The Road to Nashville

February 1862. One lie changed the Civil War.

Lieutenant Nathan Tower thought espionage would be simple—gather intelligence, report back, serve his country. Instead, his first reconnaissance mission nearly gets him hanged before he can order his first drink.

Enter nineteen-year-old Molly McDade, whose sharp eyes spot Tower as a Union spy the moment he stumbles into her Dover Inn. With Confederate soldiers closing in, she transforms the bumbling naval officer into "Simple Pete"—a harmless half-wit who becomes invisible to enemy eyes.

But Tower has walked into something far more dangerous than amateur spying. Lumber baron Hubert Meadows has been playing a deadly game of deception, feeding carefully crafted lies to Confederate generals while sixteen thousand troops hang in the balance at Fort Donelson.

As Grant's army tightens its grip around the fortress, three unlikely allies must master the arts of manipulation and deceit. Their mission: ensure that a critical Confederate escape route remains closed through one perfectly timed performance that will echo through history.

Before Nathan Tower became the legendary spymaster of The Death of the Admiral and The Frederick Alliance, he was just an overconfident young officer learning that the most important battles are fought with lies, not bullets.

A prequel novella to the Nathan Tower espionage series