Gods of Our Fathers launch

 

     Cities aren't built in a day but they can be destroyed in one.

     When fugitive slave Anthony Burns is arrested in Boston in May 1854 for violating the Fugitive Slave Act, it unwittingly touched off a wildfire of once dormant abolitionist fervor. Far beyond the confines of the "city on a hill", abolitionists up and down the northeast corridor unite in protesting Burns' arrest and trial. Among them is infamous radical John Brown, whose presence in Boston is contributing to the chaos and mayhem engulfing the city.

     Stepping into the maelstrom of madness is mulatto Constable Cornelius "Vesey" Van Zant, himself an escaped slave from Mississippi. Van Zant must contend with not only the riots and arson largely stirred up by Brown but also a series of murders in which the victims get closer and closer to his house. Hobbling Van Zant and the department is President Franklin Pierce ordering federal troops to occupy the streets of Boston.

     Based on a true story, Gods of Our Fathers is about the earliest hours of the Boston Police which must somehow get a handle on civil disobedience on a scale, size and scope with which it's never had to contend.

     The Kindle version launched on Christmas Eve and can be found here for just $4.99. And, for those who don't do Kindle, the paperback launched two days later and can be found here for $8.99 (about a dollar less than a typical legacy-published paperback). Featuring a gorgeous cover designed by James Moore out of Mobile, Alabama (click on the lead image then again for a much higher resolution version), Gods of Our Fathers not only weaves a thrilling historical murder mystery around an equally thrilling real life series of events that brought about the Civil War, it also makes observations that the racism and police abuse of the mid 19th century isn't necessarily a thing of the past.

     Both versions also feature at the back a sneak peek at the sequel, Blue Blood.