9. Sir Arthur’s decisions take him from a would-be hero to a villain’s accomplice throughout the book. How are you left feeling about him? How did your opinions change over the course of the book? What do you think of Mercer’s opposite change?
10. The salvation of the United States came when an entire city rallied together, unified, and stood firm against their enemy, though in the years prior they had been languid and more concerned with their individual goods than the nation’s. How does that parallel the country today? What can we learn from them?
Author’s Note
When I first researched the Culper Ring, America’s original and most trusted spy ring, I was intrigued not only by the tight-knit, secretive group who survived because they were all friends and family, but also by the possibility of their secret continuation after the Revolution. When I read that Benjamin Tallmadge, the head of the ring during the War of Independence, was a congressman during the War of 1812, the wheels in my head began spinning. How could the man who organized intelligence during the Revolution not have a hand in it when war was declared again?
History records that most of America’s intelligence gathering during this second war with England was courtesy of the privateer fleet that wreaked havoc upon the British vessels. Whenever they saw something of interest, they got word back to Washington. Yet again, a network of friends…and so I had to ask, “What if they were organized by the Culpers?” I needed a hero capable of gathering information from sailors far and wide, and so the personable Thaddeus Lane was created.
Where in Ring of Secrets the featured tool of espionage was invisible ink, I was excited to add into this story the cutout paper called either a “mask” or “grille.” The British were actually using this method as early as the Revolution, but Americans hadn’t yet gotten their hands on it. I just loved, though, how this visual tool wove seamlessly into my visually inclined heroine, who was already subconsciously hiding messages in her artwork. Such fun!
I once again drew on the Puritan prayers from Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions compiled by Arthur Bennett, which are the ones supposedly copied from a text by Grandfather Reeves.
My primary research book for this one was The Battle for Baltimore 1814 by Joseph A. Whitehorne, in which he combined traditional with original research to paint a picture of the little-known war in the Chesapeake region. I was dumbfounded by how the politicians in Washington all but ignored the advancing British for two years; I cackled in delight (being from Maryland and West Virginia) at how the hot, humid summer did more to repel the soldiers weary from Europe than the troops did; and I was touched to the core when Baltimore won their pivotal battle by doing what the nation had been unable to do for the two years prior—put politics and daily life aside, and unite with a single focus.
The British admiralty really did decide to attack Baltimore because of misinformation about the preparedness of the city, including a newspaper article in the Baltimore paper that grossly understated their efforts—how could that not have been intentional? Combined with that, the British had a basic misunderstanding of the American spirit. They thought our signals were signs of panic and that they could defeat us by burning our capital, never considering it would make everyone spitting mad and, for the first time, united.
My descriptions of the bombardment of Fort McHenry are taken from firsthand accounts, including the unexploded ordinance that landed in the ammunition magazine. Mere hours in, Cochrane knew he had made a mistake, one made all the more clear when Ross was killed in the land battle. Disheartened and exhausted, the British soon withdrew from the Chesapeake and, after the American victory at New Orleans, from the country early in 1815.
But even in its early days, America had a growing rift between slaveholding and non-slaveholding states, one observed from its very founding. I made sure to plant the seeds of concern in Whispers from the Shadows because the next adventure of the Culpers is going to put them in a position they never anticipated—smack between the Knights of the Golden Circle, who reportedly buried Confederate gold, and a Pinkerton investigator determined to infiltrate them.
Can you see me rubbing my hands together in delight?
About the Author