Synopsis

A young farm girl defies the odds to become Oregon’s first female bounty hunter in this new novel from Northwest writer John Riha. The Bounty Huntress is inspired by actual events in the Rogue Valley during the early part of the 20th century.

Hang on for a wild ride with Iris Greenlee. It’s the 1920s—there may be telephones and electric lights in the small towns, but in the mountains of southern Oregon it’s still the Wild West, with gold thieves lurking in the alleys and armed moonshiners roaming the hills. It takes a steely heart for Iris to try and make a living hunting criminals for money, but she’s determined to keep her twice-widowed mother and autistic brother safe in a world hell-bent on destroying their threadbare happiness. She has other motives, too. Iris isn’t simply intent on bringing lawbreakers to justice; she’s out to find the murderer of her game warden father. Although she’s mocked, cheated, and nearly shot to death, Iris is determined to ply her dangerous trade to its true conclusion.

More than a spirited good yarn, The Bounty Huntress is a moral tale that weighs law against justice, and explores the limits of forgiveness. How dark does Iris become in her search for righteousness? As her mother warns, “We all gotta figure out which way we tilt. We surely do. The good or the bad.” Iris can only reply, “I’m workin’ on that.”