Born of glaciers and turbulent waters, wars and struggles of native peoples, Niagara was powered by the dreams of men and women seeking refuge in a new land. Yet for all its rare beauty and rugged pioneering spirit, the Niagara region has sometimes drifted into shadows, affording its seedier citizens the cover they needed to do their dastardly deeds. A plot to invade Canada, a Mafia stronghold, madness, murder and savagery all lie hidden in the region's...

Like the region's first inhabitants, the 'Cat People,' who made clothing from the mountain lions and panthers that they hunted, Western New Yorkers still savor the tradition of storytelling. Tales such as the 'Mail-Riding Mamma' of Chautauqua County, who carried both the post and her infant child above her head as she journeyed across perilously flooded creeks, and the Ossian Giant, who at age nineteen stood seven feet, six inches tall and weighed...