Pinebox Collins

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"Jonathan Collins is a relatively young man when he loses a leg in the Civil War, but he quickly learns to cope. He carves his own wooden leg, then he turns his skills to making coffins and, finally, undertaking. Since both trades are best plied where there's a constant need, he sets up shop in violent towns, and in one of those towns he meets Wild Bill Hickock. These towns are no place for a lonely man, so Jon, now nicknamed "Pinebox," relocates to Utah, meets a girl, and learns real carpentry; but then his hopes for the future are dashed and the girl is lost. Pinebox takes up drinking alone. Soon, his story revolves around meetings with Hickock. Each visit involves outlawry and requires a new wooden leg. Even after Hickock dies, he still calls to Pinebox, and there is a story there in the cards carved on Pinebox's latest leg. Miller's latest (Father unto Many Sons, 2018) is a mystery for Western lovers"--