Below is a review from the Online Book Club (Onlinebookclub.org) for TREACHERY AT MIDNIGHT: A Daughter's Remembrances of the Civil War, Wayside Rest and Her (Special) Friendship with Cole Younger:

Official Review: TREACHERY AT MIDNIGHT by D.L. Rogers

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Post by Bertha Jackson » 05 Feb 2021, 14:26

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "TREACHERY AT MIDNIGHT" by D.L. Rogers.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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TREACHERY AT MIDNIGHT: A Daughter’s Remembrances of the Civil War, Wayside Rest, and her (Special) Friendship with Cole Younger by D. L. Rogers is a historical fiction based on the story Lizzie Brown keeps alive in her family. On Christmas in 1923, 76-year-old Lizzie tells her story to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren from her perspective at 13 years of age. She tells them of her home, Wayside Rest, where a traveler could stop for friendship and a meal. Lizzie explains that the war was about more than slavery, but politics, money, family rights, and state rights. Although her father owned slaves, he was a Constitutional Unionist who believed that the country should not divide in two, and differences could be discussed and resolved peacefully. By reading this book, you will find out how Mr. Brown protected his slaves before and after the war. Find out how Lizzie's father and brothers dealt with a civil war that pitted many family members, friends, and neighbors against each other. As stated so accurately in the book, war changes people, and they do things they never thought they would.

I liked several things about this book. Firstly, the author begins the book with diagrams of the Brown home and the surrounding property. These helped me understand where certain events occurred. Secondly, the author uses unique and humorous phrases to describe the characters' emotions and the weather conditions. For example, "sizzling like a chicken in an oven" made me feel the temperature of a hot summer day. Thirdly, from the author's description of the characters, I felt like I knew them personally, and I was in the house, yard, or barn with them. Finally, the author ends the book by providing additional information that helped me understand the events leading up to and during the Civil War. This information included: Lizzie's obituary, a summary of the "real" story behind Kansas and Missouri’s involvement in the Civil War, a reference list, and a listing of dates of the events leading up to the battles in the Civil War.

There was nothing I disliked about the book. In parts of the book, it became clear to me that Lizzie was from Missouri and she disliked and blamed Kansas residents for a lot of the problems. However, at other times, she does make it clear that the battles between Missouri and Kansas went both ways, and both sides committed atrocities against the other.

I gladly give this book 4 out of 4 stars. I did not find a single error in the entire book. Therefore, I believe the book has been exceptionally well-edited by a professional editor.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction concerning the Civil War or Cole Younger. The book does contain some borderline profanity that may be offensive to sensitive readers, but it is not inappropriate for teenage and adult readers. The only religious content is personal prayers for safety and their dead by the characters and should not be offensive to most readers.

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TREACHERY AT MIDNIGHT
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Bertha R. Jackson 
Book Reviewer at OnlineBookClub.org

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Post by nikechi » 12 Feb 2021, 11:22

Reviews from a 2018 virtual book tour of CROSSFIRE IN THE STREET and ELIZABETH'S WAR:

IndieBound

Crossfire in the Street: Lone Jack 1862

I love this author’s historical fiction novels, and this book blew me away. Her previous book Elizabeth’s War focuses more on the war from the eyes of women and children left behind as the men went off to fight. This family stays together, but are still struggling to survive in the dangerous times.

Pete is the oldest boy in his family, and when asked if he will join the Rebels, he decides to stay with his family. Then, the Rebels come to town and force him to join them, and he manages to keep his younger brothers out of the war. As he worries about how his family is faring, he has to fight for his life daily. Many of the soldiers he fights beside are his neighbors, but he also has to fight against his neighbors. The world has been turned upside down for Pete and his family, and they have to learn how to survive.

Cora thinks that a boy named Andrew is going to ask for her hand in marriage, but then he just runs off to join the Yankees. Cora always hopes that Andrew will return, but even if he does, he would be shunned by those around her. She may have lost the boy she thought was the love of her life forever. A typical girl might decide to sit and wallow in her own sadness, but she was determined to still help out her family.

The boys Hank and Jesse were too young to go off to war, but they are still intrigued by the battle. They put themselves in danger when they wander off to one of the battles, and it is up to their brother to help them.

I have to say it, this story might have made me even sadder than Elizabeth’s War! Sure, this family may have not had to walk for miles and miles to safety, but they were forced to literally draw a line down their town and fight their neighbors. Some people were easily brainwashed and acted as if they had been on that side their entire lives. The rest of them were heartbroken to have to consider neighbors and family friends as their enemies. The battles that occur in that town tear it apart, until it is barely recognizable. This book focuses on how harsh life on the battlefield was, and how much the soldiers had to give up to fight. What was the point of all the fighting, in the end, they would still be neighbors? They would just be neighbors who remember firing guns at each other.

D.L. Rogers just throws her readers into the midst of whatever was going on at the time that her stories take place, and the end results are unforgettable. The characters just fly off the page and beg the readers to listen to their stories. Both Elizabeth’s War and Crossfire in the Street are going to be in my permanent collection, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an unforgettable historical fiction novel.

I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 5 books

IndieBound

My Review

ELIZABETH'S WAR: Missouri 1863

I have never read a book about the Civil War quite like this before. I have read books from the Northern perspective, from the perspective of Southern abolitionists, and exactly one from the perspective of a “Southern Belle” daughter of a slaveholder. Never before have I read one about a neutral Southern family that just wanted to protect themselves and their land. And this really changed my perspective on the entire war.

For starters, they were a family who had already had arguments about the issue of slaves, but they didn’t own slaves. The brother did not want to fight for the Confederacy for the right to own slaves. He wanted to fight to protect the home that he had grown up in, especially since the Union started invading before they had officially even declared a war. Elizabeth and her children were left alone as her husband James went into hiding to avoid being drafted, but being a border state meant that they were being attacked by both sides. The Union soldiers came to try to steal food for their men, the Confederate soldiers were never really there to protect the citizens, and “bushwhackers” would run around trying to protect who they could. But all three groups needed food and were determined to take it nearly by any means possible, even if it meant leaving a family to starve.

Nora was my absolute favorite character in the book. As the oldest girl, when her brother and father left, she had to step up to help her mother. Sometimes her mother would go into full fight mode, and she would have to calm her down and make her see reason again. I wish that there was a sequel just about the rest of her life, She was one of the strongest teenage characters that I have ever seen in writing, but she still managed to be realistic.

This story talks about the horrors of war from a more personal perspective. Usually, the South is portrayed as the “enemy,” but this book showed that there were bad soldiers on both sides. Elizabeth just wanted to protect her family, and she would do anything to keep them alive. I felt like I was living in the hell that the family was living in, keeping watch at night and trying to protect what little food they had. Then, they were forced to move out of their houses, and their situation only got worse. I felt as if the characters were real, and as if I was living their life story, as I was reading this fictional novel.

There was not a dull moment in this book. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. I was reading the first few pages around 11 PM one night, and I was only trying to get through around a third of the book before I went off to bed. Before I knew it, the clock read 1 AM, and I had completed the entire thing. It was simply that good!

If you are a fan of historical fiction books, you absolutely have to pick this one up. This one is just incredible.

I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 5 stars

Review by Linda Barta of the Lone Jack Museum and Historical Society. This review was in THE ACORN, the Newsletter of the Lone Jack Historical Society, Vol. IX, No. 1. In the review she calls ELIZABETH'S WAR a "gem." Read a large portion of the review below.

"Finding a historical fiction novel set in the Missouri/Kansas border area worth reading has been a quest. Finally, I found a gem. Author D.L. Rogers was raised in the East with ancestors who fought on both sides during the late unpleasantness. Always interested in history, growing up she called herself a "Yebel."

Since moving here to the border area she has discovered and embraced the historical significance the Border War presents. After extensive research following one Cass County woman, Elizabeth McFerrin, Rogers has written a fictionalized account of her life during the war in ELIZABETH'S WAR MISSOURI 1863.

Of note to those of us interested in Lone Jack is that Elizabeth's oldest son, Samuel, was recruited and fought in the battle of Lone Jack at age 16. He survived the battle and the war. He eventually returned home to find a lone chimney standing on the homestead. He tracked down and found his mother and siblings as refugees in St. Clair County. They were staying with relatives.

On the first page Rogers drew me in with the vivid, emotionally charged pictures she paints with her pen. Her story begins in late April 1861. Her character, Elizabeth Miers, sits in the shade of her porch, breathing in the comforting aroma of baking chicken and cornbread. Her mending forgotten in her lap, she reflects on the shadow of violence her family has lived under for more than five years.

She and her husband, James, have settled on 60 acres outside of the small town of Austin, south of Harrisonville. The town was now a thriving merchant town as well as a hotbed of politics. Could Austin have mirrored Lone Jack?

All her family wanted was to be left alone without fear of reprisals for what they believed--or not, to remain neutral. Wasn't that a constitutional right -- to believe what you wanted?

Drawing heavily from many sources, Rogers says that her character Elizabeth began exerting a will of her own as the writing began. She says that her Elizabeth fought her pen and the constraints of history. Elizabeth Miers wanted her story told but with Elizabeth McFerrin's surrounding history intact.

Rogers understands the complexity of the issues surrounding the Civil War. She does not shy away from the simplicity of slavery as the cause. She understands how people and families can be caught up in the time and place simply trying to survive....

The chapters are short, giving the reader the opportunity to pick up the book for a few moments, or read on and really shadow Elizabeth as she struggles to provide for and protect her family through the war on the border and General Ewings Order #11."

(Linda Barta of the Lone Jack Historical Society)

Review for THE WHITE OAKS SERIES: August 9, 2016: (an Illinois resident)

Diane Rogers has written 9 books in the “White Oaks” series. It is well worth your time to read every one. A tremendous amount of research was done in order to obtain all the historical facts from the mid 1800’s as Diane writes about life in the territory that she obviously loves.

The first book is about Emma and Jonathon Carter, a young couple who leave their home in St. Louis and travel by riverboat up the Missouri River to the Independence area. They have a lot of hardships on their journey but eventually they build “White Oaks” and settle there.

My husbands Great-Great Grandmother was a Cherokee Indian so I especially like the book “Ghost Dancers”, which was about the terrible conditions the Indians were forced to live under and the couple who tried to help them.

All of the books have their own characters and stories but all are in some way connected to Emma and Jonathon Carter and know they are always welcome to “come home” to White Oaks.

These books lead you through the lives of the people during that period in time and you soon feel as if you a part of it. They have a lot of history about the Civil War and the Western frontier.

If you love history you will love these books.

Carolyn Ruff

Review for ELIZABETH'S WAR: Missouri 1863, October 14, 2015, by Shirley Parsons:

Elizabeth’s War, while a work of fiction, it is based on the true life events just before and during the Civil War.  All of us have much to learn about the lives and struggles of our relatives in this not too distant past, whether Union or Confederate.  Elizabeth’s War tracks the trials of a Southern family, the Miers, who had migrated to Missouri to settle into a peaceful family life apart from slavery during the mid 1800’s. It recounts the devastation visited on families by Brigadier General Ewing’s General Order No. 11, which expelled all those living in Cass, Jackson and Bates counties in Missouri unless they took an oath of loyalty to the Union regardless of their views on slavery or their general desire not to become involved with the war itself.  Even if they took the oath, they were expelled from their lands and homes.  All lands and useful property were confiscated and what could not be used or plundered was utterly destroyed.  The book is a tale of hardship and loss, but ultimately of the endurance and perseverance of the human spirit, families who had been stripped of everything they had.  When you think things could not possible be worse as the families traveled south to escape Union soldiers, Bushwhackers, Redlegs, Kansas Jayhawkers, the Missouri Guard and Militia and others, you discover that no matter how little you think you are left with, there is always one more thing that can be stripped from you.  That is unless you take into consideration the grit, the will, the determination to survive no matter what, the strength of faith, love and the hope that survives all.  This book is compelling from the beginning to the end and imagine my surprise when I discovered a distant relative in the very last chapter. 

Reviews for THE OLD COOTS: Sam:

DL Rogers has done an outstanding job of taking us into the heart of the South during the Civil War era and right into the misery inflicted upon peoples both North and South by its years of conflict; conflict between states, between family and between friends.  Ms. Rogers follows the life of Mr. Sam Whitmore, his family, his marriage to Ellie, his children and his relationship with former slaves, Horace and Jefferson.  Sam’s initial struggle was with his conscience in that he could not support the idea of slavery and wanted to separate himself from it and from those who supported it.  He meets Ellie who embraces Sam’s desire to break from the traditional role of plantation owner and work his own land right alongside Horace and Jefferson, who Sam freed.  As the war broke out, Sam was forced into the conflict in every way possible.  Sam suffered unspeakable tragedies, loss of family and friends, loss of his home, but the thing that keeps you drawn to this book is how Sam overcame the physical and emotional conflicts as a Southerner drawn into a war he does not support.  Sam’s sole desire was to protect his family, his friends and his home.  Sam’s integrity and his humanity shine through in every  chapter.  Sam travels from Tennessee to Missouri, back to Tennessee then on to Virginia and into the heart of the war.  Sam joins forces with a number of colorful characters as they embark on a perilous journey both to dodge Northern forces and conscription by Southern forces on their way to join the 14^th Tennessee Volunteers to fight for the South under General Lee.  To avoid giving too much away, you will be drawn into this book and Sam’s life from the first to the last page.  An excellent read!

Shirley Parsons

MY FIRST REVIEW FOR THE OLD COOTS: Sam!  I clapped and cried at the same time. 

My name is Brian Payne, and I’ve been a “War of Northern Aggression” reenactor for 16 years now as a Member of the 14^th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, as well as an artillery Battery commander with Parker’s Virginia Battery. I am the administrator for both the 14^th Tennessee and Parker’s Battery Facebook pages. Several months ago, I was contacted on the 14^th Tennessee’s Facebook page by D.L. Rogers asking for information on the 14^th . She explained that she was researching the 14^th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry so as to include the Unit in a new book she was writing. I could tell from our initial FB conversation, as well as our telephone conversations that came later, that she was really committed to being as factual as possible in the chapters of her book that deals with the 14^th. Over the years we (as 1 of only 2 reenactor groups in the country that portray the 14^th Tennessee) have been asked for assistance with many projects, in both film and books, and we are always very careful about what we agree to be associated with due to our fierce loyalty and devotion to those men we honor, and how they will appear in these projects once they are completed. I felt from the very beginning of my association with Diane that she was absolutely committed to accurately portraying these men as they really were. I was honored to assist her throughout the process by giving advice and some historically accurate facts concerning the 14^th from 1862 Winter camp, through the Battle of Gettysburg, and to a smaller extent, to the end of the War. After completing the book, she asked me to review it and give her my thoughts. She graciously sent me an autographed copy to read, and I must say, I had a real problem putting the book down once I started to read. The main character joins the 14^th Tennessee in time to fight at the Battle of Gettysburg, and she does a terrific job in describing the destructive and deadly carnage that these men had to endure near that small Pennsylvania town in July of 1863. I must say not only did I enjoy the chapters covering Sam’s experiences in the 14th, but I found the entire book captivating in the sense that the reader feels as though he/she is actually there experiencing all the things that Sam is going through. I am so glad she contacted me and asked for assistance in this project, and after seeing the finished product, I’m proud to be associated with it in a very small way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has found true love during life’s journey, still enjoys reading a book that is hard to put down once started, and would like to take a trip back to the 1860’s to a simpler, and terrible, time in the history of this great country!

 Check out this link for my interview with Frank Haight of the Independence Examiner:

http://www.examiner.net/article/20150612/NEWS/150619651

 A recent review for CALEB at Amazon: