I just finished Tim Champlin's  FIRE BELL IN THE NIGHT and it's hardly worth
a review, but certainly worth some mild praise. The book ends with Twain
shooting and killing a bad guy in his Hartford home, saving Kipling's life,
so you can judge the fanciful twisted plot for yourselves (Hey kids! Be sure
to look for the bullet holes in the ceiling the next time you visit the
Hartford house.)

But the book has some good details, and the personalities of both Twain and
Kipling are well-portrayed. He accurately reflects Twain's reading habits,
manner of speaking, descriptions of Elmira and Hartford, etc., and in the
epilogue he acknowledges the precise nature of his "fictionalizing" and
correctly describes the actual events that inspired them.

It's a beach read for sure, but it's nice to see the unDisneyfied version of
Twain portrayed in a modern novel for a change.

Kevin Mac Donnell
Austin TX