Five days after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, President Abraham Lincoln is mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet. Scattered Confederate forces ignore the armistice, determined to continue the Civil War despite the Union victory. American citizens, tired of years of bloodshed, want nothing more than to rebuild a country vulnerable to corruption and criminal enterprises.  Disgraced ex-Deputy U.S. Marshal Gideon Ryder has been given a second chance to serve his country—as an agent of the newly created United States Secret Service. Assigned to investigate a smuggling ring operating out of Galveston Island on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Ryder must navigate his way through the population of immigrants, sailors, former slaves, and ex-Rebels to infiltrate a gang of outlaws more deadly and dangerous than the Secret Service could have imagined…   FIRST IN A NEW SERIES**

A MOONSHINE TRAIL  When his fellow U.S. Marshal Bill Tanner is found dead, Jack Slade picks up his trail, hot on a gang of moonshiners. A reformed drinker and gambler himself, Deputy U.S. Marshal Slade vows to uncover the truth behind Tanner's death and pull the plug on the bootleggers - liquor and all!But Slade's pursuit of justice comes with a heavy price: His longtime love, Faith Connover, has a quest of her own. While Slade is off hunting illegal moonshine, Faith makes arrangements to leave Oklahoma territory and head east. But all bets are off when Faith discovers something neither she nor Slade saw coming...

THE WAR IS OVER The Civil War may have ended, but division still remains among its survivors. Some continue to rally for equality. Then, there are others, like the Knights of the Rising Sun. They're a group of vicious vigilantes who want to halt progress in Texas and put an end to bluebellies and carpetbaggers by bullet, fire, and noose. THE FIGHT CONTINUES The Secret Service sends Gideon Ryder to stop the Knights before they grow from a gang into an army. But as Ryder follows the band of villains from Corpus Christi to Jefferson, Texas, his mission proves more difficult than planned, especially when the cowards only surface with sacks over their heads. To learn their identities, Ryder will have to get close enough to see under the hoods. Luckily, Gideon has an army of his own ready to take them down, flanked by his Colt in his left hand and his Henry in his right...