The King's Beast: A Mystery of the American Revolution

by Eliot Pattison

Overview

A simple task to retrieve some artifacts turns into a nightmare of deceit when Duncan McCallum finds himself the target of those obsessed with keeping America under British rule in this thrilling historical novel from an Edgar Award–winning author.

When Duncan McCallum is asked by Benjamin Franklin to retrieve an astonishing cache of fossils from the Kentucky wilderness, his excitement as a naturalist blinds him to his treacherous path. But as murderers stalk him Duncan discovers that the fossils of this American incognitum are not nearly as mysterious as the political intrigue driving his mission. The Sons of Liberty insist, without explaining why, that the only way to keep the king from pursuing a bloody war with America is for Duncan to secretly deliver the fossils to Franklin in London.

His journey becomes a maze of deceit and violence as he seeks the cryptic link between the bones and the king. Every layer that Duncan peels away invites new treachery by those obsessed with crushing American dissent. With each attempt on his life, Duncan questions the meaning of the liberty he and the Sons seek. His last desperate hope for survival, and the rescue of his aged native friend Conawago―imprisoned in Bedlam―requires the help of freed slaves, an aristocratic maiden, a band of street urchins, and the gods of his tribal allies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640093188
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Series:	Bone Rattler
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	389,718
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Eliot Pattison is the author of the Inspector Shan series, which includes The Skull Mantra, winner of an Edgar Award and finalist for the Gold Dagger. He is also the author of the the Bone Rattler series, featuring Scotsman Duncan McCallum. Pattison resides in rural Pennsylvania with his wife, son, three horses, and three dogs on a colonial-era farm. Find out more at eliotpattison.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/17/2020

Set in 1769, Edgar-winner Pattison’s sixth mystery featuring Scottish exile Duncan McCallum (after 2018’s Savage Liberty) surpasses the high bar set by the previous five adventures. McCallum serves as a link between the Sons of Liberty and Native American tribes (who call him Deathspeaker for his ability to uncover clues from the bodies of murder victims) in the Kentucky wilderness, where a team, which includes frontiersman Daniel Boone, is excavating giant fossils. McCallum is there at the request of Benjamin Franklin, who in a letter to McCallum expresses his fear that the British will make membership in the Sons of Liberty a capital offense. McCallum’s delivery of the fossils to Franklin in London, the future founding father claims, will help the American colonists’ cause. Meanwhile, McCallum must solve the murder of a member of the excavation party, down whose throat someone has thrust another Franklin letter. Pattison keeps the suspense high throughout. This triumphant combination of whodunit and deeply researched history should help this gifted author get the wider audience he richly deserves. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The King's Beast


“Set in 1769, Edgar–winner Pattison’s sixth mystery featuring Scottish exile Duncan McCallum (after 2018’s Savage Liberty) surpasses the high bar set by the previous five adventures . . . Pattison keeps the suspense high throughout. This triumphant combination of whodunit and deeply researched history should help this gifted author get the wider audience he richly deserves.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Pattison's sixth Revolutionary mystery has a strong period feel and abundant historical detail.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[The] characterization is strong and plotting swift. This is as much an adventure as a murder mystery . . . Pattison’s writing style is stimulating and historically grounded while losing none of the entertainment factor. Fans of murder mysteries, adventure stories, the Revolutionary period, or all of the above will find much to enjoy in this series.” —Booklist

“A rousing tale . . . Replete with characters who draw the reader into the drama; finely honed to reflect the time and place, full of the respective cultures they portray . . . page turning . . . This was my first venture into the Duncan McCallum tales, it won’t be my last.” —Hoover Book Reviews

“The King’s Beast is revealed to the reader through the cutting lens of murder, duplicity, and kidnapping. Here is where Pattison excels. While he pulls together what appear on the surface as disparate acts of terror, Pattison is, with the other hand, laying out the blossoming of a nation through the very being of Duncan McCallum. The King’s Beast is a wonderful read. It stands alongside such books as The Alienist in creating a time, a place, and a mood. And like the best literature has to offer, it is rich with history and context and, most of all, meaning.” —Boston Teran, author of How Beautiful They Were

“A gripping tale of risk and adventure with a mystery at its core, characters who may or may not be who they seem, and a plot that twists in surprising directions. Eliot Pattison thrusts you into pre–Revolutionary America and England, each boiling with conflict, dissension, and danger. If you are a fan of historical mysteries—and even if you aren’t—you don’t want to miss The King’s Beast.” —Margaret Coel, New York Times bestselling author of Winter’s Child

From the Publisher

03/27/2020

The latest installment in Pattison's excellent "Bone Rattler" series (after Savage Liberty) combines solid historical research with superb storytelling. The year is 1769, and stakes are high. Unless the king intervenes, his war council plans to garrison Boston and New York with troops to put an end to the grumblings of the Sons of Liberty and close down an unidentified agent who's stealing English manufacturing secrets and smuggling them into America. It's not time yet for full-out rebellion. The colonists want for their complaints to be aired, but their enemies in England have already branded them as traitors. Duncan McCallum—exiled from Scotland as a Jacobite, indentured in the colonies, whipped at the post alongside slaves, accepted by the Iroquois as truth-seeker—sets out for London to deliver the bones of giant prehistoric animals to Benjamin Franklin, who hopes to use them to secure a private meeting with the king. But London is perilous for Duncan and his friends and allies, some of whom are incarcerated in Bedlam, and Duncan's worst enemy is getting closer. VERDICT Satisfying as both action thriller and as history, this exciting mystery should also appeal to lovers of historical fiction.—David Keymer, Cleveland

Library Journal

2020-01-13
As the fate of the American Revolution hangs in the balance, a dangerous intercontinental mission is launched.

By 1769, Scottish exile Duncan McCallum (Blood of the Oak, 2018, etc.) has become an increasingly important player in the Colonial struggle for liberty. He's gone to the wilderness of Kentucky at the behest of Benjamin Franklin, who sent him a letter asking him to dig up some valuable relics and bring them to him in London. How can Duncan refuse? When Duncan's friend Ezra dies in the midst of the excavation, it can't immediately be determined whether his death was an accidental drowning or a murder. Daniel Boone, who's among the company, insists that Ezra was attacked, a foreshadowing of the danger (and the historical cameos) Duncan will encounter on his mission. Duncan's friend Chief Catchoka reports that several members of his family have also been killed. Duncan encounters many obstacles on his odyssey to the eastern coast, but a bright light is cast by his brief reunion with his beloved, Sarah Ramsey. Patriot Charles Thomson at first agrees to help with Duncan's passage to London but loses his resolve when evidence emerges of a much larger conspiracy against Duncan's mission. In fact, everyone who helps him seems to become the target of ruthless killers. On the eve of his departure, Duncan awakens to find one of his closest allies and confidants dead beside him. The imprisonment of his best friend, Conawago, at Bedlam asylum in London enrages Duncan and spurs him to complete his mission as Franklin himself takes center stage in assisting his new friend.

Pattison's sixth Revolutionary mystery has a strong period feel and abundant historical detail.

Kirkus Reviews