The Demon Redcoat
In this third book in the Traitor to the Crown series, Proctor Brown is still fighting the Covenant, the slippery organization that is working to defeat the bid for freedom by the American colonies. Proctor and Lydia, an ex-slave who also has powers, leave for the Continent, where the leader of the Covenant is reputed to be, at the request of General Washington. They attach themselves to John Adams’s party for the journey but are considered most unwelcome travelling companions, as Proctor is forced to pretend that Lydia is his slave. After spending time with Benjamin Franklin at his house outside Paris, they make their way to London, which seems to be the locus of the Covenant’s power. There, they align themselves with Lord Gordon, who is fighting the Covenant in order to protect the king, only to find that this has unfortunate consequences for Proctor.
Learning more about the real characters and some of the true forces at work during the tail end of the Revolution was interesting, and it was easy to separate the actual from the fantastic. Deborah, Proctor’s wife, stays home on the farm during his travels and is much less in evidence during this book’s adventures. This last entry in the series tended to move more slowly than the first two, but those who have read the earlier entries will want to know how everything turns out.
