Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book to review.
The America Ground by Nathan Dylan Goodwin
After having read the first three novels in the Morton Farrier, Forensic Genealogist series, I feel like part of Morton’s own family and was excited to delve into his latest adventure, The America Ground.
I wasn’t disappointed! Once again, Morton has elected to take on an ancient mystery, this time the unsolved murder of Eliza Lovekin on 27 April 1827 in The America Ground, a real place in Sussex, England, that has its own storied past.
By now, Nathan’s style of sliding back and forth between the present and the past makes it easy to follow the story line with all of its twists and turns. However, it seems with each new story, there is a trend to more fully flesh out the past with extra details not only about the story’s characters, but with actual historical events. I am loving the extra depth in Nathan’s stories!
The America Ground begins with a double story line, one of which has been present in the previous novels – the continuing saga of Morton Farrier’s quest to unlock the secrets in his own family tree. Although a few bits are added to our knowledge of Morton’s family, the main focus is on his latest commission. This new story presents an opportunity to solve Eliza Lovekin’s 1827 murder, although Morton’s initial inclination was to walk away.
Eliza Lovekin’s life is intricately intertwined with the history of The America Ground, a small four acres of land laden with hostile fights over its ownership, lasting for decades. As the mystery unfolds, Morton begins to build a picture of Eliza, her family and friends. His biggest piece of the puzzle is how Eliza ended up with an indenture of ownership for a part of the land that makes up The America Ground when no one else did. That surprise is the driving force to solving the mystery of Eliza’s murder.
Although I have become much more adept at picking up and interpreting clues in Nathan’s stories, I was still very surprised at the end when all of the disparate characters, each one of the puzzle pieces, were fit into place. There were some definite surprises once again!
Nathan Dylan Goodwin is a talented author who has honed his writing skills while sharing Morton Farrier’s stories. The America Ground has much more going on below the surface than in his earlier novels. While Morton is edging closer to solving the mystery of his own birth circumstances, his commissioned forensic genealogy cases are becoming ever more complex with each story AND the historical details are adding a richness to the story that makes me forget that the characters are all fictional.
I’m loving all of these books. Once again, I highly recommend The America Ground and each of Nathan Dylan Goodwin’s other novels, as they are an intriguing, fun read.
All of his works can be purchased on his website or Amazon.