Heart of War

New York: Dutton, 1997. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 24 cm. [10], 370, [4] pages. Acid-free paper. Lucian King Truscott IV (born April 11, 1947) is an American writer and journalist. A former staff writer for The Village Voice, he is the author of several military-themes novels including Dress Gray, which was adapted into a 1986 television film of the same name. Truscott was born in Japan to US Army Colonel Lucian K. Truscott III and Anne (née Harloe). His grandfather Lucian Jr. was a US Army general during World War II where he commanded the 3rd Infantry Division and later the Fifth Army in Italy. Truscott attended the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1969. In 1968, Truscott and other cadets challenged the required attendance at chapel services. Later a court case filed by another cadet along with midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy resulted in a 1972 US Court of Appeals decision (and upheld by the Supreme Court) that ended mandatory chapel attendance at all of the service academies. He was then assigned to Fort Carson, Colorado. Derived from a Kirkus review: Another engrossing, cautionary tale from Truscott. Major Kara Guidry, a staff attorney in the Judge Advocate General's Office, is assigned to investigate the homicide of a young female lieutenant at Fort Benning. Apprised that the victim may have been romantically involved with a senior officer, she fixes on William Beckwith as her prime suspect. Beckwith pressures Kara to finger a convenient fall guy who died in a training mishap. The feisty JAG lawyer presses on, unearthing evidence that links Beckwith to an earlier killing. Before she can pounce, though, another young woman's body is found and Captain Taylor, Beckwith's aide, is indicted for the crime. Taylor has an airtight alibi, which he refuses to use because it would incriminate his gay lover. Kara manages to dig out the truth in a series of vivid courtroom confrontations that reveal the culprit. A shocker that raises intriguing questions as to how the armed forces can send soldiers of varied sexual orientations so many conflicting messages.