Bone Rattler

Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America by Eliot Pattison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When it comes to historical fiction involving Scotland (or at least Highlanders) in the 1700's... this wasn't the same caliber as a Diana Gabaldon, but if you love her you'll like this! This was a well-written novel involving many aspects of history - from Scotland, to England, to America. I really enjoyed the characters, although I did struggle trying to remember who was who sometimes. The plot twisted and turned and came together brilliantly at the end. I thought I had read that this was the first book of a trilogy, so I will be looking for the next books in the series.

Synopsis: Aboard a British convict ship bound for the New World, protagonist Duncan McCallum witnesses a series of murders and apparent suicides among his fellow Scottish prisoners. A strange trail of clues leads Duncan into the New World and eventually thrusts him into the bloody maw of the French and Indian War. Duncan is indentured to the British Lord Ramsey, whose estate in the uncharted New York woodlands is a Heart of Darkness where multiple warring factions are engaged in physical, psychological, and spiritual battle.Exploring a frontier world shrouded in danger and defying death in a wilderness populated by European settlers, Indian shamans, and mysterious scalping parties, Duncan, the exiled chief of his near-extinct Scottish clan, finds that sometimes justice cannot be reached unless the cultures and spirits of those involved are appeased.

.