WL Cox's Books

Charles and Cedric travel to find men who can teach them to produce cheese and butter commercially. Nolan Patterson arrives from England and is searching for Ben and Effie Chevonne, who escaped England while he was held in jail overnight. Nolan has vengeance on his mind as he travels to America and is determined to force Charles to tell him how to find Ben and Effie. Charles has to take drastic steps to protect his family.

Charles's life takes several turns as he agrees to adopt and raise three Sioux children for a close friend, fends off multiple threats to his family, and helps his Denver manager pursue a new career, while an English employee's surprise job request sparks a new business idea. After he settles factory and distillery plans in Orlando, Gray Horse and four fellow Sioux chiefs arrive seeking help with a problem too large for Charles alone, prompting a trip to Washington to petition President Grant directly. Meanwhile, a warning from Dante Nasato of the New York crime families reveals that a rogue member from Canada, defying the Family's wishes, is plotting to seize the Crawford organization, forcing Charles and Cedric to travel to Canada and navigate a dangerous return home. As if that weren't enough, brother David sends an urgent plea for help against a threat to his own family and business.

Charles's life turns dangerous when men vow to kill him, forcing him to use all his wits to survive. After eliminating one vengeful enemy, he bids on a flour mill and paper mill, while multiple threats compel him to protect his family and businesses. He also helps brother David launch his own independent empire, to the relief of David's wife and in-laws. When an alarming telegram reports a man in Orlando trying to steal his prized large white hogs, Charles rushes there, only for the situation to explode into a deadly duel after Jonathan's pregnant wife, Daisy, is shot.

Charles travels to Vallejo to meet his half-brother David and brings him back to Philadelphia. In England, a chance meeting with an unemployed French winemaker sparks a new wine venture, sending Charles, David, Bud, and their new employee to France and Italy for exceptional grapes. Along the way, Charles learns David left a true love behind in China and arranges a trip so the two can reunite. Back in Philadelphia, Horatio warns Charles that a man and his two sons are plotting to kill him and seize control of the railroad, prompting Charles, accompanied by two of Horatio's associates and eager David determined to protect him, to head to northern New York to stop them first.

This chapter tests Charles to his core as he survives assassination attempts, builds a railroad car factory and corporate office, deals with an angry, crazy woman, and expands his farms while hiring key staff. Forced to travel to New York and New Hampshire to eliminate mob families plotting to kill him and seize his wealth, Charles returns home to a stunning revelation from Judith: a Chinese man in Vallejo claims to be his brother. Sent to prayer by the shock, Charles heads to Vallejo to confront the news and begin a surprising new branch of his family tree.

Charles escorts the family from England around America, helping them settle at the Orlando orchard. While visiting, one of the young hired hands is nearly beaten to death and robbed in town, but with Clayton and the Sheriff's help, the assailant is caught. Charles then travels to Annapolis, where he learns Transcontinental Railway owner Hubert Phillips is dying, prompting Charles to move to take over the company, buying out the remaining stockholders and planning to relocate it to Philadelphia.

Charles struggles to staff two major investments in Kansas City and Orlando, then receives an urgent message from Maurice Madison: gold has been discovered on Dakota reservation land, sparking talk of war as miners flood in, forcing Charles to rescue Maurice and his wife from Fort Abercrombie. With Maurice's help, Charles hires staff for Kansas City, bringing in trainer James Catacomb. He then travels to England with son Jonathan and Catacomb, where a livestock crisis, a grand piano purchase, and hired musicians keep him busy - all before a side trip to Scotland to eliminate a man guarded by armed men and a vicious dog that's threatening a family in his employ. Charles brings a family back to America to run his Orlando fruit and vineyard operation, and Jonathan pursues the farmer's daughter's hand. With a vision for Jonathan to manage a pig farm in Orlando, Charles also returns with 14 large white piglets to start America's first herd of the breed.

After a successful horse sale in New Orleans, Charles returns to find his racehorse brutally abused and near death; when the horse dies, Charles files a complaint that spirals into a lawsuit, and those responsible hire a hitman to kill Charles and his attorney, forcing him to take drastic action to protect his family. In the aftermath, Charles uncovers a horrifying twist: the culprit's ex-wife, known as "The Witch of Wakefield," has bodies buried in her garden, revealing a crazed serial killer at the heart of it all.

Charles tours his ranches, hotels, and food stores with Rome, Alice, the kids, John, and Silvia, who is dismayed when John insists on training as a pig farmer to make the most of his time in America. Meanwhile, Judy falls in love, and Judith must calm Charles down before he confronts her suitor. After Rome's family departs for England, trouble erupts: an assassin targets C.W. and his family in Denver before moving on to threaten Ghost in California, while Sioux visitors report an agent stealing their food and leaving the tribe to starve. Adding to trouble, Charles's prize racehorse is ruined during a trip to a New Orleans auction.

As life levels out, Charles begins preparing his children to take over in his absence. He learns that Doctor Connor Godfrey has visited Denver Hospital to consult with Doctor Green. Charles spends a relaxing winter at home before inviting Judith, George, and Coughing Crow for a trip to England in the spring, though George, in declining health and hoping for one last visit to his homeland, proves too sick to travel. The England trip ends in a major purchase, and Charles returns to America with a surprise: a son of George's he's never met.

Charles and Judith attend Judy's graduation and settle her at West Chester University, then transfer Jonathan and Angus to Germantown Academy. In Nashville, Charles is called to resolve a rancher's dispute over the neighboring hog farm's smell. Violence erupts when a local rancher's son tries to kill him for his belongings. After Charles buys out the family's farms to defuse the threat, son returns to finish the job and is killed, sending the vengeful father to Vallejo to target Ghost instead. Meanwhile in Kansas City, Frederick Fielding, the man behind an earlier scheme to block Charles's Cape Coral hotel, resurfaces with an assassination attempt, and once again Charles's lawful approach to conflict puts his family in danger.

Charles's adventures begin with a hotel and store tour for new employee Birch Newsome, cut short when he learns a ranch hand in Moultrie, brother and nephew of Colorado's first serial killers, is plotting to murder the ranch's employees in revenge for how his family was vilified, forcing Charles to race there before tragedy strikes. A trip to resolve a railroad dispute near Kansas City turns into a major  investment, before Charles heads to New York, where daughter Judy has an important decision to discuss. Back in Philadelphia, Charles  deals with the father of a bully at his son's school.