As the American Civil War rages on, six Confederate soldiers bond over their good luck and a treasure map to gold hidden in the western Carolina hills. On furlough, the soldiers search for the gold, not realizing their luck is about to run out. Ten years later, in Watkins, New York, recent college graduate Annie Anderson visits her parents’ graves and discovers a dead man slumped against her mother’s gravestone, clutching a gold nugget. Annie runs to alert the sheriff, but the dead man and the gold mysteriously disappear before she can return. Frustrated that without a body, the sheriff has dismissed her story, Annie begins her own investigation to find the killer. Her search for clues is complicated by the summer flood of rich vacationers filling Watkins’s luxury hotels with unfamiliar faces. As Annie stumbles upon long-buried secrets from her own past, she must decide who to trust while discovering the connections between Confederate soldiers, hidden gold, and a local counterfeiting ring—or risk becoming the next victim. Gordon Cooper grew up in Watkins Glen, New York. The Lucky Six is his debut novel and the first in a series. His first non-fiction book, Watkins Glen Tour Guide, was awarded Foreword Review’s GOLD Winner for Travel Guides in 2009. He is an author, publisher, engineer, and a retired Army Reserve officer living in California with his wife and sons. Learn more at GordonCooper.com. The man gave no visible reaction, but Annie’s kick caused his jacket to fall open and dislodged what he'd been holding in his left hand. Annie’s eyes widened at the sight of the gold nugget, but it was the bloody chest wound exposed by his now-open jacket that made Annie’s skin crawl. This man wasn’t just dead, someone killed him. Annie realized that the killer could be close and that she was in peril. The morning light filled the cemetery with long shadows. Each tree and gravestone looked menacing, as if, at any moment, the killer would appear from his hiding place. Annie couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. From behind her, she heard the sound of rustling branches.