Conspiracy of Knaves - Hardcover

YA Brown isn't a great stylist, but he sure knows how to tell a good story. A fictionalized account of undercover activities during the Civil War, Conspiracy of Knaves is the love story of Belle Rutledge, an actress turned double agent, and Charley Heywood, a dashing Confederate major working to support the Copperheads (northerners who sympathized with the south). The story is loosely based upon actual events later referred to as the ``Chicago Conspiracy,'' an attempt to free Rebel soldiers held captive in Chicago and ultimately to force the Northwest Territories out of the Union. Belle is an independent, amoral young woman seeking to survive the war in style. The constant about-faces required of her as a double agent (assigned the responsibility of spying upon a man she loves) give the story a dramatic tension that even indifferent readers will have difficulty resisting. Belle's story is bound to interest young adults who love suspense and have romance in their souls. Jennifer John Reavis, Episcopal High School, Bellaire
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This novel deals with a little-known episode of the Civil War: the Northwest Conspiracy, a plot concocted by Confederate agents and Northern Copperheads to free rebel prisoners in Chicago, force the upper Middle West out of the Union, and thus end the war. Brown assembles some interesting characters, but his plot, like the Northwest Conspiracy itself, crackles for a while and then sputters out. Unlike another, more resonant novel of Civil War espionage, John C. Batchelor's American Falls (LJ 9/15/85), there is no progressive constricting of suspense into a dramatic denouement. Nor do the characters fully develop the themes of misplaced loyalty, duplicity, and betrayal they are meant to dramatize. For Civil War buffs who'll appreciate the richly textured background and overlook a less than absorbing story. Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.