John Crust is a good man who has lost what gave meaning to his life, his loving wife, Mary. Abandoning his placer gold mine, John takes to the mountains with a horse and supplies. One night he bumps into two old friends, Caleb Jones and Henry McGuire, fellow gold miners who are horseless and without supplies. John gives them his beloved horse, and most of his supplies. Now on foot, he chooses not to return to Buffalo Mud where everyone knows him and would pity him for the loss of his wife. John takes the unknown trail. Arriving at a town named Snuffling Pig, John discovers that he's not the only one with a broken heart. And as these other lives weave in and out of John's life, he learns that love can mean life and death, but doesn't always have to.

Marjorie M. McGinley began to write in college while she attended Western Connecticut State University, stopped for a while when she was raising a family and teaching elementary school, and then began again. She has had many short stories and poems published, and has written two prize-winning plays. This is her first published novel. Marjorie was born in Nyack, New York, and grew up in rural Connecticut. She lives on the Connecticut shoreline.

John Crust & Snuffling Pig is Marjorie M. McGinley's first book for Avalon.

Avalon Westerns by Marjorie M. McGinley:
THE GIFT OF THE MESTIZO
CASEY'S JOURNEY
JOHN CRUST & SNUFFLING PIG
RATTLESNAKE GULCH
FOOTLOOSE CONROY

An Avalon Mystery by Marjorie M. McGinley:
CLOSE ENOUGH TO KILL