From Publishers Weekly
All the women are smart and beautiful, all the men debonair and handsome, in the less than stellar concluding volume of Monfredo's Cain trilogy (Sisters of Cain; Brothers of Cain), which also counts as the ninth mystery in the author's generally strong Seneca Falls series. The three protofeminists who are the trilogy's major recurring characters-the Llyr sisters, Bronwen and Kathryn, and their aunt, Glynis-continue their individual crusades against a backdrop of muddled troop movements and dire battlefield conditions during the Civil War's lengthy and bloody Peninsula Campaign of 1862. Treasury Agent Bronwen matches wits with the enemy (declared and undeclared) and contends with her nemesis, real-life private detective Allan Pinkerton. Kathryn fights to win respect for women as nurses. Librarian Glynis leaves Seneca Falls to travel to the battle site in response to an urgent summons. Unfortunately, the characters seem to be marking time through much of the book. Glynis vacillates between two men; Bronwen fences with her old foe, Colonel de Warde, a Southern sympathizer; and Kathryn nurses her patients and the heart wound inflicted by Dr. Gregg Travis. Bronwen cuts the most heroic figure, repeatedly challenging the enemy on his own ground to gather information about a plot to assassinate President Lincoln. Only near the end does Monfredo hit her stride, as Bronwen seeks to stop an infamous blockade-runner and unmask a traitor. Despite its weaknesses, this latest is sure to please the author's fans.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Midwest Book Review
A lucid vision of the American Civil War.
Book Description
In this thrilling conclusion to the Civil War trilogy, Bronwen Llyr must convince Union Army generals of General Lee's battle plans before Northern forces retreat.
Children of Cain FROM THE PUBLISHER
In this thrilling conclusion to the Civil War trilogy, Bronwen Llyr must convince Union Army generals of General Lee's battle plans before Northern forces retreat.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
All the women are smart and beautiful, all the men debonair and handsome, in the less than stellar concluding volume of Monfredo's Cain trilogy (Sisters of Cain; Brothers of Cain), which also counts as the ninth mystery in the author's generally strong Seneca Falls series. The three protofeminists who are the trilogy's major recurring characters-the Llyr sisters, Bronwen and Kathryn, and their aunt, Glynis-continue their individual crusades against a backdrop of muddled troop movements and dire battlefield conditions during the Civil War's lengthy and bloody Peninsula Campaign of 1862. Treasury Agent Bronwen matches wits with the enemy (declared and undeclared) and contends with her nemesis, real-life private detective Allan Pinkerton. Kathryn fights to win respect for women as nurses. Librarian Glynis leaves Seneca Falls to travel to the battle site in response to an urgent summons. Unfortunately, the characters seem to be marking time through much of the book. Glynis vacillates between two men; Bronwen fences with her old foe, Colonel de Warde, a Southern sympathizer; and Kathryn nurses her patients and the heart wound inflicted by Dr. Gregg Travis. Bronwen cuts the most heroic figure, repeatedly challenging the enemy on his own ground to gather information about a plot to assassinate President Lincoln. Only near the end does Monfredo hit her stride, as Bronwen seeks to stop an infamous blockade-runner and unmask a traitor. Despite its weaknesses, this latest is sure to please the author's fans. (Sept. 3) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Bronwen Llyr, niece of Glynis Tryon, the Seneca Falls librarian who banishes musty stereotypes of Monfredo's own profession, is a US Treasury agent, providing President Lincoln with some of the most valuable Civil War intelligence available. But not even courageous Bronwen, her sister Kathryn, a Union Army nurse, and her brother Seth, a Union Army officer, can compensate for the cowardly incompetence of General George McClellan, Lincoln's commander-in-chief, and the incredibly bloody and septic conditions for wounded soldiers. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy wants Bronwen to thwart British agent Colonel Dorian De Warde before he recommends the Confederate cause to the British, and to discover how a blockade-runner consistently delivers British-made weapons to the Confederacy. Lincoln himself, however, allows her to postpone the assignment and go instead to Richmond to rescue Lincoln's friend Arthur Quiller, and her own fellow agent Tristan Marshall, from an incognito stay in a Confederate hospital-along with her sister, her sister's adopted orphan, and his dog-during the bloody farce of the Union Army's failure to capture Richmond. The rendering of that battle and its aftermath makes up for the coincidences that reunite the Llyr siblings, Aunt Glynis, and assorted lovers and hangers-on. But Bronwen must leave and proceed to Norfolk to ferret out traitors abetting the blockade-runner. The Red Badge of Courage meets Gone With the Wind in the conclusion of Monfredo's Civil War trilogy (Brothers of Cain, 2001, etc.), as historical romance intermittently mists over her cool eye for historical reality.
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