For fans of true crimes, historical settings, and murder mysteries
I have enjoyed the True Color series, which takes crime stories from America’s past and creates a story around the events. The Blue Cloak is set in the late 1700’s in the American frontier. Rachel Taylor’s friend Sally marries a man with questionable reputation. Rachel’s instincts are correct, and Wiley Harpe and his brother turn out to be serial killers and take Sally and several other women into the frontier. The women are mistreated while the two men randomly attacked and killed innocent bystanders. Ben Langford’s cousin is a victim of these thugs, and he heads out to track down the killers and bring justice.
The author, Shannon McNear had a big task ahead of her, as these crimes were extremely heinous and the women were abused. I did a Google search as I had never heard of the Harpe brothers, and they are credited as being some of America’s first know serial killers. The author handled the details with a lot of action happening “off-screen” but if you are sensitive to violence, be warned. Also, the setting is in the 1790’s – not my favorite time period to read, but if you are a historical fan, the author did a lot of research to bring the details of the time period to life.
I received an ebook review copy of this book through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Overall Rating: 4 stars (I liked it a lot and would definitely recommend)
Suspense Rating: 4 stars (lots of action and suspense to keep me intrigued)