Camp Follower: A Mystery of the American Revolution [Kindle Edition]

Suzanne Adair (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A deadly assignment. A land poisoned by treachery and battle. She plunged in headfirst.
 
Late in 1780, the publisher of a loyalist magazine in Wilmington, NorthCarolina offers an amazing assignment to Helen Chiswell, his society page writer. Pose as the widowed, gentlewoman sister of a British officer in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, travel to the encampment of the British Legion in the Carolina backcountry, and write a feature on Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton. But Helen's publisher has secret reasons for sending her into danger. And because Helen, a loyalist, has ties to a family the redcoats suspect as patriot spies, she comes under suspicion of a brutal, brilliant British officer. At the bloody Battle of Cowpens, Helen must confront her past to save her life.

Praise for Camp Follower, nominated for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Historical Mystery/Suspense Award and the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction:

"Adair wrote another superb story." -- Armchair Interviews

"Full of details, a unique historical perspective, an elaborate plot, and outstandingly strong characters, Camp Follower is a historical mystery with something to please everyone." -- No Name Café

"Adair takes her reader on an exciting adventure, filled with historical fact wrapped around an intriguing plot." -- The Midwest Book Review

"The smells, sights, and sounds of the Revolutionary War in the Carolina Back Country have nowhere been better depicted than in this thrilling novel of conflict and suspense. Suzanne Adair is a gifted storyteller, and her latest book deserves a wide audience." -- John Buchanan, author of The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 653 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00318DBKE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,977 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Award-winning novelist Suzanne Adair is a Florida native who lives in a two hundred-year-old city at the edge of the North Carolina Piedmont, named for an English explorer who was beheaded. Her suspense and thrillers transport readers to the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War, where she brings historic towns, battles, and people to life. She fuels her creativity with Revolutionary War reenacting and visits to historic sites. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking, dancing, hiking, and spending time with her family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Midwest Book Review, December 2, 2008

By 

Christy Tillery French "reviewer/writer" (Powell, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Camp Follower (Paperback)

Sold at the age of 17 to a colonial merchant, Helen Chiswell soon finds herself widowed after her husband is killed in a duel. Since her husband's death, Helen barely makes a living writing a society column for a Wilmington newspaper. When her publisher offers financial compensation to travel to the British Legion encampment to interview and write about Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, Helen quickly agrees. Although the funds promised are much needed, Helen is excited at the chance to prove her worth as a journalist. Lt. Dunstan Fairfax, aware Helen's lover is David St. James, a renowned rebel, is more than willing for Helen to pose as his sister while she travels with him into the backcountry of North Carolina. Helen embarks on a treacherous journey, unaware that her publisher has devious reasons for sending her into danger and that Fairfax is intent on proving her a spy while capturing St. James.

Adair takes her reader on an exciting adventure, filled with historical fact wrapped around an intriguing plot. Once more, Dunstan Fairfax does not disappoint as the bloodthirsty British officer who delights in torture and murder. Helen Chiswell makes for an interesting character, a woman dealing with demons from her past while trying to make the best of the situation she has been forced into.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent offering from a skilled novelist, October 19, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camp Follower (Paperback)

Camp Follower, set in the time of the Revolutionary war, is the story of a flawed woman who starts life impoverished and abused. As a result of events she has no control over; she becomes a wealthy merchant's wife-and within three years, an impoverished widow. After many years of struggling she is offered the opportunity to regain some semblance of financial security. But to gain it she must embark on a dangerous assignment, the likes of which no woman of her time has ever taken on. She must follow one of the most ferocious military regiment of the Revolution.

As she travels with the regiment she not only has to adapt to the harsh life of civilians traveling with the military, but also has to navigate the murky waters of treachery, spies, and military politics. Intertwined is the mystery surrounding several murders that occurred right before she embarked on her assignment, and the mysterious last words of one of the victims: "You realize they will kill Madame if they find it." She must determine if her life is in danger, and if so who is friend and who is foe. She must separate fact from selfish manipulations. Circumstances force her to face a past she'd rather forget and discover who she really is after so many years of pretending.

Camp Follower is an excellent novel; I highly recommend it to anyone. Author Adair weaves a superb tale, which held me enthralled from the first page. The culture of the Revolution is brought to life, and the tension caused by the mistrust of the loyalist, rebels, and neutrals of each other and themselves is palpable.

The most alluring aspect of the book is the inner struggle we watch the heroine go through. She is faced with painful childhood memories and people from long ago who shaped her in ways she never imagined. The real story isn't so much the things that happen, but the way she rises to the occasion time after time in strength and courage.

Suzan Adair is a talented author and I can't wait to read more of her work. Armchair Interviews says: Adair wrote another superb story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The web weaves larger, catching more up into it, March 22, 2011

By 

Debbie aka Cody Lee of C.C.Colee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camp Follower (Paperback)

Sigh...the saga seems over at this point (but hopefully not!). Like with the two previous books (Paper Woman and The Blacksmith's Daughter) I carried the book everywhere and any spare moment I was reading...or I was reading up into the wee hours of morning.

Camp Follower took me on a journey to see and experience the life of the folks who followed the troops during this time in our history. I found myself able to imagine quite vividly the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the day to day life the characters experience as they progress through this story. The characters were all very noteworthy and memorable, as usual. Once again I `see' familiar folks from the previous books and the web weaves larger, catching more up into it...including me.

This chapter of the story catches you up in the twisted vines of a continued plague of spies, then add in treacherous individuals from the past and present and of course let us not forget the dog eat dog world of military affairs! My `old friend' was back again....Lt. Fairfax....his repertoire knows no bounds! Scary to say that he almost became endearing to me....but not quite.

Three HUZZAHS for you, Ms. Adair! Long live your imagination--and your characters! Please write for us again!!!!

Deborah Rosenkrans, aka Cody Lee of C.C.Colee