Minotaur/St. Martin’s, Sept. 2013. ISBN 9781250028174
In high school freshman English we learned about the
doppelganger theory – the idea that people have look-alikes. Novelist
Mary Miley and I were classmates and we both remembered that lesson. Years later, Mary has used the literary
device to great advantage in her first novel, The Impersonator.
The vaudeville circuit in the 1920’s was an often-tough
way to make a living. Leah Randall knows
that all too well. She’s been on stage
since she was a tot. Now she’s playing
adolescent characters as long as she can though she’s in her twenties. After one performance in Omaha as one of the
Little Darlings, a man meets her backstage.
He has a business proposition for her.
Leah is a dead ringer for Oliver Beckett’s niece Jessie
Carr. In 1917, when Jessie was 14, she
disappeared. It’s seven years
later. If Jessie does not step forward
to claim her inheritance by her 21st birthday, the family fortune will
be distributed. “Uncle Ollie” wants to
hire Leah to play Jessie. When she
claims the money they will split it.
Leah agrees to take on the role of a lifetime. Ollie coaches her in Jessie’s life
story. They return to the Carr family
mansion on the Oregon coast where “Jessie” is warily received by her
grandmother and stepbrothers. Carefully
staying in character, Leah seeks to find out what really happened to
Jessie. Someone in the house knows she’s
acting and tries to stop her before Jessie’s birthday.
Mary is a historian by profession. Her extensive research (http://marymiley.wordpress.com/feed/)
means that the period slang and other details are authentic. The story is suspenseful and lively. This is a book that both Mary and I would
have loved to read when we were in high school – and it is every bit as
enjoyable now.
Discussion
questions
·
“You look
just like…” Has anyone said that to you?
·
Would the
story be as effective set somewhere else?
Note: Mary
received the Minotaur/Mystery Writer of American First Crime Novel award for The Impersonator.
On the Rocks,
by Sue Hallgarth
Arbor Farm Press, 2013. 978-09855200-0-7
Grand Manan Island is in the Bay of Fundy. It is part of New Brunswick though it is just
15 miles from the coast of Maine. Once
a port for privateers, it became known for its fisheries and shipbuilding. In the late 19th century it was
discovered by tourists – an island haven, private but not too remote.
Novelist Willa Cather and her companion Edith Lewis found
Grand Manan in 1922. They were among the
intellectuals and artists who spent their summers on the island. The quiet allowed Willa to write and Edith to
paint. Their close friends were “the
Cottage Girls,” a group of independently wealthy, well-educated women.
The mystery story is set in 1929. Edith is out on the cliff above Whale Cove,
painting, when she sees a flash of red – and watches a man fall off the edge to
his death. Who was it? And more
importantly, who pushed him and why? How
were the other Cottage Girls connected? Willa
and Edith help the island police chief to answer those questions and solve the
mystery.
Sue Hallgarth is a former English professor who has studied
and written about Willa Cather. Her
portrait brings the novelist to life as she describes the challenges of
literary fame and the need to write to meet the publisher’s deadline. Cather is known as a Midwesterner (her
girlhood in Nebraska, setting for O Pioneers and My Antonia) and for her love
of the southwest (Death comes for the Archbishop). I didn’t realize that she spent so much time
on the east coast as well. I will
re-read Cather’s work while I wait for Sue Hallgarth’s next Willa and Edith
mystery.
Discussion questions
·
Were there “independent women” in your
family? How did their life experiences
affect you?
·
Prohibition was a U.S. law that had an impact on
Canada. Would the border between the
countries have been less, or more, significant without prohibition?
·
How much license can an author take when using a
real historical personage in a made-up story?
Two books with Nebraska connections. I'll have to read these!
ReplyDeletethese sound like they could invite you in not give you up until the very end, and maybe you'll be thinking about these books well after the end. Now to find them.
ReplyDeleteVery cool. Thanks for sharing for selections. I always love your book selections. - Lori Switzer
ReplyDelete