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The Fitzgerald Ruse
A Sam Blackman novel, No. 2

by Mark de Castrique

     

Sam Blackman, former military CIA officer, and his lover, Nakayla Robertson, have set up a detective agency in Nashville, Tennessee.

Their first client is Ethel Barkley, an elderly woman from a local retirement home. She claims to have an unpublished manuscript by F. Scott Fitzgrerald in her lockbox. She wants Blackman to retrieve the lockbox so she can return the manuscript to Fitzgerald's heirs. Before he can retrieve the manuscript his office is broken into, the security guard killed and the lockbox stolen. It seems that the manuscript contains information about an American fascist organization that flourished in the 1930s and may have roots in the present.

Sam and Nakayla have to look into the past to find the connection to the murder and theft. They become the target of a Blackwater mercenary with whom Blackman had dealings in his military past. Before the two have made much progress Ethel Barclay is murdered. They must escalate their search for the reason behind this murder before any further tragedy occurs.

The Fitzgerald Ruse is the story of past history and its influence on a famous writer. The combination of Blackman and Robertson is a good one with comfortable banter between the two, The glimpses of Scott Fitzgerald are intriguing. The background of the history of the American fascist movement is informative. This is a little known or researched subject.

This is the second Blackman novel and we hope for more in the future.

The Book

Poisoned Pen Press
August 2009
Hardcover
9781590586297
Mystery
More at Amazon

The Reviewer

Barbara Buhrer
Reviewed 2009
© 2009 MyShelf.com