River of Vice

Vicksburg, 1835. The town wants its gamblers gone.

Thomas Hale arrives in Vicksburg needing work. At the Kangaroo Saloon, he discovers a world of crowded gaming tables, easy credit, and men who know how to turn another man's losses into profit. His skill with figures earns him a place in their business. A note he copies helps draw a local merchant deeper into debt.

Beyond the saloon, resentment is hardening into action. Citizens organize, threats become public punishments, and men who promise to restore order begin deciding whose lives deserve protection.

Caught between the gamblers who have employed him and the household that has given him a home, Thomas tries to help people on both sides. But information offered to prevent bloodshed can become a weapon, and good intentions offer little protection when the crowd begins to move.

Set against the historical Vicksburg gambling riots of 1835, River of Vice: The Kangaroo Saloon blends documented people and events with fictional lives caught in the violence. Intimate in its human stakes and steeped in Mississippi River atmosphere, it tells a story of compromised loyalties, costly mercy, and the people left to live with what a town calls justice.