Original Death - Duncan McCallum #3
Eliot Pattison
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Summary
Scottish exile Duncan McCallum has joined his old Indian companion Conawago on a quest to find the last surviving members of his tribe. But when they find the little settlement of Christian Indians destroyed, its inhabitants ritually murdered, Conawago becomes convinced of a terrible crisis in the spirit world that he must resolve. Duncan is soon accused by the British army of having committed the massacre. Hounded by vengeful soldiers, he also finds himself stalked by Scottish rebels who are trying to manipulate the war between the French and the British to their advantage. As Duncan pieces together the puzzle of violence and deception, he realizes that the survival of the native tribes hangs in the balance. Duncan must finally make a fateful choice between his beloved Highland clans and the natives who have embraced and protected him. The third book in The Bone Rattler series throws the reader into the heart of pre-Revolutionary America. Praise for Original Death… "[R]ich in period detail, [Original Death] is often somber and unblinking in its portrayal of a dark period in history." — Kirkus "Pattison pays tribute to the conventions of the murder mystery without sacrificing excitement or a nuanced look at the final stage of the war between the British and the French for control of North America." — Publishers Weekly "The excellent prose narrative goes right to the matter in question, the state of the (pre-Colonial) human heart." — The Chicago Tribune ELIOT PATTISON is the author of The Skull Mantra, winner of an Edgar Award and finalist for The Gold Dagger; Water Touching Stone; Bone Mountain; Beautiful Ghosts; Prayer of the Dragon; Bone Rattler; The Lord of Death, and most recently Eye of the Raven. Pattison resides in rural Pennsylvania with his wife, three children, two horses, and two dogs on a colonial-era farm.