The Revolutionary War letters, long believed to have been destroyed by Martha Washington, have been found. And the repercussions from the discovery creates an uproar louder than “the shot heard ‘round the world.”
Martha’s Letters, a historical suspense novel, follows John Mason, a history detective and architectural engineer, during his structural inspections at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and park. He encounters a series of cryptic objects that lead him to a tin box buried in the stable. He digs up the box and opens it later at his home and discovers letters written by George and Martha Washington throughout the early months of the Revolutionary War, letters long claimed to have been destroyed by Martha. The first box contains a note from Martha indicating that there are twelve more boxes of these letters hidden on the estate’s grounds.
John has to make a decision. Turn in what he’s found to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, that oversees the landmark, or keep and record the letters, because of his distrust of the possible mishandling of the priceless documents, and publish them in a book to preserve them for the world to see. He opts for the latter, which embroils him in a dangerous journey to retrieve all the letters while under the intense scrutiny of the park’s security force, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the police, and the FBI. He further decides to select several letters, and lightly “polish” their colonial style for flow and easy readability to demonstrate the incredible love affair between Martha and George and to provide a chronology of the war. His arrest for grand theft of the historical documents and the ensuing trial provide the last act of the story, leaving his fate in the hands of a jury and Martha herself.
