Uncle Sam, Detective

"Uncle Sam, Detective" by William Atherton DuPuy is a story about Billy Gard, a special agent for the U.S. Department of Justice, and his work taking on criminals and others who defy the government. The story shows the difficulties law enforcement faces and the tough choices they must make to do what's right. We first meet Billy as he's getting ready to go after moonshiners in the tough Cumberlands, where the local police haven't been able to stop them. Billy, a regular-looking but determined young agent, goes into danger alone, hoping to get help from people like Sam Lunsford, a mountain man who survived being attacked because he was against illegal whiskey making. As Billy finds clues and gains the trust of the locals, he looks into a murder connected to the moonshiners, which shows how complicated his job really is. The story is full of adventure and crime-solving, and it looks closely at the social problems of the time.