ENSLAVED

Captain Harrison Hull (The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis, 1993) is commissioned by no less than ex-President Thomas Jefferson to discover what's happened to George and Ambrose, former slaves of Jefferson's. The slaves—cousins of Jefferson's supposed longtime mistress, Sally Hemings—have disappeared from the farm of Jefferson's nephew, Lilburne Lewis. When Harry arrives at Lilburne's Kentucky farm, he's warned by Lilburne's neighbor Jonah Hibbs that he's in danger. Right. Following a tip that George and Ambrose are in nearby Loganville, Harry is almost killed in a river accident; set upon by a pair of numbskulled ruffians evidently hired by forgettable Machiavelli James Ford; poisoned nearly unto death by Lilburne and his brother; and rescued from the gates of death only by three of Lilburne's remaining slaves—whom Lilburne then promptly accuses of killing George and Ambrose. Luckily for Harry, who isn't much of a detective, a real-life earthquake—the second of two with a decisive role in this fact-based tale—will resolve the halfhearted mystery before anybody else can have a whack at him. Less Sherlock Holmes than buckskin Rambo, with blandly eventful adventures among nondescript backwoodsmen filling the gaps between documented historical events.