Steve Berry

The Lost Order sends Cotton Malone, a retired justice department agent now selling old books in Copenhagen, after the Knights of the Golden Circle and a hoard of Confederate gold, which is a genuine historical rumour rather than an invention. Berry practised law in Georgia for thirty years and collected eighty-five rejections across twelve years before selling anything. He and his wife run a foundation that raises money to preserve historic documents and buildings, and the plots come out of that work. Every novel closes with a note separating what is on the record from what he made up.