As a member of Western Writers of America (WWA), Bill Markley is a staff writer for WWA’s
Roundup Magazine, has written three nonfiction books, and writes for True West, Wild West, and
South Dakota magazines. He earned a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering, has
worked in Antarctica, and currently works for the South Dakota Department of Environment
and Natural Resources. Raised on a farm near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Bill has always loved
history. He reenacts Civil War infantry and frontier cavalry, and has participated in movies
including Dances With Wolves, Far and Away, and Gettysburg. Bill and his wife Liz live and
work in Pierre, South Dakota, where they have raised two grown children. Deadwood Dead
Men is his first novel.

In August 1876, Jack Jones, a reporter for a Chicago newspaper, is assigned to write about
the doings of Deadwood, Dakota Territory—an illegal gold camp that knows no law. The lure
of gold in the Lakota’s Black Hills draws prospectors and many colorful characters, such
as Al Swearengen, Calamity Jane, Colorado Charlie Utter, Seth Bullock, Madame Mustache,
and Sol Star, and it also lures crime. After the shocking murder of an acquaintance Jack Jones
begins investigating an entire string of murders that begins with Wild Bill Hickok and leads Jack
down a treacherous trail that has him wondering if he won’t be next.