RING OF FIRE

In Winch’s new novel, an Army lieutenant attempts to thwart a fiendish Confederate spy who seeks to revive the Civil War and overthrow the Union.

In 1866, U.S. Army Maj. Hampton Ellis is killed by Thaddeus Daniels, an former Confederate soldier who was thought to be dead. Lt. G.W. Blake reports the murder to his superior, Col. Wagner, at a party, but he doesn’t know who committed the crime yet. At the soiree, he also meets Elena Caltera, an engaged woman whom he soon pursues romantically. Daniels remains on the lam as Blake sets out to investigate Ellis’ murder; he’s not certain who did it, but he feels that the police are on the wrong track. The fugitive later hires a ship from Capt. Liverpool Wilcox, as part of a plan to restart the Civil War by attacking San Francisco.Along the way, readers also get to know Angeline, a young volunteer with the Contraband Relief Society in San Francisco with who has feelings for Blake. The lieutenant comes close to capturing his prey several times, but he’s always a few steps behind him—and there may be more people involved in the villain’s plot than initially meets the eye. Over the course of this historical detective novel, Winch employs a careful and measured prose style that blends well with his setting. He often edges into purposefully archaic formality, but he does so with a deftness that brings to mind Louis L’Amour’s historical fiction, and his descriptions result in consistently vivid scenes: “He had wide sideburns and several days’ worth of gray stubble on his jaw. Beneath wiry brows, his blue eyes were bloodshot.” Overall, he tells a tale that’s vastly entertaining from its first gunshot to well beyond the last.

A canny, stylish, and immersive period piece.