Re-enactment

The latest issue of National Geographic – May 2012 – is of particular interest. (Almost all issues are of interest, I know! I’m not a subscriber but can obtain copies at our local newsagent, maybe a little later than many readers, here in Spain).


The cover feature – ‘Eyewitness to the Civil War’ is about the war artists, complete with examples of their remarkable sketches. There’s also a free poster, covering ‘The march to Gettysburg’ and ‘From Slavery to Freedom’. The second half of the main feature is ‘The Curious World of Re-enactors’. Those epics Gettysburg and North and South – and many others – couldn’t have been filmed without the active and unstinting support of the many Civil War re-enactors.

Coincidentally, Solstice has just published in e-book (print to follow soon) a mystery thriller entitled Re-enactment by Sheila Dunn

In Civil War re-enactments, it's expected that some of the participants will be “killed.” So when Union captain Bill Taylor is shot dead, everyone assumes it's part of the act. Only Bill wasn't acting, and homicide detectives Julie Harmon and Fran Thomas set out to find the killer.

During their investigation, the detectives are shocked to uncover evidence suggesting that Bill was involved in several unsolved murders in the area. Had one of the pretend soldiers discovered Bill's secret and taken the law into his own hands?

Further questioning of the participants raises a suspect the detectives hadn't considered. Spookily, many re-enactors insist a real Confederate soldier had shown up that day, and he was the one who'd fired the fatal shot.