Description

The novel opens on a sweltering mountain road in the Los Gatos region, where the air is thick with the heady aromas of resin, spruce, juniper and other unnamed herbs. Travelers on stagecoaches and mule teams stare longingly at a secluded terrace that promises cool refuge, yet the heat seems to emanate from a hidden, fiery source within the earth itself. The landscape crackles with the scent of “gin and ginger,” a vivid metaphor that captures the intoxicating, almost maddening effect the place has on anyone who breathes it.

Into this volatile setting slips Lance Harriott, a notorious gambler on the run after a fatal duel. He abandons the stagecoach under cover of night, slipping into the scorching brush to evade the sheriff’s posse that hunts him. As he claws his way forward, the strange, spice‑laden air both torments and galvanizes him, driving him deeper into the mystery of the valley’s secret enclave.

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