Fake News 1893: The Great Bakersville Riot!

A single lie ignites a mountain war—and the truth could bury them all.
When a sensational 1893 “riot” splashes across front pages from New York to London, veteran Secret Service agent Ezekiel “Zeke” Duncan smells more than yellow ink. From counterfeit silver dollars flooding the Rust Belt to a murdered mountaineer in North Carolina, his hunt for coneymen drags him from grimy Pittsburgh alleys to backwoods stills and the shadowed corridors of the U.S. Mint. Each step unravels a darker scheme: a desperate mine baron, a disgraced Pinkerton agent, and a master coiner weaving a fortune out of the falling price of silver—and the perfect crime out of the nation’s blind trust.
As Zeke cuts deals with devils and shields two wayward brothers who could save or doom the case, the stakes explode into a deadly triangle of money, power, and pride. Moonshine turns to murder. A widow names names. A corrupt cop reaches for his gun. And a fake narrative—penned by a reckless young editor—builds toward a powder-keg day the world will remember as the Great Bakersville Riot. In a storm of bullets, politics, and press clippings, Zeke must decide what justice means when the law, the headlines, and the truth are no longer on speaking terms.
Inspired by true events, Fake News 1893 blends frontier grit, Gilded Age intrigue, and breakneck investigative suspense into a sweeping historical thriller about the price of currency—and the cost of a lie.
Fans of James Ellroy, Caleb Carr, and Erik Larson will be riveted by this taut, atmospheric tale of crime, consequence, and the headlines that made history.