Starred review from November 23, 2009
Few writers can combine history and mystery as well as Edgar-winner Pattison, as shown in the sequel to 2007's Bone Rattler
, which introduced Duncan McCallum, a Scot who becomes an unlikely detective in 18th-century North America. In 1760, McCallum and his close friend, Conawago, a Jesuit-trained member of the Nipmuc tribe, stumble into a case with potentially far-reaching repercussions for a peace treaty between the Iroquois and the British. When the pair find a prominent Virginia militia commander, Winston Burke, nailed to a tree with a gear wheel stuck in his chest, Conawago becomes a suspect in the man's murder. Burke turns out to be but the latest victim of a killer who's targeted surveyors sent to map the Pennsylvania wilderness. While Burke's vengeful friends are eager for swift frontier justice, McCallum works frantically to uncover the truth. Evocative language, tight plotting, and memorable characters make this a standout.
Starred review from January 1, 2010
With a bounty on his head, courageous truth-seeker Duncan McCallum, indentured survivor of the British massacre of his Highland clan brutally conveyed to the New World in Bone Rattler (2007), undertakes another treacherous investigation. Like Shan, the Chinese inspector in Pattisons revelatory Tibetan mystery series, Duncan feels a profound connection to the imperiled indigenous people he meets, especially Conawago, a Nipmuc spiritual leader. He and Conawago are on a healing quest in the war-torn woodlands of the Iroquois Empire when they discover one in a series of ritualized murders involving surveyors and Indian shrine trees. Drawing on his passion for buried history and unique spiritual sensibility, Pattison turns a gripping mystery into a lens onto the North American conquest, bringing into focus the cruel complexity of the land grabs rampant in 1760 as conflicts intensify among various Indian tribes, the French, and the English; runaway slaves seek sanctuary; and Quakers strive for justice. Transcendent friendships, Benjamin Franklins experiments with electricity, and comic relief add dimension as Pattison maps the sacred geography of the woodlands and evokes the immense suffering of those who truly have the right to call them home. With high suspense and gritty lyricism, Pattison confronts mysteries human and cosmic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)