The Traitor's Stain (wattys 2019)

The year is 1779. The American Revolution is in full swing, and right now, it seems like the British army will win. New York and Philadelphia are both occupied by the British army, and with the hope of French aid still an ocean away, all seems lost to many.

However, one officer in the American army, Benjamin Tallmadge, is looking to change that. With the blessing of General George Washington, himself, he is forming a spy ring meant to supply the army with information on what is going on in New York. But, rather than staffing it with military officers, he is staffing it with a group of unprecedented people: the civilians of New York and neighboring areas.

Enter Ophelia Stroud. She's the wife of an American soldier, and is counting down the days until he comes home. The war has been in the sleepy town she calls home for months, but still, she considers it to be more of a nuisance, one that involves her husband being gone on far off campaigns and a British soldier quartered in her home.

However, when her husband is captured and sent to the HMS Jersey for imprisonment, she finds herself looking for a way to end the war so her husband can come home. She finds it in an invite from a close family friend, and finds herself wrapped up in a game of cat-and-mouse she never could've imagined.