The Ambush of My Name [Paperback]

Jeffrey Marks (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ulysses S. Grant Mysteries | Publication Date: June 1, 2001

When General Ulysses Grant returns to his hometown of Georgetown, Ohio just following the end of the Civil War, he gets an unexpected welcome. A stranger lies dead on their hotel bed.

Julia wants to press on with the tour, but Grant is unsure whether this was just a "prank" from the townspeople who would rather not see old "Useless" run for president or a warning tied to Southern sympathies. Along with the help of a local newspaper reporter and a Pinkerton agent assigned to protect Grant, Ulysses goes about trying to learn the truth about the killing, and the subsequent attempts on his own life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his first novel, The Ambush of My Name, Jeffrey Marks reimagines Ulysses S. Grant's post-war homecoming to Georgetown, Ohio, as a historical mystery. When Grant is met with hostility from many townspeople and with a corpse in his hotel room, he tracks the murderer to find out who wants to make trouble for him in the presidential elections.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Author

Jeffrey Marks was born in Georgetown, Ohio, the boyhood home of Ulysses S. Grant. Although he moved with his family at an early age, the family frequently told stories about Grant and the people of the small farming community.

At the age of twelve, he was introduced to the works of Agatha Christie via her short story collection, The Underdog and Other Stories. He finished all her books by the age of sixteen and had begun to collect mystery first editions.

After stints on the high school and college newspapers, he began to freelance. After numerous author profiles, he chose to chronicle the short but full life of mystery writer Craig Rice.

That biography (which comes out in the US in April 2001 as Who Was That Lady?) encouraged him to write mystery fiction. The Ambush of My Name is the first mystery novel by Marks to be published although he has several mystery short story anthologies on the market.

His work has won a number of awards including the Barnes and Noble Prize and he was nominated for a Maxwell award. Today, he writes from his home in Cincinnati, which he shares with his dog

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Product Details

• Paperback: 183 pages
• Publisher: Overmountain Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570721858
• ISBN-13: 978-1570721854
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,452,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder Grant, September 5, 2005

By 

Deborah Elliott-Upton (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ambush of My Name (Paperback)

Hiram Grant, re christened Ulysses S Grant by the U.S.Army, decides to revisit Georgetown, Ohio prior to the run for presidency his wife desires more than he. Fresh from the war, Grant is labeled hero by some and butcher by others. To his disappointment, a hero's welcome after a twenty-five year absence from his childhood hometown is withheld.
Escorted to the National Union hotel's best accommodations, Grant and his socially-conscious wife, Julia, discover their locked room's bed is already occupied -- by a dead man.
A single Confederate bill mixed with the dead man's belongings, an anxious young journalist aspiring to be the next Horace Greeley and an old flame resurfacing add to Grant's problems.
Following the recent assassination of the president and amid rumors of plans to kill Lincoln's entire cabinet, Grant is forced to confront the threats as viable. Much to Grant's distaste, a Pinkerton detective is sent as his body guard.
Jeffrey Marks proves his storytelling abilities worth the reader's time with THE AMBUSH OF MY NAME. Marks use of personality nuances of his characters make them seem like old acquaintances. We can feel the grit while we sidestep horse dung in the dust-filled streets. Caught up in the mystery, the reader delights in finding historical facts lead us not into a mere history lesson, but into an engaging hunt for clues to the superb resolution.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Marriage of Murder and History, August 12, 2005

By 

M. Schaeffer (Newark DE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ambush of My Name (Paperback)

Civil war buffs and mystery aficionados alike will be delighted with Jeffrey Mark's `The Ambush of My Name." By deftly weaving historical facts through the manuscript, he keeps his readers riveted right till the end.

A must-read for anyone looking for a captivating book

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good debut novel, August 12, 2005

By 

A. McGraw "M. McGraw" (Bullhead City, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ambush of My Name (Paperback)

In The Ambush of My Name, a story of Ulysses Grant and his wife Julia, Grant returns to his hometown expecting a hero's welcome. What he finds is a dead body waiting for him in his hotel room at the National Union.

He receives a second surprise when his childhood sweetheart, Adelaide Duncan, shows up unexpectedly and appears to be involved in some way.

With the help of a young reporter named Hart and a Pinkerton agent named Tyson, Grant tries to solve the mystery of who the dead man is and why he was murdered. Is the body left in Grant's room to sully his name? Could it have anything to do with the Lincoln assassination? The suspect list is relatively short, but as the story progresses things take a few twists and turns to keep you guessing, including attempts on Grant's life. The resolution to this story will, I think, surprise you.

I hope Jeffrey Marks might bring General Grant and his wife, Julia, back for a curtain call in future books. The characters, as Marks created them, were endearing and memorable. I was delighted with this debut novel and look forward to more stories by this author.

Marja McGraw