A lively twist on the historical fiction genre by a promising author.
Cold Case meets Ghost Whisperer in Camalliere’s debut mystery.
A capricious spirit, a mysterious wolf, and a 100-year-old unsolved triple homicide lead Cora Tozzi on a journey to uncover the history of Sag Bridge. Lemont, the tiny village, nowadays melded into the Chicago suburb where Cora and her husband, Cisco, live, was a hub of activity in the late 1800s during the building of canals that would link the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. Retired, Cora devotes her time to the library, the historical society, a book club, and other assorted committees. She also hides a secret. Throughout her life, one that she herself describes as quite fortunate, Cora has had the sense that some sort of supernatural entity has been watching over her. A door closing unexpectedly, a paper clip flying across the room, all signaled the presence of “something.” Cora began calling this presence “Angel.” But lately, the previously playful Angel has been gaining strength and exhibiting some dangerously angry behavior. Is Angel responsible for the bizarre accident that left a hostile member of Cora’s book club fighting for her life? Is she demanding something specific from Cora? And why did Angel attach herself to Cora in the first place? In her search for answers, Cora learns of the century-old murder of a young couple and their newborn baby girl. In 1898, the bludgeoned bodies of Meg and Packey Hennessey were discovered in the graveyard of Saint James Catholic Church, their newborn lying atop Meg with her umbilical cord still attached. Nobody was ever charged for the crime. Camalliere peppers her narrative with well-drawn depictions of life in turn-of-the-last-century Sag Bridge, and her characters are rather charming. Readers, however, will figure out some of the answers before the protagonists do, which makes it difficult to wait patiently while they engage in lengthy debates about the viability of one theory or another. Fortunately, there are a few surprises left for the very end.
A lively twist on the historical fiction genre by a promising author.Pub Date: April 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1937484309
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Amika Press
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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