Customer Reviews

The Accidental Spy

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**** An Entertaining Read. Recommended.
Review by Douglas Quinn, The Webb Sawyer Mysteries, The Ellis Family Thrillers and Cornelius: The Orphan, Historical Fiction/Adventure

This is Lindermuth's second novel of historical fiction, the first being Watch the Hour. As usual, this book is filled with colorful characters, all of whom, as circumstances and opportunities arise, tend to use each other to further their own agendas, causes and schemes. As with Watch the Hour, the author has served up a story with a made-for-television melodramatic quality to it. Personally, I would like to have seen a little more meat on the plate.

The Accidental Spy is set during the American Revolution in eastern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. While most writers concentrate on the epic events of the time, here the author offers a glimpse of individuals who worked behind the scenes to undermine the grand campaigns of both the Americans and the British. It is tough, gritty and sometimes tragic.

Dan McCracken, who goes by other names when it is convenient to do so, is a con man who lives by his wits and off of others' fears and superstitions. His luck runs out and he is arrested. Soon, however, he finds an opportunity to escape. He flees to Philadelphia where he soon finds himself embroiled in some behind-the-scenes activity of a group of Tory sympathizers with a plan to undermine the American rebels' efforts to dislodge themselves from British rule.

There are many twists and turns, including duplicity and subterfuge, which are all up Dan McCracken's alley. In addition to the Tory spy cell, there are several conflicting love interests between the characters reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, which at first have an air of comedy and light-hearted hay-rolling, but later take tragic turns.

Will Dan McCracken continue his life of criminal activity, or will circumstances of which he has no control, a married woman with whom he has fallen in love and has little chance of fulfilling his desires, and an unexpected benefactor turn him toward a less adventurous but more productive future? The answer to that question will be for the readers to determine when they take on yet another entertaining read by J. R. Lindermuth. Recommended.

Confidence man Dan MacCracken travels with two comrades to the rough frontier where he pulls one scam too many and is arrested. His subsequent escape leads him into a whole new life.

He arrives in Philadelphia with no money and no prospects but fortune in the form of a pretty girl smiles on him and he follows her. Coincidental it is, but it is the home of a general in the Continental Army and Dan must pretend to be someone he is not, a soldier.

From here he becomes involved with royalists who practice all sorts of things to hurt the reolutionary cause and Dan is swept along in their wake. His sense of adventure carries him forward until there is a murder and he must rethink his predicament before he too is a victim.

Talented author J. R. Lindermuth has crafted a fun read with characters who seem very real and you'll find yourself following a pretty girl home from the market. You will attend meetings of gangs and enjoy the continuous action in a tale with well-done pacing and settings so well described, you'll be there. You'll smell the horse droppings and hear the racous noise of a growing city in its youth.

I'm very pleased to recommend this tale as one any reader will enjoy. It is a blend of mystery, adventure, romance, thievery -- all with constant movement to keep you reading as one event flows smoothly into the next.

Enjoy, I sure did.