From Publishers Weekly
The Virginia Peninsula campaign of 1862 serves as backdrop for Monfredo's latest Seneca Falls mystery, a smooth blend of romance, history and suspense, though familiarity with the previous book in the series, Sisters of Cain (2000), is essential to a full understanding of the action here. Series heroine Bronwen Llyr, a Union spy, faces the challenge of saving her brother, Seth, after he's captured by Confederates and confined in Richmond's notorious Libby Prison. Recognized as Bronwen's brother, he's accused of spying and sentenced to hang. Seth's attempted rescue forms the spine of the plot, which also hinges on the safe movement of English tobacco from Richmond warehouses. In the meantime, the other Llyr sister, Kathryn, a nurse in the Sanitary Commission assigned to the Union army, goes about her grisly duties in field hospitals where amputations are almost the only surgery. As the sisters move through the ubiquitous mud between Union and Confederate territory, they encounter various historical figures, both major and minor, who add to the authentic background. The author tends to simplify the business of spying, and her pacing can be uneven in particular, she crowds too much into the novel's final 50 pages (in which the resourceful Bronwen's ability to throw a knife from a distance to pin an assailant's arm comes in handy). But if there are some hasty explanations and unresolved issues at the end, Monfredo's fans can look forward to further enlightenment in the next installment of this generally well-crafted series with a provocative feminist take on the Civil War era.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
In 1862 Virginia, during the tumultuous "Seven Days" battles of the Peninsula Campaign, federal troops prepare to capture Richmond. Undercover agent Bronwen Llyr is working with her sister Kathryn, a volunteer nurse for the Union Army, when they learn that their brother has been taken as a prisoner-of-war. Now, Bronwen must engineer his flight from prison before the date set for his hanging. But as time escapes her, so too does hope for her young brother.
As the harsh reality of war burns all too close to home, it is the sisters who fight for the brothers in their own battle of right and wrong, of love and war...
Praise for the Seneca Falls Historical Mystery Series:
"Seneca Falls is our perfect mirror for viewing the American women and men of the 1860s" (
Chicago Tribune)
"[Monfredo] is at her best pulling plot twists out of actual events. Her research is evident of every page. (
Publishers Weekly)
"Written beautifully, richly satisfying both to the head and to the heart." (Anne Perry)
