As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Product Description
Newfoundland, 1902. Right up until the night of Tuesday, October 14th, Natty Cooke had thought that young Brian Stevens suffered a mental affliction. He reminded her of patients at the home for the feeble-minded, where she d once worked. All that beating at the air with his hands, all those delusions of long-ago transatlantic cable ships. As the maid in the Stevens household, she had befriended Brian, and it was a good thing considering how his family treated him. But on that evening of October 14th, Natty Cooke discovered the horrible truth about Brian. And then, suddenly, Natty was gone. Bea MacDonald, the new maid, is compelled to investigate the disappearance of her friend. She discovers disturbing information about Brian. And blackmail. And murder. And the unsettling, chilly Mrs. Penelope Stevens. With her young cousin Jean as her Morse code interpreter, and their peculiar relative, Mildred, as a constant companion, Bea begins to unravel the mystery of the Stevens household. But what will happen to Bea when she finally discovers the truth about Brian? Barbara Murray s haunting debut novel, Gifts and Bones, is the first in the Bea and Mildred Mystery series.
Review
I have read more than 2,000 mysteries and I can't say there's one Gifts and Bones reminds me of - it's that unusual. Barbara Murray is adept at creating a sense of place - and a dark place it is, with grey weather, more than one scary and secretive character and a sense of foreboding that never goes away (until the end of course). Add to the mix a paranormal element that unfolds gradually over the course of the story and that makes Gifts and Bones an engrossing read. --Diana Vickery www.cozylibrary.com
Chuck away your cell and your MP3 player, keep turning the pages of Gifts and Bones, and let Bea, Mildred and Barb Murray take you off to a time and place where stories really matter. --Nick Bantock, author of Griffin and Sabine
A Vancouver Sun Editor's Choice! --Vancouver Sun, March 10, 2007
About the Author
Barbara is a freelance writer and poet, who for many years lived on a small island in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada. There, she worked as a newspaper reporter for The Bowen Island Undercurrent, and for her last two years on the island, she reported on the activities and politics of the community for CBC Radio One. Her work has been published in the Vancouver Province, the WestEnder and the North Shore Outlook newspapers as well as in Homemaker s Magazine. Barbara is now a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia.
By the same author, or from the same shelves — different every visit.
MysteryCrooked House Lib/EAgatha Christie
MysteryThe Gods of Mars: "A Science-Fiction Novel"Edgar Rice Burroughs
MysteryBritish Murder Mysteries - E. W. Hornung Collection: The Shadow of the Rope, The Camera Fiend, Dead Men Tell No Tales, Witching Hill…E. W. Hornung
MysteryMissing DimensionDavid Ross Willis
MysteryLucifer's WeekendWarren Murphy
MysteryWhere Secrets Come to Dine: Where Secrets Come to DineTana French