SISTERS OF CAIN

New York: Berkley Prime Crime, 2000. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. The first book in the award-winning Monfredo's "Cain Trilogy," featuring two sisters from Seneca Falls, NY, -- Bronwen and Kathryn Llyr -- who find themselves in Washington in 1862 at the beginning of the Virginia Peninsular Campaign, a must-win situation for the Union Army after losses at Manassas and Balls Bluff. Bronwen, a Treasury agent, is undercover, hidden behind the Confederate lines. Kathryn, a nurse, is a frontline nurse in the Union Army. The two must find each other on the battlefield and thwart a Southern conspiracy that could determine the outcome of the entire war. First edition, first printing (stated, with complete numberline). About 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, 368 pages in black paper-covered boards with gold lettering on spine. Pictorial dustjacket's front panel shows woman standing alone in the midst of battlefield debris with burning barn and clouds of smoke in background. Title in gold and author's name in white superimposed on pictorial elements on front panel and spine. Back panel has six blurbs praising Monfredo's previous historical mysteries. Boards and dustjacket show only light bumping to spine ends with touch of soiling on text edges. No tears, creasing, or chipping. Not ex-library, not price-clipped. Complete and unmarked. A collectable copy.