Ann McMillan

Ann McMillan's series featuring Nurse Narcissa Powers in the Richmond area during the U.S. Civil War continues to be one of the best American historical mystery series available. In this installment, a black baby is found in a cemetery in a quilt. Nearby a black man is found dead. Where is the mother? At the same time, Narcissa has a case of "Chickahominy Fever" (malaria). Judah Daniel searches for the mother of the child. There is much to enjoy about this novel, including some aspects of show more the Underground Railroad and a fictionalized version of the woman who placed her former servant in the household of Jefferson Davis as a spy. At times, there seemed to be almost too much action going on, but this was probably quite indicative of what was going on in the Richmond area at the time. show less

In this book Narcissa Powers and Judah Daniel must race to find the person to prevent another small pox death when they learn that someone has either intentionally or not so intentionally caused deaths by passing along items which had been exposed to the contagion. It took me a little while to get into this installment of the book, but once I did, I was hooked. It's a fascinating read set during the Civil War era in Richmond.