The Hell Gate Treasure

Eighteen and out of options, Rico has one lead: a fisherman’s tale about HMS Hussar, a British frigate that struck the rocks of Hell Gate in 1776 carrying a fortune in gold. The treasure has never been found. But his sister, Cassie, knows a man who doesn’t need a diving crew to look for it.

Kyle Leiden descends from one of New Amsterdam’s first settlers, and a few Leidens in every generation can travel through New York’s past. He takes Rico and Cassie back to September 1776, to a city about to be invaded, where a young artillery captain named Alexander Hamilton is hunting the same gold to keep Washington’s army in the field.

The trail runs on to 1863, through the smoke of the Draft Riots and into the orbit of William “Boss” Tweed. In both centuries Rico faces the same choice: save himself, or do what’s right. The Latin words engraved on an old pocket watch say those may be the same thing.

The Hell Gate Treasure is the first Leiden Novel, a story of two siblings, one family’s secret gift and the gold that helped save a nation. Twice.