Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 453

This issue of Beadle and Adams's dime novel weekly (Vol. XVIII, No. 453, March 1896) features "Deadwood Dick Jr's Full Hand," a frontier mystery by Edward L. Wheeler, author of the Deadwood Dick series. The story opens in the mining camp of You Bet, Arizona, at the Lone Deer Saloon, where Joseph Mora, a wealthy moneylender and respected citizen, is stabbed to death by Augustin Andre during a private quarrel over accusations of dishonesty. With no witnesses beyond the bartender Nicholas Nye (who was in the cellar), the murderer escapes into the night. Deputy Sheriff Peleg Gray investigates, while Max Mora, the victim's dissolute nephew, offers a thousand-dollar reward. Sunflower Sam, a distinctive detective from Shasta sporting a white suit and sunflower emblems, arrives opportunistically to volunteer his services. The narrative establishes the mystery's central question: who killed Mora and why?