In Overholt’s historical mystery, a young female doctor in early-20th-century New York must solve a bloody murder for which she feels partially responsible.
In 1905 Dr. Genevieve Summerford finished third in her class at John Hopkins only to have her father disapprove of her decision to run a psychology research class for women with emotional trauma—a concerted effort in an emerging field to help people better their lives and prove that thoughts and feelings can influence body functions and health. Eliza Miner, a woman in Genevieve’s study group, confides that she’d had a baby as a teenager that was taken from her by her doctor. Discussing the incident and options of confronting the doctor regarding the location of the now 20-year-old child, Genevieve’s advice is misconstrued, and the following day the doctor is found brutally murdered—with Eliza standing over him covered in blood. Desperate to prove the innocence of her patient, find the real killer and salve her guilt for the inadvertent part she may have played, Genevieve must overcome a mountain of circumstantial evidence, confront a very powerful and influential family and subvert the stubbornness of the investigating officer who refuses to look any further than Eliza Miner. When Genevieve runs into Simon Shaw, a sordid reminder of her painful past, she realizes that the man who broke her heart may be the only one who can give her hope. Genevieve’s story is compelling, from her difficult childhood that encompasses the travesty of bearing the blame for the death of her younger brother to the tragedy of losing her innocence to a naive teenage indiscretion, with both bearing equal weight of guilt. Though she longs for the acceptance and forgiveness of her father, Genevieve’s unwavering determination to her profession allows her to remain steadfast and true. Replete with formal gowns and annual winter balls, Overholt’s novel successfully captures the feel and tone of 20th-century New York in a deeply pleasing, nostalgically modern way. A solid plot pulls the reader in with little effort, while strong, flowing prose and captivating characters provide the incentive to remain to the very last page. In Dr. Genevieve Summerford, Overholt has beautifully rendered a symbol of strength and perseverance in a time of severe gender bias. A well-paced, 20th-century whodunit full of dark secrets and fascinating intrigue that easily keeps pace with 21st-century standards.
Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0984841301
Page Count: 454
Publisher: Copper Bottom
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
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