On His Mettle

A boy with a bad reputation. A grandmother robbed and dead. And a hundred dollars of stolen money found in his pocket.

Tom Ordway has never had much going for him. Born into poverty, raised by a cold miser who gives him nothing, and running with the worst boys in Marbleville—he knows his reputation is ruined and his future is nowhere. So he makes a decision. Tonight, he walks away. No more gambling. No more Dare-devils. No more small-town shame. He's going to New York to fight for a life worth having.

He never makes it through the night.

When Tom wakes in a hotel room, a roll of marked bills sits in his pocket. Bills stolen from his grandmother's chest. Bills that place him at the scene of a robbery—and, some say, a murder. His grandmother is dead. The station agent swears she named Tom with her dying breath. A detective is already at the door.

Tom knows he is innocent. He also knows that innocence rarely speaks louder than evidence, and every fact lines up against him. His old enemies are delighted. His friends are few. And somewhere out there, the real thief walks free.

Standing trial in the very town that already despises him, Tom faces the fight of his life—not with fists, but with nerve.

Can he prove his innocence before Marbleville decides he was guilty all along?