A Talent for War

The first book in the Alex Benedict trilogy by Jack McDevitt, A Talent for War is written as the memoir of a wealthy antiquities dealer who ends up with more excitement than he bargained for.

from the back of the book:

Everyone knew the legend of Christopher Sim. Fighter. Leader. An interstellar hero with a rare talent for war, Sim changed mankind's history forever when he forged a ragtag group of misfits into the weapon that broke the back of the alien Ashiyyur.

But now, Alex Benedict has found a startling bit of information, long buried in an ancient computer file. If it is true, then Christopher Sim was a fraud.

For his own sake, for the sake of history, Alex Benedict must follow the dark track of a legend, into the very heart of the alien galaxy -where he will confront a truth far stranger than any fiction imaginable...

I'm enjoying McDevitt's work and looking forward to more. He's my new favorite science fiction author.