The Platte River Waltz, Hangtown

A Novel of the Old West

By: Ken Consaul

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The Bonner Saga continues. Compelling historical drama in the California gold rush

Volume Three in the series

Upon arriving in California, Josh and Elizabeth Bonner find a land in chaos. Gold has been discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the whole territory is awash with fortune hunters. The coastal settlements have been abandoned. Law and order has succumbed to gold fever. What little the Bonners possess is on two carts. Winter is coming and they need shelter and supplies. Old friends who have established a bakery tell them of a derelict ship where they can perhaps salvage materials. With Jubal, a runaway slave, and a British mining engineer, they decide to winter aboard the ship. It is not to be and they soon find themselves in Hangtown, a notorious mining camp on the American River. Hangtown has earned its moniker. The Bonners and their friends partner up with some prospectors from New York and begin working the “dry diggings” not far from the camp. Gold in abundance is discovered and the find must be claimed and protected from interlopers. Old enemies emerge and new friends are made as the young couple struggle to survive and flourish in a lawless land. Hangtown is Volume Three, preceded by The Platte River Waltz, Orphans in the Storm and The Platte River Waltz, The Growler Brigade, both four star plus books. Hangtown is the third in the Bonner series picking up the adventure from their arrival in Gold Rush country just as winter closes in on the mining camps.