London, 1887. The Empire's greatest threat comes from within.
As Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee approaches, American intelligence officers Sophie Baumann and Meade Meadows stumble upon a conspiracy that could reshape the world: a cabal within the British Admiralty plans to provoke war with Spain through a staged attack in the Caribbean.
The plot is sophisticated and deadly. A stolen Spanish warship. British officers posing as the enemy. An American diplomat's money funding it all. And the conspiracy's true goal isn't just war?it's regime change in London.
Working from the shadows of Victorian London, Sophie and Meade must expose the conspirators before the false flag attack succeeds. But their colleague, Lieutenant James Hollister, faces an even deadlier challenge: trapped aboard HMS Falcon as the target ship sails toward San Juan, he's surrounded by the very men orchestrating the attack.
From gas-lit London streets to the tropical waters of Puerto Rico, from diplomatic receptions to naval combat, the clock is ticking. The attack is scheduled. The ships are in position. And if the conspiracy succeeds, two empires will go to war.
The Deptford Confession delivers authentic Victorian-era espionage with intricate tradecraft, parallel storylines that converge in explosive action, and a race against time to stop a war before it starts.
Autorentext
James Glen Stovall (Jim) is a retired professor of journalism who lives in East Tennessee. During his teaching career, he taught at the University of Alabama (1978-2003), Emory and Henry College (2003-2006) and the University of Tennessee (2006-2016). He is now working on a second career writing young adult fiction and mysteries. Jim is the author of the a selling writing textbook, Writing for the Mass Media, as well as other journalism texts such as Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How and Web Journalism. Other books include: • Seeing Suffrage:The 1913 Washington Suffrage Parade, Its Pictures, and Its Effects on the American Political Landscape • Battlelines: Gettysburg: Civil War Sketch Artists and the First Draft of War In addition to writing, Jim likes to paint (watercolor), draw (pen and ink), play music (dulcimer and banjo), garden and piddle around in his woodworking shop. Jim grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and that is his favorite setting for his novels.