THE BINDING OATH The story of the epidemic of hatred that followed the disillusionment of World War I when, outside of the South and Indiana, Colorado became the strongest enclave of the Ku Klux Klan. Bootleggers, crooked cops and the Ku Klux Klan can't keep a good woman down in this...warmhearted historical novel set in Prohibition-era Colorado. Liz O'Brien is a woman in a man's world, one of only two female reporters on staff at the Denver Post in 1922. Usually relegated to the "Neighbors" beat, O'Brien one day gets her big break: a chance to interview the KKK's Grand Dragon, who's called a press conference to announce he's forcing a vote to recall the city's new district attorney. But O'Brien suspects the KKK is interested in more than local politics. Against the advice of her highly skeptical superiors, O'Brien resolves to investigate the case. She quickly uncovers two murders, a bootlegging operation and a KKK conspiracy to take over the political apparatus of the entire state.* A new feature: Behind the Scenes! BUY THE BOOK through Booksense (support an independent bookstore!) or Amazon. PRAISE "Downing does a good job of creating an independent, likable heroine: the feisty and political-minded O'Brien owns her own house and is a veteran of the women's suffrage movement. Downing also creates a stable of memorably strong female supporting figures, including a prominent lawyer, a defiant rancher and even an eight-year-old girl."    —Publishers Weekly "As a co-founder of Women Writing the West, Boulder author Sybil Downing has helped open doors for stories and female storytellers focused on the heart of the region. Her latest novel, THE BINDING OATH, a murder mystery based on the Ku Klux Klan's post-World War I play for the Mile High City, distinctively mirrors her cause.... Nearly every page reveals another fascinating historical tidbit with authenticity only a longtime local—Downing is a fourth-generation Coloradoan—could command. Her girlish gumshoe breaks from many "good old boy" traditions, as if appropriate to her forward-thinking character Protagonist Liz O'Brien is a complicated but equally charming literary host."    —The Denver Post "A gifted writer!"    —Inside/Outside Southwest Magazine "This page-turned mystery captures the clandestine terror inspired by Klan tactics. Downing brings the past alive."    —Women's Magazine "When most people think of the Klu Klux Klan, they think of the South. But in the 1920s, for a dark period of Colorado history, the Klan played a major force in local politics. Combine that with a corrupt Denver police force and you have the makings of a lively historical novel. Colorado author Sybil Downing has written just that."    —Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph * Description from Publishers Weekly