How much guilt can a man endure? How much depravity can a man display? These questions are examined in the fresh new novel, The Darkness at Dawn, set in early New England. When 13-year-old John Lee sees 19-year-old Richard Hawkes, already a petty thief and murderer, steal his Puritan church’s gold inlaid chalice during a storm in the middle of the Atlantic on their congregation’s journey to Boston, he has no idea that it would be followed by a 40 year conflict between them. Sworn to secrecy by Richard, John’s guilt grows over the years as he watches Richard commit vile acts in his effort to increase his power and wealth.