Bestselling author James Lee Burke’s masterpiece is the story of a father and son separated by war, circumstance, and a race for the Holy Grail—a thrilling entry in the Holland family saga The New York Times Book Review has described as “saturated with the romance of the past while mournfully attuned to the unholy menace of the present.”
After a violent encounter that leaves four Mexican soldiers dead, Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland escapes the country in possession of a stolen artifact believed to be the mythic cup of Christ, earning the ire of a bloodthirsty Austrian arms dealer who places Hack’s son, Ishmael, squarely in the cross hairs of a plot to recapture his prize.
On the journey from revolutionary Mexico in 1918 to the saloons of San Antonio during the Hole in the Wall Gang’s reign, we meet three extraordinary women: the Danish immigrant who is Ishmael’s mother and Hackberry’s one true love; a brothel madam descended from the Crusader knight who brought the Shroud of Turin back from the Holy Land; and a onetime lover of the Sundance Kid, whose wiles rival those of Lady Macbeth. In her own way, each woman will aid Hack in his quest to reconcile with Ishmael, to vanquish their enemies, and to return the Grail to its rightful place.
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“Two-time Edgar winner Burke sets Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland the task of protecting a precious artifact (is it the Holy Grail?) from a string of villains, including an Austrian arms dealer who sets his sights on Holland’s son Ishmael, who serves in the US Army; Burke does not disappoint.”
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Boston Globe