Maverick Flatts was a tranquil village until the yellow fever outbreak of 1872. After three years, life was settling down when cavalry soldiers nearly destroy the square hunting for a fugitive.
When a citizen is murdered, the village blames the soldiers and the soldiers blame the villagers.
The Westin family gets involved — which surprises no one — while a masked figure appears from nowhere — which surprises everyone.
The Masked Rider allows the fugitive to escape capture, is blamed for the murder and seems quite comfortable leaping from windows, holding people hostage and foiling everyone's best laid plans.
Holly Westin is determined to find out who killed her neighbor but with the captain of the unruly soldiers attempting to court her, the fugitive hiding somewhere on her land, her brother arrested for murder and her father drinking himself into a stupor when his in-laws visit, she wonders if she can keep it together long enough to protect her family, unmask the killer and save the quiet village from itself.
'Masked Rider: Origins' is 128,507 words.
