The Man from Boot Hill

"Marcus Galloway writes with the sure hand of an old pro."
                - Robert J. Randisi

Nick Graves is a Mourner. His profession is to arrange funerals, bury bodies and build coffins using skills taught to him by his father. But he wasn't always a quiet undertaker. In his youth, Nick made his living with a fast draw and cool nerve. As much as he wants to forget his outlaw past, Nick is pulled back into the fire by past friends and enemies who haven't been content to settle into a simple life. Using a maimed hand and a specially crafted pistol, Nick Graves will make certain that demons from his past as well as the ones that cross his path now, remain dead and buried.

Book 1: The Man from Boot Hill - Nick has arrived in a new town in an attempt to find a life of quiet solitude. Unfortunately, this place is stock full of new problems and corrupt men who will make it very difficult for Nick to continue his family trade. Violent, dangerous men will force Nick to create a few fresh corpses that no one will mourn once they're gone.

Book 2: Burying the Past - Nick has ridden with hell-raisers and killers, earning a reputation as a dangerous man with a shooting iron. Now he's run into an old partner with a new scheme in the Dakota Territories: a foolproof plan that could earn Nick more money than he'd make in a decade of digging graves. Loyalty runs soul deep for the Mourner, and his temptation for quick money is strong. But Nick's choice my turn out to be between living and dying, between a life on the run with a price on his head or an eternity underground. He'll have to make that choice with his heart, his conscience and his gun.

Book 3: Dead Man's Promise - Sometimes the dead won't stay buried. A man Nick once rode with - a stone killer named Red Parks - wants him to pay for an act of desertion and defiance. Red's brought his old gang with him to hit Nick where it hurts the most: his family. When an innocent woman is caught in the crossfire, a rage that's been simmering for years is about to explode.

Book 4: No Angels for Outlaws - Nick Graves has finally found some measure of peace and happiness in a small town of Ocean at the edge of a desert. Joseph Van Meter, however, is nowhere near as lucky. Joseph is a good man whose whole family is mercilessly slaughtered by marauding outlaws. Now, more than anything, Joseph wants vengeance...and he wants Nick Graves to be his killer angel. Nick has seen more than his share of death and recognizes the pain that's eating Joseph alive. But just as important as seeing justice done, Nick wants to save the broken soul who rides beside him. Because when a man has nothing to lose, he tends to get crazy and the innocent as well as the deserving often wind up dead.

Book 5: Reaper's Fee - Settled in a prosperous town with a woman he loves, Nick Graves wants to forget the young man he once was - a man who buried a fortune of stolen jewels in the Badlands within the grave of a former friend he'd dispatched to hell. That friend deserved to die and Nick doesn't regret having done the deed. But now a bunch of two-bit outlaws have heard the tale and are dead set on looting that grave. As a man and a Mourner, this is something Nick cannot abide. But if Nick leaves his new life behind to seek this justice, he might never get it back again. Digging up the past could prove fatal, since madmen, killers, and a very patient bounty hunter are waiting...

This is what happens without editors

I'm Marcus Pelegrimas, author of the SKINNERS series. Here you'll find various ramblings about movies, video games, TV, and...oh yeah...those books I write. If there's anything you'd like to discuss, just let me know. I try to update whenever the mood strikes me, so feel free to leave comments. There may be some occasional foul language, but anyone who's too easily offended probably doesn't read my stuff anyway.

Free Stuff

Here's how it goes. As usual, I've got my truckload of promo covers from EOS Books. I'll be going to some conventions, so I hope to see you there and I'll gladly sign your books. If you can't make it to a con, just email me your name, address and any inscription so I can send you a signed cover.


BONUS ---> If you would be so kind as to write up a review for any or all Skinners books and publish it on a site like Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or any other major review site, I can send you something extra. I made up some bookmarks (which I'll sign) and I've even put together some Shimmy's VIP passes (which I'll also sign). Can't guarantee the passes will get you into a real strip club, but I think they look pretty cool. Send me a link to your review along with your name, address and inscription, and I'll get these out to you as well.