Author: David Mulholland
Published By: Burnstown Publishing House
ISBN: 978177257391
In all of Canada’s early confederated history, perhaps no story holds more minds captive and interest than the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee. Shot in the back of the head while entering the Sparks Street boarding house where he was staying, the Father of Confederation had a complicated role as a staunch Irish nationalist who turned to monarchism and unionism in the face of the expanding power of the republicanism of the United States.
Irish expatriate and blacksmith Pat Byrne opened his shop at 6 a.m. to the news of Mcgee’s assassination. As Ottawa Police investigate and visitors to his business speculate on rumours of the possible assassin, Bryne is forced to reflect on the Fenian Brotherhood’s attempt to overturn the 1801 Act of Union with Britain and the Irish Republican organization’s attempt to return the Emerald Isle to an independent nation.
The memories of fighting for the cause of a United Ireland are intertwined with Byrnes’s courtship and amorous marriage to Caitlin, a free-spirited midwife whose ideas about Irish Independence and marriage often clash with his own.
David Mullhollands fourth novel of dramatized history will have readers asking the question: Who really assassinated Canada’s youngest Father of Confederation?
About the Author
David Mulholland was born in Kingston, Ontario and raised in Arnprior. Mulholland began his writing career as an advertising copywriter and went to work for CBC, the Ottawa Citizen, and the federal government before devoting himself full-time to writing novels. In the Shadow of the Assassin, his fourth. He is currently working on a book of short stories.