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The Empire of Shadows
New York City, August 1889: within sight of Madison Square Park, a man lays dead in a darkened construction site. Jim Tupper, a Mohawk of the Iroquois nation, stands over the body. Within minutes he's seen. And as police whistles scream in the night, he runs, knowing there is but one place to hide.
With the police hounding him, Tupper makes his way back to the place he knows best-the vast, unsettled Adirondack wilderness. What he finds upon his return is both familiar and strange, a homeland torn by forces from within and without. But after surviving a deadly chase through the streets, back alleys, and underworld haunts of a teeming lower Manhattan, he is home, and Tupper sinks beneath the surface of the Adirondack forest, blending back into the landscape of his youth.
But he has left a trail of death behind, a trail leading dangerously close to a fantastic luxury hotel deep in the heart of the wilderness where Captain Tom Braddock and his family are vacationing. Worlds collide when Tom's son becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a young maid at the hotel. To clear him, Braddock has no choice but to find the illusive Indian, a man who knows the forest as well as Tom knows the streets. Determined to catch Tupper no matter the cost, Braddock launches an epic chase through more than a hundred miles of Adirondack lakes, rivers and forest, his guide the legendary Mitchell Sabattis.
But not all in the Adirondacks is as it appears. Powerful forces have been set in motion, and as developers make manifest their need to rein in the wilderness, Tom too wonders what the vast forests might hold. Will he find the clues he needs to exonerate his son and put a killer behind bars? Or will the great forest smother its secrets in shadow until its price has been paid in blood?
With the police hounding him, Tupper makes his way back to the place he knows best-the vast, unsettled Adirondack wilderness. What he finds upon his return is both familiar and strange, a homeland torn by forces from within and without. But after surviving a deadly chase through the streets, back alleys, and underworld haunts of a teeming lower Manhattan, he is home, and Tupper sinks beneath the surface of the Adirondack forest, blending back into the landscape of his youth.
But he has left a trail of death behind, a trail leading dangerously close to a fantastic luxury hotel deep in the heart of the wilderness where Captain Tom Braddock and his family are vacationing. Worlds collide when Tom's son becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a young maid at the hotel. To clear him, Braddock has no choice but to find the illusive Indian, a man who knows the forest as well as Tom knows the streets. Determined to catch Tupper no matter the cost, Braddock launches an epic chase through more than a hundred miles of Adirondack lakes, rivers and forest, his guide the legendary Mitchell Sabattis.
But not all in the Adirondacks is as it appears. Powerful forces have been set in motion, and as developers make manifest their need to rein in the wilderness, Tom too wonders what the vast forests might hold. Will he find the clues he needs to exonerate his son and put a killer behind bars? Or will the great forest smother its secrets in shadow until its price has been paid in blood?
384 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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August 2, 2011Not as good as "Suspension."
October 12, 2018
This is a fun gaslight murder mystery that takes readers from the crime-ridden alleys and corrupt police precincts of Teddy Roosevelt's New York City to a thrilling chase sequence through the thick forests and remote lakes of the Adirondack Mountains. At least it's fun for a gilded age detective nerd like me. I am fascinated by the elaborate Great Camps that wealthy industrialists carved out of the wilderness, and they play an important role in this novel.
January 28, 2015
After having read Suspension, I jumped at the opportunity to go back to old New York (more than 100 years ago) for another look at a sharp detective and the City, itself. The Empire of Shadows left NYC early and shifted to the Adirondacks and while it was interesting to read about the early days of resort development upstate, the long foray into the woods to find the culprit was too long.
The book is well written but I am looking forward to the next in this series which returns to NYC. I think Crabbe does his best work in the gritty old city.
The book is well written but I am looking forward to the next in this series which returns to NYC. I think Crabbe does his best work in the gritty old city.
January 18, 2009
turn of the century Adirondacks & NYC! Good stuff.
October 24, 2010
A very good and exciting story.
January 16, 2012
Hard not to like a book where I'm a lead character... but it was a pretty good read regardless! I have two other Crabbe books in queue to be read: Suspension and Hell's Gate.
August 10, 2016
I think 5 stars should mean unputdownable (if there is such a word) This was certainly one of those and they few and far between.
May 3, 2015
This was ABSOLUTELY awful! One of the worst books I've suffered through I have no idea why I bothered to keep reading it. BORING!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews