Click Here To Purchase Devil's Den

Author: Timothy Ashby

Publisher: CreateSpace

ISBN-10:1456545248    ISBN-13: 978-1456545246

 

The title of this historical novel takes its name from a pivotal location on the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania battlefield. It’s also the place where, in the opening scene, a Civil War veteran is murdered in 1923 for, apparently, something that happened 60 years before. Seth Armitage, and agent of the Bureau of Investigation (forerunner to the FBI) is assigned the case and quickly learns this is no simple murder investigation.

A number of characteristics distinguish this engaging novel. For one matter, author Ashby is splendid at weaving three historical periods together including events during the Civil War, World War I, and contemporary events during the investigation. He does this by creating very memorable scenes and vivid descriptions. For example, when Armitage comes to Gettysburg to begin his hunt, he walks across the field where Pickett’s charge took place and where two of his ancestors died. In his mind, he relives Pickett’s Charge while jumping back-and-forth in time to his own battlefield experiences in France during World War I.       This both establishes a background to his own character as well as deepening the theme of the cycles of history. In another section, Armitage relives his time as an undercover agent infiltrating the Klu Klux Klan which, again, gives readers a sense of his law enforcement credentials as well as setting the stage for events later in the book.

This sort of mirroring occurs with the two conspiracies Armitage finds himself uncovering—one that took place back in 1963 and another that is shaping and corrupting the investigation he has undertaken. At the heart of both is one man—once a Union officer, now a powerful U.S. Senator pulling the strings of Armitage’s boss. Keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings is Deputy Director J. Edgar Hoover who has an agenda of his own. Then there’s the daughter of a murdered vet who becomes Armitage’s lover, colleague, and a figure of mystery herself. For good measure, Ashby throws in a young Charles Lindberg to ferry Armitage to remote American towns in the days before jet-setting was possible, in the days when finger-printing suspects is still cutting-edge technology.

Tim Ashby has succeeded in crafting a believable series of settings and characters that take Armitage from Washington D.C. to Leavenworth, Kansas to the deep South while uncovering murders both on and off the battlefield. One can hope that Seth Armitage and that leggy lady of his will return . . .


Click Here To Purchase Devil's Den