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

Suzanne Adair (Author)

Book Description

Book #3 of Suzanne Adair's Mysteries of the American Revolution Trilogy.

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, North Carolina 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 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

Originally published by Whittler's Bench Press.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Product Details

• File Size: 661 KB
• Print Length: 400 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00318DBKE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,143 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 44 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Women's Roles in the Revolutionary War September 28, 2011

By J. L. Chase

Format:Kindle Edition

Plot/Storyline: 4 ˝ Stars

This is a great storyline with lots of twists and turns in the plot to keep you on the edge of your seat. I really liked the way the author developed the story by feeding the reader pieces of the plot an inch at a time. This type of plot allows you to be interested and to wonder what on earth is going to happen next. Ms. Adair gives you just enough hints to engage your mind in the mystery of Helen's life. You are always wondering who is trustworthy, who is a scoundrel and who is worthy of love and admiration.

The violence is kept to an acceptable minimum, and Helen's love interests are handled with a sense of refinement. The book is written as a true cliff-hanger, but there are just a few too many convenient coincidences. These unfortunate occurrences are the difference between a great and an excellent mystery. They can be, however, what the reader cheers for. Therefore, I can't really complain too much.

Character Development: 5 Stars

Helen, the woman about whom the book is written, rises from an English peasant woman to a genteel lady through an arranged and slavish marriage. She fears to face her humble beginnings and remember the character of the woman she once was. Through her struggles to confront the past, we see her character in all its strengths and weaknesses. We see the love she has for the people who have helped her gain and maintain her status, and we see the devotion, love and loyalty she elicits from them in return.

Lieutenant Dunstan Fairfax is the counterpoint and protagonist against whom Helen must fight. He loves no one and no one loves him. His beginnings are almost as humble as Helen's and Ms. Adair uses his character to draw a malevolent contrast to Nell's (Helen's) story. His cruel appearance and haughty demeanor is used to define him. With a detailed look at his behavior, the author gives you clues to his frightening psychological profile. You see this man through Helen's eyes, and what you see is very disturbing.

There is a knight in not-so shiny armor, three loyal and devoted companions/servants, a completely self-absorbed Earl in charge of the Loyalist Army and many other minor characters in this novel. Two spies and one publisher have links to Helen's dead husband and are shown for the greedy individuals they truly are. Ms. Adair also featured, in its truest sense, "a camp follower" who is only there for the pleasure of the Red Coat's commander, Colonel Banastre Tarleton. The other people who make up an army's traveling retinue are given short character sketches which make them come alive to the reader and give you an understanding of the type of people involved in the exacting struggles of the Revolutionary War.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

Ms. Adair is adept with words. Her style is smooth and the words roll off the page with ease and efficiency. She has a good command of the English language and it shows. Her words are exact and precise in descriptions and dialogue. The author ably gives the reader the ambience of every scene and thorough, colorful descriptions of the settings for the novel. She knows how to concisely convey her message. There is fluidity to the story. She doesn't sacrifice the mystery for the majesty of the written word. It was an extremely easy read, and I enjoyed it very much. I'm hoping she will write more of Helen's story.

Editing: 4 Stars

This is the point at which the book takes a decline in quality. There were several little errors that kept cropping up in the text. Letters or words were left out or added in a few places. Example: "Why was it was so damned cold in her cot?" It was also annoying to me that the author continually referred to Earl Cornwallis as "the" Earl Cornwallis. As any Englishman will tell you, you don't use `the' before Earl. Another example for consideration was the use of the wrong word in a sentence. Example: "No editor named Samuel Kerr had organizing the assignment."

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An engrossing read March 14, 2012

By Lucinda Smith

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Even though I'm not a historical fiction junkie, I thoroughly enjoyed this story about a young widow, Helen Chiswell, trying to eke out a living during Revolutionary War times. She accepts an assignment from her boss at the local newspaper, posing as an officer's sister so she can follow Colonel Banastre Tarleton of His Majesty's army in the colonies, and supposedly write an article for a London newspaper about the famous Colonel. Helen is surrounded by betrayal and deceit, and not only must protect herself from her "brother" (who is a fascinatingly depraved character), but also discovers that she must deal with the fallout from the true, and more sinister, reason behind her assignment. But by that time she is well ensconced with the Legion and vows to find a publisher for her story. In the meantime, she struggles to regain the spirit of her younger self--a self that has been quashed by necessity for twelve years--and draws on talents and strengths developed in her early years to carry out her task as secret reporter, and to stay alive.

As Helen discovers more about herself, she is also able to admit to the true love in her life (another well-drawn character). I found myself engrossed in Helen's story from the very start and continued to be fully involved throughout. The only problem was that the ending surprised me. I thought there would be more. But, I guess that means I have to find the next book! I would recommend this book. The characters have depth and the writing flows with beautiful language and wonderful descriptions. I was intrigued by the historical aspects and became immersed in learning about "camp followers." The mystery is complex and there are several sub themes. I was always rooting for Helen.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well told tale September 4, 2012

By Pat

Format:Paperback

Nell Grey, "tough, scrappy, and common born," is procured as a wife by a British merchant setting sail to the Americas. On the journey across the ocean, she is tutored in the ways of a gentlewoman. By the time she lands in North Carolina, she is Mrs. Helen Chiswell, a woman of means.

Alas, within a few years, she is the widowed Mrs. Chiswell, swindled out of her estate by a publisher.

To keep body and soul together, Helen is reduced to embroidering petticoats for the gentry and writing society pieces for the publisher. When he offers her the chance to write a feature on Colonel Tarleton by traveling with the British Legion posing as the older sister of the brutish Lieutenant Fairfax, Helen suspects that all is not as it appears.

However, in dire need of funds, Helen agrees and sets out on an adventure that includes accusations of hiding rebels and their encrypted messages, betrayals, deceit, double-crosses, heart-pounding enounters and a desperate search for that "tough, scrappy" woman she once was.

A well told story about a gutsy Revolutionary woman.

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.