The King's Beast
A Mystery of the American Revolution
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- ¥1,600
発行者による作品情報
A simple task to retrieve some artifacts turns into a nightmare of deceit when Duncan McCallum finds himself the target of those obsessed with keeping America under British rule in this thrilling historical novel from an Edgar Award–winning author.
When Duncan McCallum is asked by Benjamin Franklin to retrieve an astonishing cache of fossils from the Kentucky wilderness, his excitement as a naturalist blinds him to his treacherous path. But as murderers stalk him Duncan discovers that the fossils of this American incognitum are not nearly as mysterious as the political intrigue driving his mission. The Sons of Liberty insist, without explaining why, that the only way to keep the king from pursuing a bloody war with America is for Duncan to secretly deliver the fossils to Franklin in London.
His journey becomes a maze of deceit and violence as he seeks the cryptic link between the bones and the king. Every layer that Duncan peels away invites new treachery by those obsessed with crushing American dissent. With each attempt on his life, Duncan questions the meaning of the liberty he and the Sons seek. His last desperate hope for survival, and the rescue of his aged native friend Conawago―imprisoned in Bedlam―requires the help of freed slaves, an aristocratic maiden, a band of street urchins, and the gods of his tribal allies.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
