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Eliot Pattison

With the help of Indigenous American Shaman Conawago, Duncan McCallum has begun to heal from the massacre of his Highland clan. But his new life is shattered when he and Conawago discover a Virginian officer nailed to an American Indian shrine tree. The authorities arrest Conawago and schedule his hanging.

As Duncan begins a desperate search for the truth, he finds himself in a maelstrom of deception and violence. The year is 1760, and while the British army wishes to dismiss the killing as another casualty of its war with France, Duncan discovers a pattern of ritualistic murders. Duncan realises that the real mystery lies in the hearts of the Indigenous Americans, who, like his Highland Scots, have glimpsed the end of their world approaching.

Praise for Eye of the Raven:

“Few writers can combine history and mystery as well as Edgar-winner Pattison … Evocative language, tight plotting, and memorable characters make this a standout.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Pattison superbly builds tension and explores a period of shifting and uncertain alliances and loyalties. A thoroughly gripping read.” — Historical Novel Society (Editors’ Choice)

“With a keen eye and calmly rendered detail, Pattison deftly pulls the reader into the American Colonies through the investigation of Scottish Highlander Duncan McCallum.” — New Mystery Reader Magazine

Lume Books

Duncan McCallum Mysteries

Eye of the Raven: A Mystery of Colonial America

Scottish exile Duncan McCallum has joined his old American Indian companion Conawago on a quest to find the last surviving members of his tribe. But when they find a settlement destroyed, its inhabitants ritually murdered, Conawago becomes convinced of a terrible crisis in the spirit world that he must resolve.

Duncan is then accused by the British army of having committed the massacre. Hounded by vengeful soldiers, he also finds himself stalked by Scottish rebels who are trying to manipulate the war between the French and the British to their advantage.

As Duncan pieces together the puzzle of violence and deception, he realizes that the survival of the Indigenous tribes hangs in the balance. Duncan must finally make a fateful choice between his beloved Highland clans and the natives who have embraced and protected him.

The third book in The Bone Rattler series throws the reader into the heart of pre-Revolutionary America.

Praise for Original Death:

“Rich in period detail, [Original Death] is often somber and unblinking in its portrayal of a dark period in history.” — Kirkus

“Pattison pays tribute to the conventions of the murder mystery without sacrificing excitement or a nuanced look at the final stage of the war between the British and the French for control of North America.” — Publishers Weekly

“The excellent prose narrative goes right to the matter in question, the state of the (pre-Colonial) human heart.” — The Chicago Tribune

Original Death: A Mystery of Colonial America

The year is 1765, at the beginning of the Stamp Tax dissent, the first organized resistance to English rule. 

Duncan McCallum is drawn into the mystery of a series of murders and kidnappings that are strangely connected to the theft of an Iroquois artifact. In following the trail, he uncovers a network of secret runners supporting the nascent “committees of correspondence,” engaged in the first organized political dissent across colonial borders.

When he is captured and thrown into slavery with the kidnapped runners, Duncan encounters a powerful conspiracy of highly placed English aristocrats who are bent on crushing all dissent. Inspired by new friends, Duncan decides not just to escape but to turn their own intrigue against the London lords.

The fourth instalment of the Bone Rattler series moves ever closer to the beginning of the American Revolution. Blood of the Oak takes a fresh view on the birth of the new nation, suggesting that the “freedom” that became the centerpiece of the Revolution was uniquely American, rising not just from political discourse but also from the extraordinary bond with the natural world experienced by frontier settlers and native tribes.

Praise for Blood of the Oak…

“The fourth in Pattison’s Bone Rattler series combines well-drawn fictional and historical personages in a vivid portrayal of a pivotal year in American history. Historical mystery at its best.” — Booklist (Starred Review) 

“The fourth instalment in Pattison’s Bone Rattler series is another complexly plotted historical mystery written in a baroque style highly suggestive of the period and unblinking in its portrayal of American history’s dark lessons.” — Kirkus

Blood of the Oak: A Mystery of Colonial America

When a ship arriving from London explodes in Boston Harbor, both the peace of the colonial city and Duncan McCallum’s life are shattered.

Summoned by his new friend John Hancock to a beach awash with bodies, Duncan discovers that the ship was deliberately sabotaged — apparently to cover the theft of a secret document being carried to the Sons of Liberty. Hancock refuses to let him take this evidence to the authorities, however, because relations with the government are so sour that officials are being hanged in effigy.

Fearing that the intrigues of Hancock and the Sons might set the colonies ablaze, Duncan relentlessly pursues the truth, only to be falsely charged with treason and murder. To escape the hangman’s noose and restore his honor, Duncan has no choice but to follow a northbound trail of violence and deception while being relentlessly hounded by bountymen and vengeful soldiers. 

Praise for the Bone Rattler series:

“The Last of the Mohicans meets Braveheart, with a curious dash of CSI.” — Entertainment Weekly

“If this were a movie, we’d marvel at the set decoration that splendidly evokes the period. The excellent prose narrative goes right to the matter in question, the state of the (pre-Colonial) human heart.” — Chicago Tribune

“Pattison’s moving characters, intricate plot and masterful evocation of the time, including sensitive depictions of the effects of the European war on Native Americans, set this leagues beyond most historicals and augur well for future entries in this series.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)