Sam Simpson

An entertaining alternative history. What if our nations founding fathers weren’t the heroes we’ve been led to believe? Could a document from the past tear apart a country already so deeply divided? These are compelling questions.

I really liked the pace of this book. The chapters are short and there are parallel timelines. As the plot unfolds, the treasure hunt begins and the story really moves along. No doubt the author drew on recent events. In the back drop there is an election taking show more place. The country is divided and democracy feels fragile. In the parallel timeline, the Civil War is ending. Jefferson Davis is reluctant to surrender. He passes along some documents, and gold bouillon, which he feels contains the ultimate leverage to a trusted officer and a British diplomat. The main characters in the present day are a young couple. The young man is British and his girlfriend is American and deeply involved in politics. While researching family history, they get drawn in to the hunt for the missing documents and gold.

This book is compelling in the writing, pace, implications, and even where stretching credulity the Richmond Papers provides pleasant mental conjecture and raises good questions.
It provokes conversation regarding the second amendment and how the crippling adherence to constitutional dogma could be overcome in order to implement real and meaningful change.
Though I found some faults with the way the book ended I did find the Richmond Papers to be very entertaining. I would really like to see more from this author and can’t wait to see what they write next! show less

This was definitely a thought provoking book. On one hand, I was slightly insulted at the writers thoughts on how the U.S. was "started". At the same time, I can certainly see that it could have happened this way, especially with where we are now politically in this country. The characters were engaging and the story line was engrossing. This book was sitting in my stack for too long, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down.

I’m not a fan of politics.Most of the problems in the world are caused by politics it seems to me.
Politics in my own country mystifies me so any attempts to understand the system in the USA have been utterly fruitless! My American friends have tried to educate me but I still don’t know one end of Congress from the other. And don’t get me started on what the Senate is. So you might think that I would be put off by Sam Simpson’s Richmond papers because there’s a lot of politics in show more it.But I wasn’t, not at all, because it was also a work of historical fiction

With timeframes that predate the American Civil War, through to the present day the book examines the journey of confederate gold and inflammatory documents that would expose the credibility of the USA and its constitution. Location sends our protagonists, Tom and Sally, in an almost Dan Brown frenzy across the USA, England, Scotland and New Zealand before reaching the truth. There’s thrills and spills from sinister factions, official and unofficial, in both timeframes and leave the reader in little doubt that corruption in politics is universal and timeless.

That could make for depressing reading but the book has a liveliness in the narrative that allows the reader to hover over the serious indictments contained within it so it comes across as lighter than it could do potentially. It was an entertaining book and struck a fair balance between fact and fiction.

My thanks to Librarything for a copy. show less

What do the FBI, a Supreme Court Justice, Jefferson Davis, George Washington, the Revolution and Civil Wars have in common? The answer is the Richmond Papers. Originating in the Revolutionary War and current in the present day, these pages hold enough to set America on her ear.



Tom MacKay begins looking into his family history and discovers that one of his ancestors was part of Civil War in a spectacular way that most historians had no clue of. He was responsible for moving many boxes of show more Confederate gold to England for safe keeping.



Tom’s girlfriend, campaign manager for the front-running Presidential candidate goes along with Tom’s plan to find the gold and the papers and accompanies him to the Bahamas, England, the South and many others. They are followed by the FBI whose Director has no plans to ever let the papers come to light.



The was a very interesting book, lots of action, a bit of romance and a great ending. show less