The Jefferson Key (with bonus short story The Devil's Gold): A Novel (Cotton Malone)
A Letter from Author Steve BerryCotton Malone is known for his overseas exploits. A former-Justice Department operative, who can't stay out of trouble, he's found adventures in all parts of Europe (The Templar Legacy,The Paris Vendetta), Central Asia (The Venetian Betrayal), Antarctica (The Charlemagne Pursuit), the Middle East (The Alexandria Link), and China (The Emperor's Tomb). But he's never had an American adventure.Until now.The Jefferson Keywas great fun to research. My wife Elizabeth and I traveled to New York City; Washington, D.C.; Bath, North Carolina; Monticello; and Richmond, Virginia. Monticello was particularly interesting since the terrific novelist, Katherine Neville--author ofThe Eight and The Fire--played host. Katherine serves on the estate's board of directors and she led us on a behind-the-scenes tour that helped formulate a number of scenes that would later appear in the book. We spent a wonderful day there, wandering the halls and staircases, snapping pictures, checking out every nook and cranny. In Richmond, we stayed atThe Jefferson, a grand hotel that also makes an appearance in the story.Bath, North Carolina was similarly intriguing. Three hundred years ago, Bath was a hotbed for Atlantic pirates, a bustling port and a ship building center.  Its location, on a quiet inlet of the Pamlico River, not far from open ocean, made it ideal for both.  And though it's now a sleepy village of about 300 residents, delving into its colonial and pre-colonial past was exciting.  After all, pirates are fascinating--but they don't match the Hollywood stereotype. The real thing is even better, andThe Jefferson Keydeals with the real thing.The research for this novel spanned 18 months, which is normal for my books. Along the way, we uncovered a secret cipher originally possessed by Thomas Jefferson; concocted a mystery for Andrew Jackson; and created a centuries-old document envisioned by the Founding Fathers themselves. It was fun exploring American history, especially the Constitution, which forms a huge part of this plot. With every book there's a challenge to describe the story in as few words as possible. For this one, we came up with this:  Four United States presidents have been assassinated--in 1865, 1881, 1901, and 1963--each murder seemingly unrelated. But what if those presidents were all killed for the same reason--a clause in the United States Constitution, contained within Article 1, Section 8--that would shock Americans.Got you interested?I hope so.EnjoyThe Jefferson Key.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.