No Certain Rest
The Battle of Antietam was the most violent single day in the history of the American Civil War. More Americans were killed in this one day of fighting than in any other single twenty-four hour time period in the recorded history of the American continent. This fact of America’s past is well understood by Don Spaniel, an archaeologist with the US Parks Department. His job becomes more complicated when a new body of a Federal officer is unearthed on the battlefield. The body and its location lead Spaniel to believe murder played a role in the battle. The search for a killer (or for the killers) leads Spaniel to relatives of the Union officer and his regiment, who have spent the intervening years keeping one another at arms’ length.
The search for truth is an interesting one and will interest both the Civil War buff as well as those interested in modern day investigation techniques. In the end, the story is not as captivating as one would hope. The novel is Lehrer’s thirteenth, and a reader may be forgiven for expecting more in the way of plot and character from a writer as experienced and polished as Lehrer.
