The Hot Country, Butler - B

                                         This is the first book in a planned series about Kit Cobb, a war correspondent for  a fictional daily in Chicago.  The author previously won a Pulitzer for a collection of short stories, and obviously can tell a good tale. The time frame is a hundred years ago right before the beginning of WWI and the setting is Mexico, where the US had troops on the ground in Vera Cruz and further west, where they were engaging Pancho Villa.  The US was working to keep Germany out of the hemisphere at a time when the Kaiser was trying to establish either colonies or spheres of interest all over the world in an attempt to create an empire compatible with Germany's economic  might.  Cobb is an interesting and very bright fellow, who finds himself tempted to do more than report. When a US agent is throttled by the Germans, he steps in and engages in some spying and fighting of his own.  It's a good read that sheds a bit of light on a forgotten episode in our past.