The Great Stink

Amazon.com

It takes a world of confidence to name your debut novel The Great Stink, and to set it in a sewer. Not even a modern sewer--charmless though that may be--but the crumbling, cholera-laden, rat-infested, fungus-rich sewers of London in the mid-Victorian period, from which pockets of deadly gas frequently burbled to the surface. Clare Clark's unsavory but completely absorbing first novel is a Dantean tour of this reeking underworld and its denizens: both the scavengers--human and animal--and the reformers, who brave the tunnels in the service of public hygiene and social progress after the 1858 Act of Parliament that called for the rebuilding of the sewer system.

The Great Stink juxtaposes two darknesses, both embodied in the filthy tunnels: the lawless desperation of the very poor, and the despair of madness. One of the junior engineers most useful in mapping the existing sewer is William May, a studious, methodical veteran of the Crimean War who manages to conceal from everyone but his wife the horrors he brought out of battle with him. The tunnels don't frighten William; they provide isolation and silence for the bloody rites that keep the Mr. Hyde in him at bay. It seems only a matter of time before William's self-destruction turns outward. Long Arm Tom, his counterpart among the poor, is a "tosher." He enters the tunnels illegally, scraping the sludge for coins or other booty, and trapping hundreds of rats for fighting against dogs at local taverns (all the rage for sporting gentlemen since dog fights have been outlawed). Kindness is a liability in Tom's world, but two acts of pity--one toward a dog, and one, more grudgingly, toward William--provide the resistance that changes the course of this otherwise relentlessly dire story.

The very weak-stomached may need a cup of mint tea or a bowl of potpourri beside them as they wade through the sewer with Tom and William. Clark has spared readers none of the stink, nor the sharp pleasures of suspense. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Clare Clark’s critically acclaimed The Great Stink “reeks of talent” (The Washington Post Book World) as it vividly brings to life the dark and mysterious underworld of Victorian London. Set in 1855, it tells the story of William May, an engineer who has returned home to London from the horrors of the Crimean War. When he secures a job transforming the city’s sewer system, he believes that he will be able to find salvation in the subterranean world beneath the city. But the peace of the tunnels is shattered by a murder, and William is implicated as the killer. Could he truly have committed the crime? How will he bring the truth above-ground?

With richly atmospheric prose, The Great Stink combines fact and fiction to transport readers into London’s putrid past, and marks the debut of a remarkably talented writer in the tradition of the very best historical novelists.

Customer Reviews:

The Great Stink.......2007-08-19

This is an excellent book. Clare Clark has done the homework. Takes you right into this period of time in London. I never knew until reading this book about the horrendous pollution to the Thames. You are transported back ...almost smelling the stench, experiencing through the gut wrenching prose, the atmosphere and the sewers. I was transfixed! I did not want the book to end. I realize this review does not even touch upon the plot, but I wanted to comment on what affected me about this book, not to say that the plot is not well thought out and executed. By the way, my daughter bought and shared Clark's subsequent novel, The Nature of Monsters, and it is another great, engrossing novel, back in the same period in London (I believe), dealing with the strange beliefs of the time regarding birth defects. I recommend it, as well as the Great Stink, to everyone. You will not be disappointed.

Worth the slog.......2007-08-18

The Bookschlepper recommends The Great Stink by Clark but be forewarned: you can't snack and read this book at the same time! Two men deal with the sewers of mid-19th C. London. One is an engineer with PTSD from the Crimean War. One is Long Arm Tom who raids the sewers of rats for pub entertainment. After a serious drought, the powers-that-be decide a new sewer system is needed and the monumental effort beneath the city is undertaken. In the old sewers, flushed by the tides into the Thames, murder occurs, corruption simmers. Life among the newly-formed middleclass and the huddled masses is shown in stark light and the ever-present smog. Slog through the descriptions; Clark sets up the story vividly. The resolution in quick and a bit serendipitous but this is fiction. Most memorable character: Lady, a pink-eyed ratter, duplicated by the pink-eyed lawyer.

The Great Slog (small spoilers).......2007-05-02

What a disappointment. Although I love historical thrillers (Dan Simmons' "The Terror" grabbed me and never let go), I had to force myself to finish "The Great Stink." Clare Clark may be a wonderful historian, but she doesn't seem to have any flair for story-telling. Her pacing is off: for a disproportionate chunk of the book she gives us interminable and repetitive descriptions of the sewers and her protagonist's cutting episodes (with a side order of dog-vs.-rat fights), and then rather hastily wraps up all the loose ends in an implausibly neat "happy" ending.

Worse, I found it impossible to feel for the protagonist, William May, because Clark fails to bring him to life. He's nothing but a case study; she doesn't do an adequate job of building him as a character before and separate from his psychological problems. "When he's in his right mind, he likes to do botanical drawings" does not a convincing human being make.

As another reviewer mentioned, the only character I was taken with was the dog.

The great stink of the Victorian underworld.......2007-03-16

In this debut novel, Clare Clark has combined historical fiction, suspense and a battle for sanity. From within three levels of darkness (experiences in the Crimean war, working in the sewers of London in the mid 19th century and fighting for his sanity because of his experiences of both) William May may seem an unlikely hero.

Add to the mix a gritty portrayal of life amongst the London poor, the very real events of 'The Great Stink' in 1855 (which ultimately led to the rebuiding of London's sewers) and the stage is set for an interesting novel.

Warning: William May's self destructive tendencies will be very confronting for many. The description, which lends it authenticity, is not for the faint-hearted. Many of us will recognise it and understand it immediately.

I would not recommend this book to the squeamish. I would recommend it to those who like some factual underpinning for their fiction and who seek to descend into the Victorian underworld.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Excellent Historically.......2007-01-18

This marvelous book should have been kept to the issue on hand: the rank pollution and hideous odors of the River Thames, right in the middle of London. The source of their drinking water was 'ripe' with rotting animal and vegetable matter. The solution to the unbelievable horror of the contaminated river and drinking water would have filled this well researched novel. The murder mystery breaks the mood of the book. But, this history of the People and City of London in the 19th century is rich in the many fascinating details of life of all Londoners. A totally worthwhile read. If you read History, read this.

Average customer rating:

Interesting subject, good read
Brilliant biography
The politics of Victorian sanitary engineering.
Making a Big Stink

Great Stink Of London
Stephen Halliday , and A SUTTON
Manufacturer: Alan Sutton Publishing, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

The Great Stink
The Great Stink of Paris and the Nineteenth-Century Struggle against Filth and Germs
Victorian Babylon: People, Streets and Images in Nineteenth-Century London
Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization
London: The Biography

ASIN: 0750919752

Customer Reviews:

Interesting subject, good read.......2001-11-12

A fascinating story and worthy tribute to Joseph Bazalgette, an underappreciated Victorina-era engineer responsible not only for designing and overseeing the construction of London's huge sanitary sewer system, but also the construction of Victoria, Chelsea and Albert Embankments, forever changing the face and character of central London. We take so much of our modern cities for granted, not realizing that entire rivers are flowing under the streets, blissfully unaware of the level of vision and committment required to create an infrastructure that provides health and convenience.

The writing style is breezy and lucid, although the author has a distracting habit of repetition. Certain factoids, such as "the embankments reclaimed 52 acres of land" are repeated over and over again, and several favorite quotes are repeated at least 3 times.

I won't ever look at a modern city the same way.

Brilliant biography.......2001-05-17

Halliday's book tells the story of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works (London's first metropolitan government) from 1856 to 1889.

His greatest achievement was building for London a sanitation system of unprecedented scale and complexity. Throughout history, the main cause of death has been the contamination of drinking water by sewage. In particular, cholera spread when the faeces of sufferers contaminated drinking water: cholera epidemics in London killed 6,536 people in 1831-32, 14,137 in 1848-49, and 10,738 in 1853-54.

In the long hot summer of 1858, the stench from rotting sewage in the Thames drove MPs from Westminster. The `Great Stink' forced them, belatedly, to act. Bazalgette was charged with building a system to prevent sewage getting into Londoners' drinking water, which he did. The 1866 cholera epidemic killed 5,596 people in the East End, the sole part of London that had not yet been protected by Bazalgette's intercepting system. After the system was completed, cholera would never again kill Londoners. Bazalgette had turned the Thames from the filthiest to the cleanest metropolitan river in the world and added some twenty years to Londoners' lives.

But this was not Bazalgette's only success. He constructed the Victoria, Albert and Chelsea Embankments, where he introduced the use of Portland cement. He laid out Shaftesbury Avenue, Northumberland Avenue, Charing Cross Road, the Embankment Gardens, Battersea Park and Clapham Common. He built the bridges at Hammersmith, Putney and Battersea. He introduced the Woolwich Free Ferry and designed the Blackwall Tunnel.

In 1889, the London County Council replaced the Board: Bazalgette's successes had proven the value of local government for great cities. Roy Porter wrote that Bazalgette stands with Wren and Nash `as one of London's noblest builders'. John Doxat wrote, "this superb and farsighted engineer probably did more good, and saved more lives, than any single Victorian public official."

The politics of Victorian sanitary engineering........2000-10-13

While the title implies the book's focus will be London's "Great Stink" of 1858, it is in fact a short biography of the eminent Victorian civil engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette. Less remembered than his fellow engineers Isambard Brunel or Robert Stephenson, Bazalgette was the Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works for some 30 years.

During his tenure, he oversaw the construction of the great intercepting sewers of London which effectively removed the recurring threat of cholera from the city even before that disease's transmission mechanism was fully understood. In addition, the great Embankments along the Thames were designed and built by Bazalgette which make the modern waterfront as we know it today. He also built three bridges still standing across the Thames and designed many of the modern thoroughfares of London.

This book focuses on the long political battles waged in Parliament, the press, and within the City itself to solve the massive problem of human waste disposal in the world's largest western metropolis of the day. Although ostensibly about a civil engineer, there is not much engineering in the book - making it highly accessible to the layperson. Copious contemporary illustrations out of "Punch" and the "Illustrated London News" along with lengthy quotations from "The Times" make the Victorians' view of this smelly problem come to life. It's fortunate that this is not a scratch-and-sniff book.

The main chapters include those devoted to the invention of the water closet (a sewage nightmare), cholera and sanitation, and the building of the embankments. Throughout the book, small sidebars give potted biographies of key players and interested parties of the day such as Dickens, W.H. Smith, Gladstone, Dr. John Snow, and others. These are great little tidbits on the people featured in the main narrative and they are liberally sprinkled with caricatures from "Spy".

The book does touch on Bazalgette's early endorsement and use of Portland cement as a technical innovation as well as the quality assurance testing techniques that he enforced during his projects. So engineer, take heart! There are interesting bits for you as well.

If dark places under the heart of the metropolis is your area of interest, see also "London Under London" by Richard Trench & Ellis Hillman for sewers, the Tube, and more subterranean passages. And if you simply must have olfactory re-enforcement to imagine the past, try "Victorian Vapours" by Mary J. Dobson.

Making a Big Stink.......2000-07-06

If anyone thinks the social, environmental and health problems we face today are daunting, they should read this book. The descriptions of life in London before the construction of a sewage system make facinating, if terrifying, reading.

The good thing about this book is that is is basically a very easy read. Although it is about a civil engineer, and although it concentrates very much on the engineering aspects of Bazalgette's life, it is entirely non-technical and an excellent choice for the general reader. Anyone with a general interest in public health, Victorian London, urban development or municipal politics will find it easy to read and a good starting point for further reading or research.

One of the points which comes out of the book is how slow public health reforms are to come about - you have to kick up a pretty big stink before anything happens. Bazalgette was more of a provider of solutions than a public health campaigner, but none the less admirable for that.

Book Description

Late in the summer of 1880, a wave of odors emanated from the sewers of Paris. As the stench lingered, outraged residents feared that the foul air would breed an epidemic.

Fifteen years later -- when the City of Light was in the grips of another Great Stink -- the landscape of health and disease had changed dramatically. Parisians held their noses and protested, but this time few feared that the odors would spread disease.

Historian David S. Barnes examines the birth of a new microbe-centered science of public health during the 1880s and 1890s, when the germ theory of disease burst into public consciousness. Tracing a series of developments in French science, medicine, politics, and culture, Barnes reveals how the science and practice of public health changed during the heyday of the Bacteriological Revolution.

Despite its many innovations, however, the new science of germs did not entirely sweep away the older "sanitarian" view of public health. The longstanding conviction that disease could be traced to filthy people, places, and substances remained strong, even as it was translated into the language of bacteriology. Ultimately, the attitudes of physicians and the French public were shaped by political struggles between republicans and the clergy, by aggressive efforts to educate and "civilize" the peasantry, and by long-term shifts in the public's ability to tolerate the odor of bodily substances.

This fascinating study sheds new light on the scientific and social factors that continue to influence the public's lingering uncertainty over how disease can -- and cannot -- be spread.

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating look into something that we take for granted.......2007-08-06

This book would be an interesting read by anyone interested in history, Paris, public health, disease, medicine, waste disposal, hygiene, sanitation, etc. It tells how things went from bad to worse, in 1880 when there was a garbage and sewage crisis in Paris.

Highly recommended and informative reading.......2006-11-05

In late summer of 1880 odors began drenching Paris from its sewers, and residents feared an epidemic would follow. Fifteen years later another Great Stink occurred - this time with little fear of resulting disease. Historian Barnes considers the evolving science of public health in Paris between the 1880s and 1890s, blending history, culture, science and medicine with a review of how public health policies changed during the era. A work of impeccable scholarship, The Great Stink of Paris and The 19th Century Struggle Against Filth and Germs is highly recommended and informative reading for students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the history of modern medicine, as well as 19th century French history.

Scent in the City.......2006-10-31

During a recent trip to China in 2001, I passed fields fertilized with human waste, and saw toilets which were made by laying wooden planks across a small stream of water. In other words, the problems of human stink and poor sanitation are not only of historical interest, circa Paris 1880. In this book, the author gives a ripe account of the public outcry when the Odor of Paris turned from an almost-amusing bother to a public health emergency. He traces the change in belief about the health dangers of stink, weaving sociology and the history of science together, and gluing it firmly with an authoritative and believable re-telling of the ups and downs of local French government as it tried to serve the public, incorporate the recent discoveries of Pasteur, and educate the public in the basics of sanitation. Intended for scholars rather than the masses, this book contains a well-researched, thoughtful and complete record, which is surprisingly warm and lively, of this period in human olfactory history.

Average customer rating:

The Great Stink
Clare Clark
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJQLT6

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The Great Stink
Clare Clark
Manufacturer: Harcourt Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KIV1X2

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Great Stink
Clare Clark
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GYFB2M

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The Great Stink
Clare Cook
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HZ3BTA

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Great Stink
Clare Clark
Manufacturer: PENGUIN BOOKS LTD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VB0ETK

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Great Stink (Fusion History)

Manufacturer: Raintree
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1406208507

The Great Stink - A Novel of Corruption and Murder Beneath the Streets of Victorian London

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The Great Stink - A Novel of Corruption and Murder Beneath the Streets of Victorian London
Clare Clark
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ96ZC

In Dutch Again: An Amish Country Mystery (Amish Country Mysteries)
Average customer rating:

What I love about In Dutch Again.

Love The Mystery

A Trip to Lancaster Without the Hassle

An Amish Quilt w/Norman Rockwell Brilliance & a Spice Slash of Stephen King's Dark Jewel Tones.

An engrossing, fresh mystery with an Amish setting
In Dutch Again: An Amish Country Mystery (Amish Country Mysteries)
Barbara Workinger
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Shoofly Pie to Die

Blood of the Prodigal (Ohio Amish Mystery Series #1)

A Prayer for the Night (Ohio Amish Mystery Series #5)

Clouds without Rain (Ohio Amish Mystery Series #3)

Cast a Blue Shadow (Ohio Amish Mystery Series #4)

ASIN: 1403324301

Book Description

Mystery reading and quilting seem like disparate interests, but irrepressible Amish grandmother, Hannah Miller, moves between them enthusiastically. Hannah discovers her friend murdered; the police investigation falters. Hannah and her non-Amish granddaughter must find the murderer before they are next.

Customer Reviews:

What I love about In Dutch Again........2006-11-09

It is well written and flows smoothly. Once you start reading it is hard to stop. The author makes all of the people come alive as if you were really there. I love Granny Hanny. She is someone I would like to have for a friend.

Love The Mystery.......2005-11-27

I have read several books by Barbara Workinger, and love her mysteries. The Amish Country is such an interesting area, and she has them down to a "T". I am so happy she has kept on writing since she has moved and am looking forward to more of her books,

A Trip to Lancaster Without the Hassle .......2005-11-23

In this book, author Barb Workinger visits the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country to show that even secluded Amish communities can't escape conflict and crime. The characters of Carolyn and Granny Hannah are as interesting a contrast as Lancaster itself--the traditional and contemporary side by side. Infused with touches of humor, interesting facts about "plain people," and intriguing mysteries, this book multitasks for readers everywhere.

An Amish Quilt w/Norman Rockwell Brilliance & a Spice Slash of Stephen King's Dark Jewel Tones........2005-11-12

The murder in this novel comes up in the first scene, with a simple realism which is sometimes lacking in cozy mysteries due to their style of underplayed viscera, a simple realism which is sometimes strangely unsuccessful in true crime novels due to overdone, exaggerated gore. Working from the murder scene, the book moves forward through a natural intimacy among characters, allowing a warmth to develop without discounting the chilling essence of death by malice and violence.

The style of Workinger's storytelling maintains a shifting balance between the boundaries of cozy Vs crime novels, a balance which gives a more engrossing reading experience that either style could accomplish within its separate, defined bailiwick.

Natural, real, warm, and engrossing are the best words I can use to describe the reading experience of Barbara Workinger's IN DUTCH AGAIN. Only half-through the reading of IDA, I found that these qualities had seeded a growing desire to continue reading many more books in this Amish setting of Granny Hannah & Granddaughter Carolyn. The shoop sisters were also creating a presence which seemed to want to move forward in future plots.

The flow of composition in IDA gave me several indications that Barbara Workinger is a born novelist. A prejudice exists (though it's not often stated this way) that sometimes professional journalists (which Barbara has been in spades) or established nonfiction writers don't have the natural Right Brain flow to ride the sometimes terrifying creative chaos of characters in a novel taking over their own parts and personalities, and sometimes the plot.

My review (post date 10/13/05) on Stephen King's ON WRITING discusses R/L Brain stuff a bit, but I could write a nonfiction book on that subject, probably a series of books on creative writing.

Returning to my preliminary discussion of IDA...

The personality, age difference, and background contrast between Carolyn and Hannah works very well. Workinger's characters, even the less involved, "single-story" ones, have life in them, the lack of which is an indication of a nonfiction writer trying to be a Good Frankenstein but not possessing whatever it is in the brain, heart, and soul which gives the born-author-gene-pool, or however you want to bill it.

It was easy for me to live in this story. Each time I picked up the book to begin reading, the settings came to mind easily, effortlessly, and stayed as a backdrop for character movement. Sometimes a novel forces me to painfully read and reread setting descriptions, in order for them to seat and stay, and without that fiction-reality-foundation, the characters seem to be trying unsuccessfully to move in a molasses tinged fog, which, strangely, doesn't stick, doesn't do the job.

Nettie's new/old farmhouse and 2 acre grounds is particularly well set, probably because of the way Workinger plotted Hanny going there and opening the bloody murder scene (with the lovely white-on-white quilt described so gorgeously in contrast), all of which was very well done; actually it was excellently executed, with just the right amount and type of detail. The description and use in setting (and upsetting) of the deep, wrap-around-front-porch symbolism was particularly effective. And Hannah's dealing with, reacting to and taking action relative to that front porch scene; her studying and getting around the alarm system, provided great character development and a perfect means of sliding the reader('s own bloody footprints) into the story.

As noted above, I enjoyed the gestalt and main characters enough in this mystery pilot that only a few short scenes into the book I was feeling compelled to continue reading more there and to pick up the next books in series. I'm also wanting to review additional books in this series, as long as I'm able to continue my current efforts of posting on Amazon.com (until I get my mystery pilot with its own brand of lively, author manipulating characters a worthwhile contract). One step, page, at a time?

Mentioned periodically in IDA is a prior mystery Hannah had solved, related to her grandson, Josh, as the seeding of the characters' disdain of the police presence in the Lancaster area, focusing on the lack of knowledge, experience, aptitude, and natural detecting talent in acting chief, Benton. Does Workinger have an earlier pilot offering for this series, or is she using reference to that situation as a foundation from which to work IDA as the pilot (which would be a brilliant ploy).

Or...

Is she consciously or unconsciously doing a Star Wars type of sequencing deal of going back in time as well as forward for future sequels in the series? (Which would also be an intriguing plotting, time-sequencing, which I'm toying around with in my mystery series.)

So, in this pilot we have a heightened issue which is common in amateur sleuth offerings, that of how the sleuth gets around and/or works with and relates to official police proceedings and character presences. It seems that Workinger may be working from a personal or professional experience of distaste of the controlling police persons' aura. Yet, her natural soul generosity of not wanting to condemn any human being once he's become somewhat known to her (even in fiction), seems to be automatically giving Benton a warm, likable side. It feels to me like the author is trying to make him a negative, almost villainous character, yet he continues to be too human to trash or bash, except to say he's lazy, and to play on what she sees as a general desire/habit of police people to jump quickly to conclusions and get a case wrapped up without actually doing any true investigating.

Of course not all of police professionals do this, but some do, and many amateur sleuth and PI mysteries use this too-quick-to-conclude attitude to justify their actions in criminal investigations.

Based off the kingpin of fictional homicide inspector Paavo Smith, Joanne Pence's Angie Amalfi series is uncannily true to life in dramatizing the very real split in the police bailiwick between the dedicated (burning midnight oil 24/7, not just at midnight) and the lazy (or push-hurry-to-any-conclusion tendencies). See my Listmania and reviews on that series, or visit Pence's official web site to read a beautifully condensed presentation of my reviews, which Pence titled, "A Treatise on Angie Amalfi."

There's LOTS I could say about these issues, not only from my years as an English teacher, and my extensive reading and reviewing of novels from many sides of the detective fiction genres, but also from my background in police workings, several years worth, having been married to a Multnomah County Deputy Sheriff in Oregon, and having worked for the City of Portland Police Bureau. I've also lived in a few small town communities in which the police presence is as different as you could get (pro and con) from the experiences and people I worked with in the Portland, OR area (and for a very short time in NJ & NYC). There's lots of true heroic glow as well as a presence of horribly ugly corruption to be found in most realms of criminal control, investigation, etc. Having been immersed in the dark and bright angles from both outside and inside this realm ...

Also have to say that I'm thoroughly disgusted with whoever told Workinger that an Amish setting is too localized to work with the general mystery audience!!?? Don't they know of the popularity of Tamar Myers's PenDutch Inn series?? (See my Listmania's and reviews on Myers's two great mystery series.)

One of the most successful "reader-live-in" techniques in this novel is the contrast in lifestyle of the Amish (wedding celebrations) Vs the English (murder & mayhem), as it plays around two intriguingly intertwined murders and their resolution.

The resolution of this mystery was fascinating and perfect from the perspectives of all issues, angles, and culprits brought to justice. Half way through the read, I had a culprit and conclusion in mind. Mine was way darker than the one Workinger brought through the portal of plot perfection, and mine would have required a mindset closer to that of Stephen King. (Don't ask me where THAT came from; my novels are the essence of ethereal effervescence compared to the Master of Horror.) Workinger's wrap was just right for her voice, talent, background, characters, setup, and setting. Yeah, it was. Chust. Right. Already.

This author is not only a natural born novelist, she's a master of maneuvering the convolutions of mystery to her own ends as a writer. What more could you want? Look for more from this author. There's a reading richness here that's not to be denied, not found elsewhere, and which will flourish in its own course.

I'm sold.

Linda G. Shelnutt

An engrossing, fresh mystery with an Amish setting.......2003-02-10

Granny Hanny,is a spirited, can-do woman despite her adherance to her Amish faith. She is a reknown quilter, a closet mystery reader and knows everyone in the PA Amish area where she lives. When her nearest neighbor is murdered, Hanny finds the body. The police regard the killing as a break-in, and say the killer is probably miles away, Hannah decides, with the help of her formerly Amish, attorney granddaughter, Caroline, to investigate. Before long a second body is found and Hanny realizes she and Caroline may be next. This Book cannot be put down until the end. I loved it! Great story and unique setting.

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