5-STAR REVIEW: TIGERS IN BLUE by Richard Buxton

 Shire’s Union: Book 3
Publication Date: December 8, 2023

Two brutal years in America’s civil war have made a veteran of Shire; his younger English self buried beneath scars and unwanted memories. Unable to help, he watches as Tuck – his Union brother-in-arms – retreats from reality. Both the war and Shire’s heart relentlessly circle him back to Clara, his childhood love. He needs to believe they can share a life beyond the war.

Clara’s home is in ashes. Shire has left her once again to rejoin the fighting further south. She moves west in search of a new start and a past love.

Captain Tod Carter rides with the Confederate Army. He’s obliged to watch over a young lieutenant, fresh to the war and with too many questions; questions that loom large as the army crosses into Tennessee, marching ever closer to Tod’s family.

The western war sweeps towards its climax. The Rebels must risk all in one final campaign. Armies, lives and loves collide to decide who will find their home, and who will find a shallow grave.

Tigers in Blue is the climactic final novel of the Shire’s Union trilogy. Written by award winning author Richard Buxton, it completes Shire’s odyssey as begun in Whirligig and continued in The Copper Road.

In the final installment of Richard Buxton’s Shire’s Union series, Tigers in Blue, the war looms ever closer to Clara. Shire is haunted by images of war and the love of his childhood sweetheart, while Tod worries about his family and their home, where both Union and Confederate troops appear to be converging.

Having read this remarkable U.S. Civil War series from its inception, each character—from the leads to the numerous secondary characters—has endeared themselves to this reader. Knowing one of them would die by the end of the book terrified me! But, war being war and the horrors that come with it, losing more than one beloved character was very much feasible.

As both the North and South begin their march to Nashville, the Confederates possibly making one final great stand against the Union, a bloody battle is imminent. The suspense and uncertainty of the plot keep me on the edge of my seat. Shire and Tod march ever closer to Clara in Eversholt, her Tennessee farm, and Tod to his family home in Franklin.

Buxton’s writing and research are flawless in every book in this series, and his interest in and love of Civil War facts are evident in every detail—from the bloody battles and grueling marches to the rolling hills they traverse. While Buxton’s knowledge and facts of the war cannot help but captivate the reader, his innate ability to create realistic and sympathetic characters, each fully fleshed out, is the driving force of this incredible Civil War novel.

The catalyst for Tigers in Blue is who will survive this brutal war to win Clara’s heart. Will it be Clara’s devoted English childhood friend, Shire, or the handsome Rebel, Tod, who captured her heart on the riverboat?

Knowing nothing about the Battle of Franklin and determined not to cheat by Googling it, tension mounts as Buxton’s descriptive prose leads the readers through the battle and beyond until finally, the South concedes, and we are left with a very satisfying conclusion.

With well-developed characters, impeccable research, and captivating storytelling, Tigers in Blue and the entire Shire’s Union series is a must-read for historical fiction lovers.