Trouble in Tampa: An Oliver Redcastle Gilded Age Mystery (Redcastle Mysteries Book 4)
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1885 FLORIDA: WILD PIGS AND WILDER PEOPLE! Winner of the Silver Palm for the Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Award, Trouble in Tampa is a thrilling look at the Wild South of Florida in 1885. An easy assignment for sharpshooter and ex-Pinkerton investigator, Oliver Redcastle, turns deadly.
A wealthy Baltimore art collector sends an employee to Florida. When that man goes missing, the rich man hires Oliver to find him. Reluctantly, Oliver boards Henry Plant’s newly constructed train to Florida. At the end of the line, he gets off in Tampa to find a swamp load of trouble.
He’s betrayed by an old acquaintance, and by not one, but two passionate women.
Oliver is railroaded into one of old Florida’s infamous turpentine camps. There he must use his sharpshooting skill to escape certain death. But that means a harrowing trek through miles of dangerous animals, dangerous people, and shocking intrigues. In Key West he meets female Pinkerton operative, Hannah Kinchman. She got him into trouble in Tampa. But Oliver has a soft spot for Hannah.
Together they fight their way through kidnapping, treasure hunts, intrigue, and the beautiful but treacherous Florida Everglades. Will Oliver overcome the many hurdles blocking his way home? It won’t be easy! But it will be easy for readers to find out. FOR A GREAT READ, Get this book!
Praise for this book
J. A. Massa
5.0 out of 5 stars Fine historical thriller with a unique setting.
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2018
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I really like historical fiction in which the author shows me a broad and detailed view of an unfamiliar setting. This takes a lot of research and imagination, and Titchener does it here in spades.Florida in 1885 WAS much like the wild west. Our hero, Oliver Redcastle, is a detective from Baltimore on assignment to find a missing investor in Tampa. We follow Redcastle’s adventures from the glittering high society of Tampa, to the horrors of imprisonment in a backwoods turpentine camp, through hair-raising escapes in the wilderness and at sea, and finally to a series of violent encounters in the Everglades.
The author is also sensitive to historical social issues, and we’re exposed to believable characters from diverse races, classes, and economic backgrounds. These include Cuban gun runners, con men, Florida crackers, and a kick-ass Lady detective (who, like Redcastle himself, is beautifully drawn, evincing not only courage and determination, but depth and vulnerability).
I loved everything about this novel. If you like historical fiction, I think you will too.
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Linda Lee Greene
5.0 out of 5 stars Honestly, I Couldn't Put it Down
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2018
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Author Louise Tichener has a new fan in this avid reader and writer. This novel of historical fiction held my interest from the first word to the last. It is meticulously researched and masterfully written, highly entertaining and informative. The characters are believable and engaging. The plot is clever and satisfyingly complex. It is one of the best books I have read this year.