Rheinbach’s Remedies

In Rheinbach's Remedies, we travel back in time to the high-water mark of the patent medicine era, when millions could be made from a good cure-all. Envious of the success of a local patent medicine kingpin, Dr. Franklin Rheinbach decides to concoct his own line of elixirs. All goes well—very well—for Dr. Rheinbach . . . until he finds that success and fame have their price.

Acclaimed author Robert Brighton, author of The Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mysteries and other titles, is “an expert storyteller, who deftly blends the fascinations of the period setting with unpredictability and suspense . . . Brighton’s narration celebrates our common humanity.” (Booklife)

“. . . The author is a talented storyteller, and it is hard to resist the very detailed and authentic world he creates.” — (Kirkus Reviews)

 

Praise for Rheinbach’s Remedies

 

"I LOVED this short story! It has everything I could have asked for. The storyline is immediately engaging, and so very thought-provoking. The characters experience highs and lows, and the end is a twist I didn’t see coming. Excellent." - Goodreads Reviewer

❦

“Funny, smart, beautifully researched, and ultimately rather moving. The ending got me.” - Amazon Reviewer

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"Just like his other evocative novels, it slipped me right into the Gilded Age period with a completely original story and characters that I felt I immediately knew and understood - incredible in such a few pages." - Goodreads Reviewer

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"Thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening! A Must-Read. The story was fast paced and intelligent, the history was compelling, and the ending . . . blew me away!" - Goodreads Reviewer

READER QUESTIONS and AUTHOR ANSWERS

If a character from your story suddenly found themselves in the present day, what do you think they’d be most fascinated—or horrified—by?

Just about everything, with possible exceptions being the space program/moon landings, NASCAR, and professional wrestling.

 

Was there a particular sensory detail—like a smell, texture, or sound—that helped anchor you in the setting as you wrote?

Cigar smoke. I don't smoke cigars myself, but there's something rather evocative about their smoke. There's a grace and flow to it that cigarettes, for example, don't have.

 

Did writing this story challenge any of your own assumptions about the past—or even about people in general? 

Every story set in a past era compels one to examine and challenge one's own contemporary views. This one was no different.

 

 

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