The Damaged Hero of A Private Duel with Agent Gunn
Before PTSD and shell shock there was a pitiable condition called soldier’s heart.
First of all, I want to thank A Dream Within A Dream for inviting me to guest blog today!
When I was developing the character of Phineas Gunn, I knew I wanted him to be an eccentric recluse, given to intellectual pursuits as well his talent for espionage and crime solving. Beginning in chapter one, paragraph one, it quickly becomes apparent Agent Gunn is having some sort of attack of nerves. Here’s an excerpt:
Chapter One
“Clean as a whistle these young lovelies. Sure you won’t have a taste, sir?” The dandy peacock tipped his hat and squinted to see inside the carriage.
Phineas Gunn sat in the darkness and regarded the street pimp for the briefest of moments. “Quite. Sure.”
“Take another gander, sir––you’ll find something comely that tickles the old Thomas.” The fleshpeddler cocked his head with a wink. “Rooms by the hour, right behind me.” With bosoms near to bursting out of corsets, the rag-a-bed jewels of Princess Street posed enticingly for his attention.
“Bugger off.” Phineas slammed the coach window shut.
Twirling a crystal-knobbed cane, the fancy man swept his walking stick behind bouncing bustles. “Special this evening––two girls––three and six.” The pimp hawked his bevy of spoiled doves to every man, Jack, and Prince Arthur prowling the backstreets of Leicester Square.
Finn gulped for air. A band of tension squeezed his chest. An intense wave of fear ripped through flesh and sinew––right down to his bones. Damn it all.
His body was playing tricks again. It seemed nothing he could think or do could distract from this sudden assault on his nerves. He inhaled another deep breath and exhaled slowly, counting to ten. The shakes often came upon him without warning or obvious cause. Finn knew very well he sat safely within the confines of his coach. Every fiber of his being, however, told him he was being chased down a dark alley by a raving murderer, poised to thrust a blade in his back.
He was dying and there was no way to stop it.
As the story unfolds, the reader learns that Finn was injured during the Second Anglo-Afghan war, and the only wounds that haven’t healed are emotional not physical. Finn holds deeply disturbing memories inside that he rarely speaks of. Dark, enclosed spaces
often trigger his nervous attacks, and contribute to his solitary life, causing him to have certain services brought to him, including his mistress and his fencing master.
In fact, the only thing that gets Finn Gunn out of the house is an occasional assignment from Scotland Yard or Naval Intelligence––as in A Private Duel with Agent Gunn––it’s a case involving mysterious ballerina Cate Willoughby.
Agent Gunn agreed to a brief interview about soldier’s heart, a hint about what happened to him during his military service, his new doctor and the effect Cate Willoughby has on his condition:
Jillian: “What exactly is soldier's heart, Agent Gunn?”
Agent Gunn: “As long as I am going to talk publicly about my debilitating condition, please call me Phineas or Finn, after all, you created me.”
Jillian: (As Finn smiled, I was reminded of just how charming, he could be.)
Finn: “To answer your question, soldier’s heart is a battle fatigue condition that affects some soldiers––particularly those of us who have witnessed heinous carnage and death. An American civil war doctor, actually named the condition.”
Jillian: “Can you tell me something about what happens when you get a nervous attack?”
Finn: “Rapid pulse, sweating, trembling, shaking. Sensations of shortness of breath. A feeling of choking or smothering. Chest pain. Nausea. Feelings of unreality, detachment––fear of losing control, or going mad. Fear of dying. Numbness and tingling sensations, alternating chills and feverish flushes. Not all at once, of course, but there are often multiple symptoms present.”
Jillian: “I understand you were stationed in Afghanistan?”
Finn: “Yes. I was new to the Northern Territories, and had just arrived at Kandahar when Ayub Khan laid siege to the fort. My first intelligence operation involved a scouting patrol into the mountains. We were on the look out for General Robert’s reinforcements, who were on their way from Kabul. We were ambushed by a Pathan tribe––captured and tortured. Eight men went out––four us escaped, and made it back to the fort.”
Jillian: “I understand you see a doctor in London. Is he helping...any?”
Finn: “Ah, you refer to my quack physician Monatgue Twombly. He’s a last resort––after a close call with opium, electrical currents, and ice baths––nothing seemed to have any lasting effect. Monty studied under an unorthodox Austrian physician by the name of Freud, who practices a new sort of cure, something called “talking therapy.” As unusual as Twombly’s practice is, I have made progress under his supervision and mean to stay the course.”
Jillian: “Thank you for sharing a bit about your pitiable condition. I must say you appear to be coping rather well––I wonder, has your heroine, Cate Willoughby had an effect on your nerves?”
Finn (with a wink): “Quite a few symptoms subside when I am with her. Although some worsen, like the occasional irregular heart beat.”
To find out exactly how Cate makes Finn’s heart race, be sure to read A Private Duel with Agent Gunn. Here’s a short blurb:
Prima ballerina Catriona de Dovia lives the glamorous life of a starlet, filled with glittering jewels, sumptuous dinners, and admiring suitors. She’s grown up considerably since losing her heart to Hugh Curzon once upon a time, no longer wasting her emotions on the empty promises of charming gentlemen. On her own since the untimely death of her parents, she will do anything for the only family she has left: her brother, a notorious anarchist.
Scotland Yard Agent Phineas Gunn–sometimes known as Hugh Curzon–receives his new assignment reluctantly. He’s up for something a little more strenuous than playing nanny to a ballerina, until he sees who his charge is. Then, it’s a completely different story, because he’d been unable to forget the trusting, beautiful Cate since he had to leave her behind in Barcelona. And he suspects Cate is more than a ballet girl––in fact, she just might be a jewel thief, or even more arousing––a clever undercover operative.
Finn is determined to find out as the two race across the Continent–by land, by sea, even through the air by zephyr–it becomes uncertain who is keeping tabs on whom, and Finn and Cate must battle the sexual tension that snaps and sizzles between them every step of the way.
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Let’s face it, we all appreciate a daring and dashing detective who has to overcome a disability like soldier’s heart. Do you have a favorite damaged hero from fiction, film or TV? Please share. Comment for a chance to win The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series!
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Jillian’s first book in The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series, An Affair with Mr. Kennedy, won the 2010 Golden Heart for Romantic Suspense. Her latest novel, fourth in the series for Pocket Books is A Private Duel with Agent Gunn. She also writes the Phaeton Black, Paranormal Investigator series for Kensington Brava.
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