Cheryl's Book Nook

The Knights of the Golden Circle, founded on July 4, 1854, was the largest, most dangerous clandestine organization in American history. It formulated grand plans—to expand the United States, change the constitutional landscape, and forge a Southern empire, enslaving a ‘golden circle’ spanning two continents. To finance its goals, the Order amassed an amazing trove of stolen gold and silver, which they buried in hidden caches across the United States. Treasure hunters have searched for decades, but have never found any of the Order’s major hoards. Now, 160 years later, the knights still exist. Two factions within the Order want the treasure—one to spend it, the other to preserve it. Thrust into that civil war is former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone. Starting with a hunt for clues inside the Smithsonian Institution, Malone discovers that an ancestor within his own family may hold the key to everything: a Confederate spy named Owen “Cotton” Payne. Complicating matters furt...

Cotton Malone finds himself in the deadly cross hairs of a political game of cat and mouse, where the stakes are high. When Cotton receives an invitation to meet his old boss, Stephanie Nelle, Cotton accepts. Cotton enters the hotel room where he is to meet Stephanie but she is not there. When Cotton realizes that he has walked into a trap it is too late. Cotton is than captured and charged temporary for the attempted assassination of President Danny Daniels. Once President Daniels learns that Cotton is involved, he turns to him for help to stop the real people behind the attack before it is too late. The Jefferson Key is book seven of the Cotton Malone books. I have not read many books from Mr. Berry. I have to admit that I could not stop reading this book. I like the mixture of history with mystery that was in this story. Cotton is the man. He is like Nicolas Cage in the National Treasure movies but way cooler. Sorry Mr. Cage. The reason I mention National Treasure is because the sto...