Lisa Lewis Tyre's debut novel, Last in a Long Line of Rebels, skillfully combines Civil War history and a modern-day mystery.
Twelve-year-old Lou Mayhew's 175-year-old family home in Tennessee is much loved, but looks "like something out of an R.L. Stine story." When Lou discovers it might be torn down, she works with three friends to save it, possibly by registering it as a "Historic Place." After all, the house may have been inhabited by gold thieves and, according to visiting historian George Neely, a murderer. Worst of all for Lou, she learns there are old slave quarters in her own backyard. "Try to look at it as a puzzle," Mr. Neely tells Lou. "Your ancestors left you a great mystery to solve." Puzzle pieces keep popping up, including an old box containing the Civil War-era diary of Lou's namesake, Louise Duncan. In it, Lou reads that Louise was proud of her beau, Walter Mayhew, for guarding gold for the Confederacy. But gradually, Louise realized the cost of the war to the community and became opposed to slavery. Meanwhile, Lou sees first-hand that prejudice is still alive in 1999 Tennessee when her friend Isaac, a talented athlete, is denied a university scholarship because he is black.
Lou decides that if Isaac is brave enough to fight that, and her namesake was brave enough to fight slavery, she's not going to give up on trying to save her family's house. Thanks to Lou's lively, first-person narration and her entertaining, loyal team of friends, readers will be glad to be along for the ride. --Cathy Berner, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, Tex.