Celtic Knot: A Clara Swift Tale

1868 Ottawa D'Arcy McGee is assassinated. As John A. Macdonald cradles his friend's bloody head, he blames transplanted Irish terrorists: the Fenian Brotherhood. Within a day, Patrick James Whelan is arrested. After a show trial, Whelan is publicly hanged. That much is history. Did Whelan do the deed? What if Clara Swift, a mere slip of a girl, sees the trace-line of a buggy turn off Sparks Street, moments after the murder? What if housemaid Clara understands her dead mentor's shorthand, an...