Birthright

Suppose you're running for high political office and one day your dying father tells you that you're not really his son, but the kidnapped child of Charles Lindbergh. That's the dilemma facing David Shellenbach in Andrew Coburn's new thriller, and it says a lot about Coburn's ability to make believers of his readers that we buy into the idea from the get-go. As Coburn tells it, the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped by not one but three men: Bruno Richard Hauptmann (who was convicted and executed for the crime) and two other German immigrants. But the Lindbergh baby wasn't killed; the body that was found was really the boy David's mother accidentally drowned in her bathtub. Unknown to his fellow kidnappers, the senior Shellenbach brought the baby home and convinced his mentally fragile wife that it was her son. Haunted all his life by the crime, the old man finally reveals his secret to David, who makes a touching visit to Anne Morrow Lindbergh before deciding what to do with his new knowledge. Other fine examples of Coburn's unusual talent for gripping storytelling available in paperback include No Way Home and Voices in the Dark.


Genre: Mystery