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.

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.

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!

 

Available Trade Paper $16.95 US

ISBN 0974783994