Customer Reviews

GunShy, A Baltimore Historical Mystery

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Talented author Louis Titchener opens a door into Baltimore's past and beckons you to follow. And follow you will, willingly into a world of excitement and intrigue that threatens to undo Oliver Redcastle's plans to start a new life. Oliver, ex-Pinkerton man, has brought his daughter to Baltimore to find a more stable life style and put his days as a man hunter behind him. However, fate has other plans for him, plans that involve a return to the work he wants to leave in the past, a mysterious woman who seeks work as a detective, a railroad employee who is sure he can learn to be a detective, and most importantly, a case stemming from a horrid railroad accident that killed three important men. Or was it an accident? That seems to be the question. And men such as J. D. Rockefeller want it resolved quickly. When Oliver demurs, J. D. says he will take the case or else... The case turns out to be a lot more complicated than it seemed, with someone taking shots at Oliver, people turning out to be other than they seem, a cat burglar who lives the good life, threats against the President, and Oliver learns family secrets he wished he hadn't. It seems the past won't stay buried for anyone. A well-told tale that will keep you reading and make you glad you did. A great combination of characters and their motivations bring to life a fun read that is a pleasant way to spend the time. This is a book I can highly recommend to any reader. Enjoy. I certainly did. And I'll be looking for Ms. Titchener's next book.

When Oliver Redcastle inherits his aunt's red brick row house in Baltimore, he decides to retire from law enforcement and take his daughter and settle down in a safer occupation. But when the president of B&O calls him to help solve a murder in which three men were killed when a train car was struck by a runaway coal car. Oliver tries to convince him that he is in Baltimore to start a new business that doesn't involve law but, like everyone else he meets, the president thinks that he is there to start his own detective agency. So he agrees to handle just this one case but the next thing he knows a young woman shows up on his doorstep wanting to work for his detective agency. When he fails to convince her that he is only working one case, he agrees to let her help him with this one case. As he begins to search for clues as to the killer's identity, he soon learns that all three of the men had enemies, including his own cousin. And to make his own life more difficult, he is having to get acquainted with his daughter, whose mother died recently and he didn't know she existed until then.

Set in Baltimore of 1882, Tichner has created not only a well-written mystery with plots and sub-plots winding around each other until they all merge into a wonderful puzzler. Oliver has to not only deal with the usual riff-raff of the criminal world but also with the emotions and anger left over from the Civil War. This is a novel that will appeal to history, civil war and mystery buffs alike.