, both in the serious and humor categories. He is a graduate of Tennessee Tech University where he majored in Political Science. He resides along with his family in the town in which he was born and raised. Most of his works are set in small towns since he has spent most of his life living in rural America. While writing thousands of news stories, Red Dog Saloon is his debut novel.