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ships being used to combat the extensive colonial smuggling of molasses that was going on to avoid the payment of import taxes. In 1772, more than sixteen months before the Boston Tea Party, Rhode Islanders attacked a grounded revenue schooner, burned it to the waterline and shot the skipper. The British, naturally outraged by this overt act of piracy and murder, sent the twenty-gun frigate Rose to bring this under control.
Under Captain Wallace, the Rose proved quite effective in suppressing the illegal traffic on Narragansett Bay. The Rose played a prominent role in Nelson's first book of the trilogy, as it does in this one. Indeed, the names of all the ships and their relative positions are historically accurate. The shortage of powder that faced Washington when he took over the command of the undisciplined New England militias in 1775 was very real. He had been led to believe that much more powder was available than was actually the case, a mistake having been made by a quartermaster, who underestimated supplies by a factor of ten.
This powder shortage forms the basis for the plot that Nelson has deftly created --indeed, his stories and writing rival that of Kent and Forester. Our hero, the reluctant rebel merchant, Captain Isaac Biddlecomb, is persuaded, mostly by his fiery girlfriend Virginia, to embark on a mission to steal a substantial British supply of powder supposedly stored on Bermuda Island. Aboard the Charlemagne (one of the few fictional creations in the book) he sails into a trap and is captured. He deftly mails a letter to Virginia that contains a series of hidden hints about the traitor who has betrayed the mission. The double-crosser is none other than a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, Metcalf Bowler, who was playing both sides so he would be on the winning side no matter the outcome. The nature of his treachery did not come to light until the 1920s when historians had occasion to look carefully at his correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton.
The powder shortage was alleviated thanks to the capture of the ordnance brig Nancy (Mayor of Plymouth in the story), and the rest is history. Nelson has done a very nice job of creating a good story around this historical situation.
Siberian Light
Robin White
Paperback Collection
Robin White was the co-author of the non-fiction Hostile Waters (VA575.K14 H83 1997 Cassette) that I enjoyed so much. He has also written several excellent thrillers. He lived in Russia for several years, and inevitably is interested in Russian affairs so his books reflect that partiality. Siberian Light has recreated a nightmarish vision of an economy in collapse through the story of a Russian mayor and an American zoologist who become ensnared in the collision of corrupt cultures while searching for a murderer.
Andre Ryzkhov, a wealthy American employed by AmerRuss, a Russuan-American collaboration attempting to exploit Siberia's vast oil reserves, is discovered brutally murdered.. The two militiamen called to the scene by a neighbor complaining about Ryzkhov's dog who won't cease barking, are also killed when they arrive at the scene.
The local mayor, Gregori Nowek,a geologist by training, is placed in charge of the investigation to replace the militia commander who had been killed by smugglers. (Nowek's campaign poster showed his photograph peering down at pictures of previous mayors above the slogan, "Be Honest! Can I Do Any Worse?")
Suspicion for the murders soon falls on Dr. Anna Vereskaya, an American scientist doing research on the habitat of rare tigers which have been exported to Sibera in hopes they will be able to establish themselves. Unfortunately, man, the ultimate predator, has been attacking them even here to collect their pelts and bones that sell for huge prices in Asian countries. The murders and the tiger poachers become entwined so the mayor and environmentalist are forced to collaborate to discover the murderer. To complicate matters, her tracking station cameras have captured on tape the image of a man who should be thousands of miles away, and there are those in power who need to prevent the knowledge of where than man came from from becoming known.
White is a very good story teller who keeps the pages turning. His ultimate message is hopeful despite the economic and social chaos
"A Conservative is one who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others."
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
The Killing of Reinhard Heydrich, The SS Butcher of Prague
Callum MacDonald
DD247 .H42M33 1998
Reinhard Heydrich was the commander of the hated German SD (Sicherheitsdienst or political security service). On June 9, 1942, he was assassinated by the Czech resistence in a stunning blow against the Nazis.
Heydrich was your typical bully who craved power. Insecure because of his father's failures and his
(Continued on page 5)
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