Double Daggers

Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (10/06) James R. Clifford has struck gold, or should I say silver denarius, with "Double Daggers," a fast paced historical fiction. This book has it all - drama, intrigue and historical facts. The story is based around the EID MAR or Eids of March silver denarius that was ordered in 44 B.C. by Marcus Brutus after he delivered the final deathblow in the assassination of Julius Caesar. The Senate murdered Julius Caesar because he was seen as a power hungry tyrant who had designs on becoming Emperor and doing away with the Republic. Marcus Brutus, the son of Caesar's mistress Servilia, had the coin minted to "commemorate the fall of a tyrant and the liberation of the Roman Republic. Romans, thousands of years from now, will sing praise to our heroics when they hold this coin in their hand". The coin had double daggers on one side and the likeness of Brutus on the other. The first coin was inscribed with the number 1 and delivered to Brutus. It turns out Brutus severely underestimated the power of Marc Antony to turn public praise for Caesar's murder into outrage. Brutus flees Rome to eastern Italy where he finds sympathy for his cause. He builds a new army and goes to battle with Rome. When all is lost for him he kills himself with the same knife he used on Julius Caesar. Upon finding his dead body, Marc Antony placed this curse on him "Live by the sword, die by the sword. You are truly a cursed man. The evil one does cannot be undone. Not even in death." Then he throws the EID MAR coin into the river. Flash forward to France in 1096 A.D., the time of the Crusades. Michael Claudien, son of a wealthy landowner has become an unwilling crusader. He and his brother Godfrey leave home to travel to Constantinople to join other Crusaders in the fight for Christianity in the Holy Land. They stop in Belgrade on the way where Michael acquires the EID MAR coin in a game of Bones. He does not believe that it is cursed and misfortune soon follows him. The story then takes you to Paris, France in June of 1940. The Nazi Party has recently occupied the city of Paris. Colonel Maxwell Von Studt, a close confidante to Adolph Hitler, is living the life he has always dreamed of. Except for one thing, he has an obsession with Rome and the EID MAR coin. Von Studt has learned that it is at the Louvre, and he steals it. Things quickly go downhill for him and the Nazi Party and he soon follows the fate of his predecessors. The final tale takes place in modern day New York City. Completely self-obsessed and arrogant, Wall Street trader Jack Weston is living on top of the world. He thinks he has everything until he sees the EID MAR coin at an auction and impulsively buys it. That is where everything begins to go wrong for him.... Even the epilogue is unexpected in "Double Daggers" when the author ties all the owners of the EID MAR coin together in a very surprising way. I thoroughly enjoyed re

Double Daggers is a fascinating story revolving around the infamous Eids of March coin--the very first coin Brutus had minted after his assassination of Julius Caesar. The novel spans the ages, from 44 BC to the modern times, and offers the reader an intriguing glimpse into the lives of four different men--Marcus Brutus, a knight during the crusades, a lieutenant working for Hitler, and a Wall Street trader--as they become into contact with the "cursed" coin and their lives mysteriously take a turn for the worse. Clifford's language flows beautifully, engaging the reader until the end. The characters, with their sinister motivations, are well drawn, and the well-researched historical background adds color and credibility to the story. With each lead character, a distinct, vivid world is presented. Combining history with a touch of the paranormal, Double Daggers is an original, well-crafted--and dare I say strange--story that will be enjoyed by all. Strongly recommended. *This review originally appeared in Armchair Interviews

James R. Clifford has been graced with a fertile imagination as evidenced with his new novel Double Daggers that focuses on one of the rarest of silver coins known as the Double Dagger Denarius or the Eids of March coin that celebrates the most legendary murder of antiquity, the assassination of Julius Caesar. Clifford informs us in his opening chapter that the tiny EID MAR silver denarius was issued in 44 B.C. by Marcus Brutus, who was the primary assassin of Caesar. The reverse side of the coin contains images of two daggers, between which is a liberty cap, an ancient symbol of freedom. The coin bears the inscription EID MAR, which means "Eidibus Martiss" or "the Ides of March." Immediately after the murder of Caesar, Brutus was so obsessed with having this new coin minted that he could hardly wait to meet with Mettivus, the mintmaster and inform him that the coin "will forever commemorate the fall of a tyrant and the liberation of the Roman Republic. Romans, thousands of years from now, will sing praise to our heroics when they hold this coin in their hand." What was quite ironical is that Brutus found it deplorable that Caesar had the audacity to imprint a likeness of himself on a coin, which was something akin to anointing himself as king. This was supposedly intolerable during Roman times and one of the reasons Brutus felt Caesar had to be assassinated. As our narrative unfolds, Brutus had the mintmaster cease minting coins with Caesar's image and he has these replaced with his own special commemorative coins. Brutus further insists that there be a special coin set aside for himself that would be marked with the Roman numeral I denoting that this would be the first coin of the series minted. Until his suicide, after losing the battle of Philippi to Mark Antony, Brutus always carried this coin with him. When Brutus' body along with the coin is discovered, Antony cries out: "Live by the sword, die by the sword. You truly are a cursed man." In disgust, Antony tosses the coin into the dark swirling waters of a river. From here the world Clifford creates journeys through different epochs as the coin is found and finds it way into the possession of three characters representing different historical eras, the Crusader, Michael Claudien, the Nazi, Maxell Von Studt, and finally a modern day Wall Street trader, Jack Weston. Narrated through the eyes of these complex separate characters with their shifting voices, we learn of how all three acquired the coin under very peculiar and bizarre circumstances and how each falls victim to a curse that eventually leads to their destruction. Particularly noticeable about these characters is that even though they lived in different eras they were all egotistical, selfish, and vain. And for the most part they lived wasted lives. Moreover, all endure the same nightmare with reference to a dark forest, and suffering of men and places that they had difficulty comprehending. Even more incredible was their str

Review by Gene Kizer Writer, historian and editor of Blue Bonnie Publishing Jamie Clifford's second novel, Double Daggers, is really four exciting historical novellas linked seamlessly by a common theme: the curse on the Double Dagger Denarius coin, a real coin originally minted by Brutus, assassin of Julius Caesar. Clifford inserts the reader precisely into four periods of history, starting with the assassination of Julius Caesar, which is the reason the coin is cursed. Each dramatic period is well researched and historically accurate, which adds immensely to the book. Rich descriptions of actual places give the reader a visual tour of the past, and one of Clifford's strengths is characterization. His characters are believable, especially the protagonist of Book II, Michael Claudien. Michael grew up the son of a domineering father during the Crusades, who constantly berated Michael and made him second to his more pious younger brother, Godfrey. The likable Michael loves his wine and women, acquits himself well when facing danger and death, and becomes his own man in the end. In Book III, set in Nazi Germany during World War II, there is a delicious O'Henryesque ending that surprises and delights, and in Book IV, Clifford's own inside experience on Wall Street in the 1990s brings it quickly to life in a hard-driving, fast-paced story reminiscent of Michael Douglas's character, Gordon Gekko, in the movie Wall Street. In fact, Gordon Gekko's famous statement, "Greed is good," is the epigraph for Book IV. Each of the four books and the Epilogue have their own tantalizing epigraph that sums up the action to be; and the book itself, the cover, is beautifully designed with both sides of the real coin above a backdrop of Vincenzo Camuccini's famous painting of the assassination of Julius Caesar. While each of the four books within Double Daggers stands on its own, the short epilogue at the end ties everything together and confirms what every reader must be thinking by the time he or she gets there (and I have no intention of telling what that is!). Double Daggers looks good, has a nice feel and is outstanding historical fiction. It will especially appeal to those who would like to go back in time, for a while, and live with real people in four fascinating and important eras of human history.

Double Daggers by James R. Clifford is about four men separated in time but united in their ambitions to possess the Ides of March coin minted by Brutus in celebration of Julius Caesar's death: Marcus Brutus himself, a crusading knight of medieval Europe, an SS lieutenant of Hitler's, and a modern day Wall Street trader. Creatively presenting the devilish intentions and pursuits of the four lead characters and their intertwining fates of the four books, Double Daggers is a riveting historical interpretation of the great mythical powers of the legendary Roman coin. Benefitting from the author's historical research and vividly acute concepts drawn from the rule of the Roman, Crusading, Nazi, and modern eras, Double Daggers is very strongly recommended as a complex, superbly crafted, thoroughly entertaining novel from beginning to end.