Publisher's Synopsis
It is the early fall of 1755 in the backcountry of Virginia. The British army has suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of the French and their Indian allies in the opening battle of the French and Indian War, leaving the frontier in flames and open to attacks from the enemy. William Kay, a young minister well-known to the colonial establishment for his yearslong stand against a powerful planter and vestryman bent on revenge, is murdered. Three of Kay's slaves are accused and swiftly condemned to the brutal form of justice reserved for the enslaved, while another man who had threatened Kay's life disappears from the scene. When the colonial governor and officials aligned with him suppress the news of the unprecedented crime and the court record of the slave trial, the killing of Reverend Kay becomes lost to history--until now.
Cynthia Mattson graduated from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America and served as a trial lawyer for most of her career with the federal government. She is a member of the Virginia and District of Columbia bars and is the author of James Craig, Patriot Parson: An American Story of Religion and Revolution. She lives with her husband in Arlington, Virginia.
