February 1, 2020
As the fate of the American Revolution hangs in the balance, a dangerous intercontinental mission is launched. By 1769, Scottish exile Duncan McCallum (Blood of the Oak, 2018, etc.) has become an increasingly important player in the Colonial struggle for liberty. He's gone to the wilderness of Kentucky at the behest of Benjamin Franklin, who sent him a letter asking him to dig up some valuable relics and bring them to him in London. How can Duncan refuse? When Duncan's friend Ezra dies in the midst of the excavation, it can't immediately be determined whether his death was an accidental drowning or a murder. Daniel Boone, who's among the company, insists that Ezra was attacked, a foreshadowing of the danger (and the historical cameos) Duncan will encounter on his mission. Duncan's friend Chief Catchoka reports that several members of his family have also been killed. Duncan encounters many obstacles on his odyssey to the eastern coast, but a bright light is cast by his brief reunion with his beloved, Sarah Ramsey. Patriot Charles Thomson at first agrees to help with Duncan's passage to London but loses his resolve when evidence emerges of a much larger conspiracy against Duncan's mission. In fact, everyone who helps him seems to become the target of ruthless killers. On the eve of his departure, Duncan awakens to find one of his closest allies and confidants dead beside him. The imprisonment of his best friend, Conawago, at Bedlam asylum in London enrages Duncan and spurs him to complete his mission as Franklin himself takes center stage in assisting his new friend. Pattison's sixth Revolutionary mystery has a strong period feel and abundant historical detail.
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Starred review from February 17, 2020
Set in 1769, Edgar-winner Pattison’s sixth mystery featuring Scottish exile Duncan McCallum (after 2018’s Savage Liberty) surpasses the high bar set by the previous five adventures. McCallum serves as a link between the Sons of Liberty and Native American tribes (who call him Deathspeaker for his ability to uncover clues from the bodies of murder victims) in the Kentucky wilderness, where a team, which includes frontiersman Daniel Boone, is excavating giant fossils. McCallum is there at the request of Benjamin Franklin, who in a letter to McCallum expresses his fear that the British will make membership in the Sons of Liberty a capital offense. McCallum’s delivery of the fossils to Franklin in London, the future founding father claims, will help the American colonists’ cause. Meanwhile, McCallum must solve the murder of a member of the excavation party, down whose throat someone has thrust another Franklin letter. Pattison keeps the suspense high throughout. This triumphant combination of whodunit and deeply researched history should help this gifted author get the wider audience he richly deserves. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary.
March 27, 2020
The latest installment in Pattison's excellent "Bone Rattler" series (after Savage Liberty) combines solid historical research with superb storytelling. The year is 1769, and stakes are high. Unless the king intervenes, his war council plans to garrison Boston and New York with troops to put an end to the grumblings of the Sons of Liberty and close down an unidentified agent who's stealing English manufacturing secrets and smuggling them into America. It's not time yet for full-out rebellion. The colonists want for their complaints to be aired, but their enemies in England have already branded them as traitors. Duncan McCallum--exiled from Scotland as a Jacobite, indentured in the colonies, whipped at the post alongside slaves, accepted by the Iroquois as truth-seeker--sets out for London to deliver the bones of giant prehistoric animals to Benjamin Franklin, who hopes to use them to secure a private meeting with the king. But London is perilous for Duncan and his friends and allies, some of whom are incarcerated in Bedlam, and Duncan's worst enemy is getting closer. VERDICT Satisfying as both action thriller and as history, this exciting mystery should also appeal to lovers of historical fiction.--David Keymer, Cleveland
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