Diary of the War in America by Colonel Marmaduke St John

Thanks to the LA Times

Title: Diary of the War in America 

Author:  Colonel Marmaduke St John

Publisher: Not known 

Source book: Sion Crossing by Anthony Price (David Audley #14)

Colonel Marmaduke St John (pronounced ‘sinjun’) started as an artillery lieutenant in the Indian Army. Later in life he fought in the War between the States and wrote a memoir: Diary of the War in America.

Colonel St John turns out to be an ancestor of Oliver St John Latimer of R&D. On the strength of this relationship Oliver claims to be an expert on the war, ingratiates himself with a fake American Senator and flies to Atlanta in order to investigate a lost fortune. Gold? Pearls? Traitors? Let’s find out.

Unfortunately for Oliver he walks into a trap intended for David Audley. Bill Macallan, a disgraced CIA operative who blamed David Audley for his failed career, and the failure of their efforts to discover sleeper agents recruited by the KGB and trained at Debreczen. Macallan knew he was dying and set an elaborate trap for a long time sleeper agent, a wealthy American industrialist called Robinson, who appears to have no interest in politics... but he does have a private army, and when the plan swings into action it seems he is entertaining a senior Russian official. Robinson was on Macallan’s original Debreczen List but no-one believed Macallan’s over-zealous investigations. 

The plan doesn’t bring down Audley but it does point a very big finger at Robinson. Although the CIA may have known about him all along. Who knows? It’s complicated. There is death and mayhem but fattypuff Oliver (it’s relevant) survives intact.

Also mentioned in Sion Crossing is a book being written by Paul Mitchell’s friend Professor Peter Welsh: a biography of Nathan Bedford Forest.

There’s a reference to David Audley’s historical novel Princess in the Sunset too. 

And there’s the genuinely fake fictitious book that Bill Macallan was purported to be writing before his death. It was supposed to be a history of the Iowan regiments in the Civil War. He put a great deal of effort into creating a maze of research and real facts while drawing his prey towards the trap he has set at the small settlement of Sion Crossing. 

All Anthony Price books are super complicated and stuffed with history that you can’t always be sure if it’s true or not. However, I do recommend them. Underrated, not as well known as they should be, his books about the R&D department of the British Secret Service are all well worth a read.

Thanks to Medium.com