Midas' Touch — David C. Edney

William 'Dollar Bill' Sullivan is set to pull off the play of the century. With his friends, Jay Gould, Jim Fisk, Bill Tweed, George Barnard and others, he's schemed to corner the U.S. gold market. It's 1869: the war is over, the Transcontinental Railroad has just been completed, and they all are about to become very wealthy men. Locking up the gold market will give them control of the U.S. Treasury and the railroads. Cities and industries will rise and fall at their command. Even President Ulysses S. Grant and his Treasury Secretary are on-board. (Or are they?) Then the reclusive Sullivan, who has plenty of enemies, and not just in the business world, makes a rare mistake: he allows his picture to appear in the newspaper. A couple of old ghosts are soon aroused: ones Mr. Sullivan was certain were safely buried! This Sam McGowan Adventure is the sequel to Assault on New Hartford; following the main characters from the devastation of that frontier village through the Civil War to the bastions of Wall Street and Tammany Hall: where one man's ill-gotten gains and limitless ambition threaten the foundations of a country. And two other people, childhood sweethearts battered by the vicissitudes of war and their ex-friend's evil-doing, who just want their lives back. Along with one other item: an ancient manuscript with its own story to tell. The last time evil prevailed. This time...?