The Shiloh Sisters

Harrison Raines #5

by Michael Kilian

In his latest Civil War mystery, U.S. Secret Service agent Harrison Raines is given a critical assignment by General Ulysses S. Grant to uncover the truth about the murders of two sisters living on opposite sides of the conflict. Reprint.

Genres: Historical Mystery, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Civil War, War

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jim Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not too sure what to say about this book. My first mistake was not reading the earlier books in the series as there were events and characters from previous books referenced here, so there was a little bit of a disconnect at first. The murder mystery itself was engaging and well wrought. My only complaint in that regard is that it didn't get underway until more than halfway through the book. The bulk of the book was spent relating the events of the battle of Shiloh and of the main character and his sidekicks journey east to New Orleans and Corinth to search for a woman, losing her and finding her again (three times, I believe), while all of this having nothing to do with the murder mystery. Once the main story got underway it read much better and the murder was finally resolved using a combination of the detectives' penchant for getting himself into dire straits and some straight-up detecting, finally wrapping up with a traditional denouement. There were exciting, well-written action scenes, and all in all, the story was interesting, if a little unfocused as to whether it was a historical account of a Civil War battle, a murder mystery or a buddy-type adventure western. That being said, I will look for the other books in the series as it was well written and the characters were endearing.

[Phillip Mclaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

moving from New Mexico to Mississippi, heading East into the maelstrom.

More complications for Raines on his way east. Well done simple picture of the battle of Shiloh.
Then a double murder of two civilians and their discovery has Raines being a detective on both sides of the Civil War.

[Allen Kearns, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A murder mystery with the Battle of Shiloh as the setting. What more could you ask for? In this edition of the Harry Raines series Mr. Julian introduces a new sidekick for Harry. A Jerod by the name of Jacques Tantau. An interesting character to say the least. The two adventurers make their way from the far western theatre, with many a close scrape along the way, to Pittsburgh Landing on the banks of the Tennessee River. I won't spoil it any further. Read the book to find the rest. I think you'll be glad you did.

[Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mix of fact and fiction. It did take a while to get around to the sisters’ story within the facts and character development.

[Ilean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story started out very, very, slow. The author gave a lot of preamble before getting into the actual story line. Then, he concluded the story a little too fast, not giving how the main character came up with his final conclusion to the mystery he was trying to solve.

[Calli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting historical info, but took a long time to get to the investigation of the mystery.

[Ken Bickley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Newspaper columnist Kilian only wrote a few of these Civil War mysteries before his untimely death. This one was outstanding.

[David Crank]

Good Civil Ware series.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Harry will always be longing for a woman who does not want him. Silly boy. This tale full of mystery, history, and a little romance.

[Mary G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good entry in Kilian's Civil War series.