The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series
By David O. Stewart, William Martin, Jane Leavy and M.K. Tod
3/5
()
About this series
--New York City, 1920-21--
In 1920, Babe Ruth--larger than life on the ball field and off--is enjoying a record-breaking season in his first year as a New York Yankee when his 1918 World Series win falls under suspicion of being "fixed."
Then rumors start that his silent movie, Headin' Home, was bankrolled by the top aide to gambling kingpin, Arnold Rothstein.
Ruth turns to Speed Cook--a professional ballplayer before the game was segregated and who now promotes Negro baseball--for help. If anyone knows the dirty underbelly of America's favorite pastime, it's Cook.
Cook enlists the help of a long-time friend, Dr. Jamie Fraser, whose new wife, Eliza, coproduced the Babe's silent film.
While Cook, Fraser, and Eliza dig for the truth, protecting the oftentimes-reckless Ruth from thugs and the new baseball commissioner proves even more dangerous when they come face-to-face with hidden power-hitters who are playing for keeps.
Publisher's Note: The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series will be enjoyed by fans of American history and period mystery novels. Free of graphic sex and with some mild profanity, this series can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.
"Within these pages, he ushers us into the randy, gritty, wanton world of Babe Ruth, just arrived in New York from Boston, where he would power the Yankees—hell, the whole damn city—for the next decade. It is a world filled with molls and toughs, crooked pols and bootleggers, gamblers and righteous cops, not to mention Stewart’s beloved characters, Speed Cook, the wise head and former Negro Leaguer, and Dr. Jamie Fraser, who have teamed up before in previous fictions.
The texture of the city is rendered with precision and believability. When Stewart describes the new impediment at the corner of 42nd and Fifth Avenue, the city’s first traffic tower, a reader can see the snarl of horse-drawn wagons, bicycles, pedestrians and oh so many automobiles—“machines” in the argot of the Twenties--clogging the street. Even the Babe had to stop for that.
The book is full of such knowing details like the Thomas splint, an invention of World War I medicine, that saves Jamie Fraser’s daughter from losing her leg.
Larger-than-life Ruth is made palpable through a mosaic of small but unassailable images. Ruth, resplendent in a red satin dressing gown worn over a pair of green and white diamond pajamas, earns “a low whistle” from Cook when he is admitted to the Babe’s sumptuous apartment in the Ansonia Hotel. It earns something more important from the reader: a belief in narrative plausibility and in the characters that inhabit it.
So, when Stewart writes of the Babe that getting angry at him was a waste of time, “like losing your temper at a thunderstorm,” you know he knows what he’s talking about.
The book is grand. Just like the Babe."
~Jane Leavy, Author of The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created
The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series
The Lincoln Deception
The Paris Deception
The Babe Ruth Deception
Titles in the series (3)
- The Lincoln Deception (A Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery, Book 1)
1
“A taut, suspenseful, terrifically well-researched historical thriller about the greatest crime of the 19th Century.” ~William Martin, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lincoln Letter and Bound for Gold. In 1900, former Congressman John Bingham tells his doctor, Jamie Fraser, about a terrible secret he learned thirty-five years ago while prosecuting John Wilkes Booth’s co-conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln—a secret that could destroy the republic. Then Bingham dies before revealing what he knows. Obsessed with discovering Bingham’s secret, Fraser encounters aspiring newspaper publisher Speed Cook—the last black man to play baseball in the big leagues. Navigating perilous social norms designed to separate blacks and whites, they set out to unravel the truth. While dodging race riots, kidnappers, and muggers, elusive clues reveal an alliance between the nation’s foremost cotton tycoon—with connections to a Northern pro-Confederacy faction—and the last general of the Confederate Army. Now face-to-face with the treacherous pair, Fraser and Cook must survive long enough to expose the deception thrust upon the entire nation. Publisherʼs Note: The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series will be enjoyed by fans of American history and period mystery novels. Free of graphic sex and with some mild profanity, this series can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. “…more than enough to satisfy any reader of historical whodunits…its conclusion has a wry double edge that Lincoln himself would have appreciated.”—Washington Post “…a rip-snorting tale about those involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. What secret did Union prosecutor John Bingham carry to the grave…did the conspiracy involve more than John Wilkes Booth?”—Frank J. Williams, Founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum and retired Chief Justice, Rhode Island Supreme Court “The Lincoln Deception is a superb melding of fact, mystery, and imaginary ‘what-ifsʼ that blow open the conspiracy shrouds surrounding the murder of a president.”—GateHouse News Service “David O. Stewart dramatically reopens the file on the Lincoln assassination conspiracy with a nail-biting, historically grounded page turner. Where the facts end and the fiction begins will inspire plenty of debate. Meanwhile, enjoy this for the terrific read Stewart provides.”—Harold Holzer The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series The Lincoln Deception The Paris Deception The Babe Ruth Deception
- The Paris Deception (A Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery, Book 2)
2
Unlikely Friends Unite to Save a Wrongly Accused American Soldier and a Fragile Treaty of Peace in The Historical Mystery, The Paris Deception, from Author David O. Stewart --1919-1920, Paris and Berlin-- In the wake of The Great War, the city of Paris unites in jubilant celebration at the arrival of United States President, Woodrow Wilson. But amidst the prospect of peace, Parisians are dying as the Spanish influenza reaches epidemic proportions. An expert on deadly illnesses, Dr. Major Jamie Fraser, is called in to advise the president's own doctor on how best to avoid the deadly disease and discovers, despite Wilson's robust appearance, the man is frailer than most realize. While trying to determine the source of Wilson's maladies, Fraser encounters a man he has not seen for nearly twenty years: Speed Cook--ex-professional ball player and now advocate for Negro rights. Cook is also desperate to save his son Joshua, an army sergeant wrongly accused of desertion. Pledging to help Cook, Fraser approaches Allen Dulles, an American spy, who is also Wilson's close aide. Soon Cook and Fraser's quest intersects with dramatic events when the French premier, Georges Clemenceau, narrowly survives an assassination attempt, and the Paris Peace Convergence begins to unravel. When the precarious German government balks at the grim terms of the peace treaty, Cook and Fraser discover that to save Joshua, they must find a way to preserve the fragile treaty, which may be the only barrier standing between Europe and another brutal war. Publisher's Note: The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series will be enjoyed by fans of American history and period mystery novels. Free of graphic sex and with some mild profanity, this series can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. "Another terrific Fraser and Cook mystery…The book's fun part is its name game, as familiar historic figures mingle with made-up characters. …The story line's dangling threads braid a tight, clever finish, worthy of a vintage spy caper or 007's own playbook." ~Washington Post, November 18, 2015 "Stewart deftly depicts the mood of an era and the colorful figures who shaped it." ~Publishers Weekly, September 2015 "This fast-paced novel combines suspense and history in this fictional narrative about the Paris Peace Conference and President Wilson's ailing health…" ~Fox 11 News, Green Bay, WI, February 2017 "Stewart moves characters from The Lincoln Deception to the period just after the end of WWI. The historical details and interaction with famous figures make for an intriguing read." ~RT Book Reviews, September 2015 "The post-armistice negotiations provide a fascinating look at the jockeying for power among countries who are ostensibly allies." ~Historical Novel Society, November 2, 2015 The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series The Lincoln Deception The Paris Deception The Babe Ruth Deception
- The Babe Ruth Deception (A Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery, Book 3)
3
A Country Doctor and Ex-Ballplayer Save "The Bambino" from Thugs, the Baseball Commissioner, and Himself in the Historical Fiction Novel, The Babe Ruth Conspiracy, from Author David O. Stewart --New York City, 1920-21-- In 1920, Babe Ruth--larger than life on the ball field and off--is enjoying a record-breaking season in his first year as a New York Yankee when his 1918 World Series win falls under suspicion of being "fixed." Then rumors start that his silent movie, Headin' Home, was bankrolled by the top aide to gambling kingpin, Arnold Rothstein. Ruth turns to Speed Cook--a professional ballplayer before the game was segregated and who now promotes Negro baseball--for help. If anyone knows the dirty underbelly of America's favorite pastime, it's Cook. Cook enlists the help of a long-time friend, Dr. Jamie Fraser, whose new wife, Eliza, coproduced the Babe's silent film. While Cook, Fraser, and Eliza dig for the truth, protecting the oftentimes-reckless Ruth from thugs and the new baseball commissioner proves even more dangerous when they come face-to-face with hidden power-hitters who are playing for keeps. Publisher's Note: The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series will be enjoyed by fans of American history and period mystery novels. Free of graphic sex and with some mild profanity, this series can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. "Within these pages, he ushers us into the randy, gritty, wanton world of Babe Ruth, just arrived in New York from Boston, where he would power the Yankees—hell, the whole damn city—for the next decade. It is a world filled with molls and toughs, crooked pols and bootleggers, gamblers and righteous cops, not to mention Stewart’s beloved characters, Speed Cook, the wise head and former Negro Leaguer, and Dr. Jamie Fraser, who have teamed up before in previous fictions. The texture of the city is rendered with precision and believability. When Stewart describes the new impediment at the corner of 42nd and Fifth Avenue, the city’s first traffic tower, a reader can see the snarl of horse-drawn wagons, bicycles, pedestrians and oh so many automobiles—“machines” in the argot of the Twenties--clogging the street. Even the Babe had to stop for that. The book is full of such knowing details like the Thomas splint, an invention of World War I medicine, that saves Jamie Fraser’s daughter from losing her leg. Larger-than-life Ruth is made palpable through a mosaic of small but unassailable images. Ruth, resplendent in a red satin dressing gown worn over a pair of green and white diamond pajamas, earns “a low whistle” from Cook when he is admitted to the Babe’s sumptuous apartment in the Ansonia Hotel. It earns something more important from the reader: a belief in narrative plausibility and in the characters that inhabit it. So, when Stewart writes of the Babe that getting angry at him was a waste of time, “like losing your temper at a thunderstorm,” you know he knows what he’s talking about. The book is grand. Just like the Babe." ~Jane Leavy, Author of The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series The Lincoln Deception The Paris Deception The Babe Ruth Deception
David O. Stewart
David O. Stewart is an award-winning author and the president of the Washington Independent Review of Books. He is the author of several acclaimed histories, including Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America; The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution; Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy; and American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America. Stewart’s first novel is The Lincoln Deception.
Read more from David O. Stewart
The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Burning Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series
Related ebooks
An Angel to Die For Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWildfire!: Kristi Lundrigan Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Missing Formula Madge Sterling Series, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder at the Blue Plate Cafe: Blue Plate Cafe Sries, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Glassmaker's Wife Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fields We Called Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCanvey Island Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Stalking Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heart of Palm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Die Under the Apple Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder at the Tremont House: Blue Plate Cafe Sries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShoot the Bastards Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Perfect Staging for Murder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mermaid in the Basement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shattered Cross Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Comedy of Heirs: A Torie O'Shea Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Moriarty Lifts the Veil: A Professor & Mrs. Moriarty Mystery, #4 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nine Days' Queen, Lady Jane Grey, and Her Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChildren of Cain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrown to the Wind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Betrayal (The Guernsey Novels Book 6): The Guernsey Novels, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJudge Thee Not Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Historical Mystery For You
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchmaker's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Courting Dragons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stranger in the Lifeboat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tread of Angels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things in Jars: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Librarian of Crooked Lane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Word Is Murder: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories: A Miss Marple Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Line to Kill: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sentence Is Death: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider's Web Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Volume One: Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, and Unnatural Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl from Rawblood: A Gothic Horror Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady of Ashes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Herb of Death: A Miss Marple Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guardian of Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death: Grantchester Mysteries 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Jew in Prague Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Men Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Seance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Fraser and Cook Historical Mystery Series
2 ratings0 reviews