This is the 19th book in Brody’s Templars in America series. It focuses on American history in the 1800s. The Templars play a part, of course, but this novel focuses more on a cabal of powerful Massachusetts shipping families, known as the Essex Junto [Brody used the modern Junta spelling], made wealthy by the opium trade, who wanted New England to secede from the Union.
It’s not only a crazy story but a true one: These families, working with agents they planted in the South, eventually sparked the Civil War. Documentary evidence indicates they may even have been part of plans to bring about World Wars I and II. These families had close ties to Freemasonry (in particular, Masonic figurehead Albert Pike) and founded Yale’s exclusive Skull and Bones Society.
The families remain powerful today, which is where Cameron Thorne comes in—Cam and his daughter Astarte discover Civil War-era letters from Albert Pike (yes, these are real) indicating that the Essex Junta families planned not just two world wars but a third one yet to come. Obviously, Cam can’t just sit around and allow that to happen.
David S. Brody is an attorney turned fiction writer currently focusing my writings on sites and artifacts that evidence pre-Columbian exploration of America. He calls this the “Templars in America” series, as much of this exploration seems to tie back to the medieval Knights Templar. He uses artifacts and historical sites in the books to trigger modern-day suspense plots.
As Publisher Weekly writes of the series,
“Brody does a terrific job of wrapping his research in a fast-paced thrill ride.”
It all started with the Westford Knight, and David remains fascinated by the hidden history of North America and the very real possibility that waves of European explorers visited our shores long before Columbus. He hopes that his readers share his fascination.
Brody, David S: Cabal of the Westford Knight, Templars at the Newport Tower (Autographed)
Suggested donation of $10 per person
Your donation supports the preservation and maintenance of artifacts in the collection
of the Westford Museum. Thank you for your donation