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  Set in the Continental United States
before the Revolutionary War, The Pickled Dog Caper
is seeped in the historical, political, and social fabric of an emerging
nation. In the beginning chapter, Makepeace effects a brilliant
escape from the gallows and ventures through 1760s Maryland.
Read Chapter One
Read Chapter
Two
Available Amazon.com
Trade Paper $16.95 US
ISBN 0974783994
Reviews On the Cover
"The flavor, the color, the
details of the 18th century in a page-turning story" - Chris
Rogers, author of Bitch Factor, Chill Factor, and Rage Factor
"A clever, amusing frolic
through the burtal realities of Colonial America with Makepeace,
a rogue of a character you will want to hang one minute and hug
the next -- a must read for history buffs and fiction addicts
alike" -- LB Cobb, author of Splendor Bay and Promises
Town
Amazon Reader Reviews
Really captured the flavor of Colonial America, October
30, 2005
Reviewer:
Elizabeth Grant (Houston, TX United States)
I thought this was a terrific read, very
evocative, and brought home the fact that America has a long
history of lawlessness. We were, after all, settled by convicts.
Reading PICKLED DOG made me feel as though I were there--in the
court room, dangling from a gallows--and the dialogue was
spot-on.
An enjoyable book all around.
Crazy, fun ride!, October 20, 2005
Reviewer:
Linda Swift
From the beginning of this book to the end, the
author injects enough adventure and escapades to keep the reader
fully interested. Fun book while learning some Colonial American
history, as well!
Upstairs Downstairs in Colonial America, October 20, 2005
Reviewer:
John Oehler, Texas
Set in 18th-Century colonial America, The
Pickled Dog Caper tells the stories of two men who lead separate
lives until very near the climactic ending. One is Richard
Makepeace, a small-time, bungling crook whose misadventures
inadvertently lead him to God - or maybe just part way. The
other is Esakka, an African slave who runs away from a tobacco
plantation after being falsely accused of murder.
Both men fall in with an amazing array of colorful characters:
itinerant priests, lusty women, gypsies, cutthroats and petty
thieves, as well as colonial ladies and gentlemen, some
admirable, some shockingly base. Several are historical figures,
including the slave poet Phillis Wheatley. One of my favorites
is a scrawny forest-dweller who wears a cloak of feathers, has a
moldy raven's head braided into his hair, and believes he's
possessed by a cockatrice - a devil bird whose gaze can kill.
But this is more than just a fun ride. The settings, dialogue,
and general atmosphere vividly transport the reader into the
villages and wilds of a nascent nation.
Here, for instance, is some dialogue from a quack doctor who's
been dissuaded from amputating a man's broken leg and offers
instead another cure. "Madame McCawley, surely you can see
that your husband has suffered a virulent confusion of his
tibia. Although his pulse is ebullient, it indicates a need for
bleeding. If I draw about six pints of blood, you will see that
it is extremely glazed as well as gluteus beyond the maximus."
And here, a short history of Annapolis, Maryland: "The
city's original inhabitants, the Susquahancock Indians, were not
only gone, they were forgotten. Also forgotten were those who
followed them, the Puritans and the Pilgrims. Their churches had
long since been forfeited to decay and demolition, their
graveyards ignored while they sank into oblivion. Of those
narrow-minded zealots, no modern citizen coveted a single
keepsake."
This quality of writing typifies the whole book, and makes it a
pleasure to read. Plus, The Pickled Dog Caper comes at a time
when historical novels are hot.
Read Chapter One
Read Chapter
Two
Available Amazon.com
Trade Paper $16.95 US
ISBN 0974783994
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