THE AMBUSH OF MY NAME
by Jeffery Marks
Silver Dagger Mysteries - April 2001
ISBN: 1570721858 - Trade Paperback
Historical Mystery - 1865, Georgetown, Ohio
When General Ulysses
Grant returns to Georgetown, Ohio where he grew up he expects to be hailed
as a hero. But as soon as he sets foot in the place people are calling
him a butcher and he finds a dead body in his hotel room. Who it is nobody
knows and he has to try to find out whodunit hampered by the fact his
disapproving wife has just bumped into his old flame, one of his bitterest
enemies from boyhood is running the telegraph office that just happens
to be having trouble and both a Pinkerton agent and a local reporter want
to help out. Suddenly fighting the Civil War doesn't seem so hard!
Marks knows the town
and its history like the back of his hand and it shows.
The book is a mite slow
to start despite the early finding of the body but it is an entertaining
read, managing to cut through the wealth of folklore that has grown up
around Grant to present him how he must have felt confronted with old
enemies and social superiors and dogged by the fact that his own father
is trying to cash in on his success and the fact that his role in the
war has made him enemies, not all of whom were Rebel sympathizers. The
denouement is surprising which was gratifying after a slow seeming build
up and taken as a whole this is a satisfying read.
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