Fire on the Hill.

• Author: Christian, Michael Burke
• Position: Book review

Fire on the Hill, by Frank Rockland, Sambaise Books, Ottawa, 2013, 354 pp.

Sitting in the Library of Parliament I am somewhat amazed at how this piece of history survived the tragic fire that consumed the Centre Block of Parliament Hill on February 6, 1916. The quick action of the clerk "Connie" MacCormac, in ordering the closing of the large iron fire doors before evacuating, saved the library and its vital contents for future generations. But what really happened that evening? Was it mere carelessness of a smoker of cigars or was there something more sinister at play? Those are the questions that Frank Rockland explores in a thrilling fictional tale of conspiracy, politics and spies.

The plot of the novel centres on Inspector Andrew MacNutt and his wife Katherine. As head of the Dominion Secret Police, Inspector MacNutt has been attempting to keep the Canadian border secure against a network of German saboteurs run out of New York by Captains Franz von Papen and Karl Boy-Ed. After the Americans declare von Papen persona non grata and order him back to Europe, the Germans send Count Jaggi to replace him via Canada. Operating under the guise of the Belgian relief effort, Count Jaggi insinuates himself into the Ottawa establishment meeting regularly with Conservative Prime Minster Sir Robert Borden, Leader of the Official Opposition Liberals, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, future Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and the Governor General. Jaggi, a womanizer with a particular fondness for those already married, grows closer to Katherine MacNutt in an attempt to learn her husband's plans against the saboteurs. The setting of the novel oscillates between Ottawa and New York and slowly builds towards the fateful night of February 6 where the Inspector, Mrs. NacNutt and the Count are all found in the reading room of the Centre Block where the fire is...