The Gold of Cape Girardeau
Morley Swingle has written a fast-paced, gripping example of historical fiction, which takes place in both the present and the years before and during the American Civil War. The struggle for entitlement to a recently uncovered “treasure trove” beneath Allison Culbertson’s client’s home sets up the tension for some unsettling courtroom drama, but also brings the reader back in time to Cape Girardeau’s golden days of steamboating. Here is where we meet Lindy and John, Patrick O’Malley (John’s ‘pseudo’ uncle), Horace Calxton (a most malicious villain), and a host of flawed and well-dimensioned characters.
Swingle unquestionably has a gift for both storytelling and research, and illustrates his characters’ strengths and blemishes with a genuine flourish. How did the “treasure trove” get there? Why is a skeleton with an obvious bullet hole in his head buried next to it? Does the gold belong to Culbertson’s client or Claxton’s descendants? With these electrifying questions, all linked with a wonderful romance that flows into a tragic telling of one man’s insight into the Civil War, this novel is very highly recommended.
