The Journey of the Snake
In 1780, the American Revolutionary War against the Brits roils on land and water. Twenty-three-year-old Charlotte Savatier travels from Quebec to Charleston, where she grew up. Charlotte’s husband, Emile, an attorney in the British army, is already in Charleston investigating the murder of a French prisoner. On arrival, Charlotte learns Emile died just days before. Now the Charleston Head of Police, who reports only to the King of England, wants Charlotte to take over Emile’s investigation. Charlotte had been a legal assistant to Emile in Quebec. Motivated by revenge, Charlotte accepts the assignment.
Ten years before, wealthy Charleston citizen and now police major Don Pawsworthy had framed Charlotte’s parents for crimes they did not commit. After she watched them hang, her Uncle George grabbed her and fled to Quebec. Charlotte’s other uncle, Gabriel, is now the lead doctor in Charleston treating rampant pox diseases, but he also experiments with home-brewed inoculations. She and her uncles are part of the local Wacataw Indian tribe with its different views of people and the world. Brilliant, fluent in multiple languages, persistent, and a keen judge of people, Charlotte navigates around additional murders, traitors, smallpox deaths, and Pawsworthy.
The way people lived, worked and traveled, their hygiene, housing, and food all ring true. Many descriptions of war’s carnage, nudity, sexuality, and tortures are not for the faint of heart. Stinger plants and electric shocks through Leyden jars play important roles in this intricate crime thriller. Readers can easily visualize the main characters, though the loyalties of some remain hidden until near the end. Unfortunately, modern-day words take us out of the story settings: “boobs,” “look how cute you are,” hair in a “high updo.” Overall, this is an intense cross-cultural immersion in a conflicted time and place.
