NO BOTTOM

The loss of the Mary Justice, the fourth Mississippi River steamboat to sink during the 1872 season, alarms both Luke Williamson, Yankee captain of Mary Justice's sister packet Paragon and partner to Mary Justice's dead captain, and his insurance agents, who promptly dispatch wounded Confederate veteran Masey Baldridge to investigate. A few rounds of spirited discussion—mostly with irate sons of the South who don't share Baldridge's concern for Williamson—reveal a connection among the wrecks: each of their captains served in the Mississippi Marine Brigade, a Union Army unit notorious for its slash- and-burn tactics. By this time, though, his insurers have forced Williamson to drum up publicity by racing the Paragon against the Apollo, a ship provisioned by Williamson's archrival Hudson VanGeer—a race sure to be spiced by new attempts at sabotage by the people out to avenge the depredations of the Mississippi Marine. Brawny riverboat intrigue, first of a series partnering the salt- and-pepper duo of Williamson and Baldridge.