| Publisher | Oldcastle Books |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 05 July 2021 |
| ISBN-10 | 0857304178 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0857304179 |
| Format | paperback |
| Pages | 384 |
| Price | £ 9.99 |
Statue for Jacob
by
Lawyer Kiah Harmon takes on a case to recover a 200-year-old debt from the US Government. With the addition of interest, the liability could amount to hundreds of billions, so resistance is expected to be fierce.
Review
Peter Murphy’s Walden series, and his Ben Schroeder series, are both tales of lawyers in UK, however, Murphy, himself a lawyer, has also worked in US, and Statue for Jacob is loosely based on a real case with which he was involved.
Kiah Harmon, a young Virginia lawyer of Indian extraction, is recovering from the double blow of the death of her parents in a traffic accident and the shock of being dumped by her boyfriend when actress Sam van Eyck walks into her office with the case of a lifetime.
Sam’s ancestor Jacob was a patriot and friend of George Washington, and during the freezing winter of 1777/78 Jacob funded supplies to Washington’s army at Valley Forge at a cost of nearly half a million dollars, thus enabling their survival to fight and win the War of Independence. Despite promises, the debt was never repaid. Jacob died in poverty and subsequent approaches to government to recover the debt have been unsuccessful.
Despite the immediate novelty of the claim, it might be thought that the story offers limited scope for excitement, but Murphy makes the most of the possibilities. There is some court action, partly in relation to lesser known areas of the US constitution, and the issues and the implications for those involved, including the judge, are well developed. The time limits imposed by the judge also bring urgency to the proceedings.
As the cause of action arose a long time ago, it can well be imagined that the number of claimants, Jacob’s descendants, run to thousands, the majority of whom have to join in what becomes a class action if the suit is to succeed. This provides a further complication, with a specific challenge from one aggrieved family member, abetted by Kiah’s old squeeze, for added emotional spice.
Tension is also ramped up by the hostility of the US Treasury department, who are thought to have amongst their archives documents substantiating the claim. A misguided group of Treasury staff are prepared to go to great lengths to prevent any such papers ever seeing the light of day.
Lastly, there are Kiah’s personal traumas, including a series of dreams featuring persons involved in the handling of the documents and their transmission since Jacob’s death. I felt much of this was gratuitous, but the story as a whole includes several strong women who make all the running.
It would of course be invidious to reveal Kiah and Sam’s degree of success in their endeavours, but the author says in a postscript that in the real case which inspired the story, the government did not pay out, despite quotations from Alexander Hamilton exalting fairness over short-term monetary considerations. Who’d have thought it?
Kiah Harmon, a young Virginia lawyer of Indian extraction, is recovering from the double blow of the death of her parents in a traffic accident and the shock of being dumped by her boyfriend when actress Sam van Eyck walks into her office with the case of a lifetime.
Sam’s ancestor Jacob was a patriot and friend of George Washington, and during the freezing winter of 1777/78 Jacob funded supplies to Washington’s army at Valley Forge at a cost of nearly half a million dollars, thus enabling their survival to fight and win the War of Independence. Despite promises, the debt was never repaid. Jacob died in poverty and subsequent approaches to government to recover the debt have been unsuccessful.
Despite the immediate novelty of the claim, it might be thought that the story offers limited scope for excitement, but Murphy makes the most of the possibilities. There is some court action, partly in relation to lesser known areas of the US constitution, and the issues and the implications for those involved, including the judge, are well developed. The time limits imposed by the judge also bring urgency to the proceedings.
As the cause of action arose a long time ago, it can well be imagined that the number of claimants, Jacob’s descendants, run to thousands, the majority of whom have to join in what becomes a class action if the suit is to succeed. This provides a further complication, with a specific challenge from one aggrieved family member, abetted by Kiah’s old squeeze, for added emotional spice.
Tension is also ramped up by the hostility of the US Treasury department, who are thought to have amongst their archives documents substantiating the claim. A misguided group of Treasury staff are prepared to go to great lengths to prevent any such papers ever seeing the light of day.
Lastly, there are Kiah’s personal traumas, including a series of dreams featuring persons involved in the handling of the documents and their transmission since Jacob’s death. I felt much of this was gratuitous, but the story as a whole includes several strong women who make all the running.
It would of course be invidious to reveal Kiah and Sam’s degree of success in their endeavours, but the author says in a postscript that in the real case which inspired the story, the government did not pay out, despite quotations from Alexander Hamilton exalting fairness over short-term monetary considerations. Who’d have thought it?
Reviewed 12 November 2022 by Chris Roberts
