Code Name: Caleb by John A. Bray

Historical thriller. The sequel to THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY MADIGAN, the protagonist, a young Union soldier, goes undercover for the government investigative service to infiltrate a currency counterfeiting ring in New York City run by the Confederate Secret Service and members of the notorious Copperhead movement.

CODE NAME: CALEB is available from BeWrite Books.

*****

Young and penniless Johnny Madigan lied about his age to become a Union Soldier. And after surviving serious injury on the Civil War’s most notorious and blood-soaked killing fields, was recruited to work under cover to infiltrate Confederate spy rings.

In this sequel to the acclaimed Ballad of Johnny Madigan, Johnny – older than his years, but much younger than believed by the army, battle-hardened and a master of espionage – is sent back to New York to penetrate an underground counterfeiting gang supplying forged US currency the enemy South.

His assignment takes him to Canada where a murderous Confederate spy ring is plotting an armed uprising to take over New York City and hold it hostage.

Johnny’s dream is to return to childhood sweetheart, Deidre, who kept him alive as a destitute youth in the city’s slums, but there is more than the daily risk of sudden death keeping him from her as he enters the very heart of the conspiracy. Suspected by some plotters, he is seduced by a beautiful woman – herself a key member of the gang – whose orders are to expose him.

Will the war-toughened, but still romantically naïve, Johnny see through sexy Letitia’s love ploy to complete and survive his vital mission and to be re-united with Deidre, or can the conspirators lower his guard with Letitia’s wily help, make their bold, history-changing plan succeed … and see Johnny dead?

John Bray’s immaculately researched and race-paced ‘Code Name: Caleb’ thrusts the reader into the murky depths of intrigue, plot and counter-plot that became the dark underside of the War Between the States.

*****

John Bray earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Police Administration from John Jay College and a Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School while serving for 17 years in the New York City Police Department. After taking early retirement he practiced criminal defense law in New York City and Long Island. Now retired he lives in Williamsburg, VA with his wofe Vera and is the author of two previous novels published by BeWrite Books. THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY MADIGAN and THE CONFIDENTIAL.