The American Wild West, 1873: Jesse James and his gang are robbing trains, the Sioux Indians are on the warpath, and John Henry Holliday arrives in Texas as a young man with a troubled past hoping to regain his place as a Southern gentleman.

So begins Gone West, the second volume in the trilogy of novels entitled Southern Son: The Saga of Doc Holliday. Born in the last days of the Old South, John Henry has already faced the challenges of Civil War and Reconstruction, of first love and teenage rebellion and the beginning of a professional career. But when a violent encounter changes everything, he is sent running far from his Georgia home.

Starting over in Texas, he attempts to remake his career and win back the respect of his family and the love of the girl he left behind. But his life in the West doesn't turn out the way he has planned, and soon he's in trouble with the law again and facing a terrifying truth.

When desperation drives him toward the frontier and leads to deadly action, John Henry is once again running for his life. As the story races from Dallas to Dodge City, from Denver to Trinidad and the Santa Fe Trail, he finds a new love affair, a new hero to follow -- and an old enemy eager for a reckoning. Gone West is the story of a how a gentleman becomes an outlaw, how an outlaw becomes a lawman, and how a Southern son named John Henry becomes a legend called Doc Holliday.