The Suspension Bridge Robbery: A Gilded Age Legal Thriller - Paperback

by G. Reading Powell (Author)

September 1894. A brazen ambush: Two express agents gunned down on the Waco suspension bridge, their money bag stolen in broad daylight.

The police arrest a peculiar young man named Toby Topper, who's caught with the murder weapon and part of the loot. In a speedy trial, the prosecution parades a string of incriminating eyewitnesses while the oblivious Toby can only pitch back and forth in a mute stupor, and his drunken defense lawyer snores. Disgusted by the inept defense, the judge appoints courtroom warhorse Catfish Calloway mid-trial to put up a fight for the hapless Toby.

With no time to investigate, a client who can't tell him what happened, and co-counsel too inept to assist, Catfish must save Toby from the gallows. Calloway & Calloway scrambles for answers as the powerful express company drives the case toward conviction. Is proving Toby insane the only hope?

And where is the rest of the money?

The Suspension Bridge Robbery is the second book in Catfish Calloway for the Defense, a gilded age legal thriller series. The first, The Sporting House Killing, was a 2022 finalist for the American Bar Association's prestigious Silver Gavel Awards.