The White Crow

Zusatztext How can you resist a story that combines seances! Victorian scandal! and the Barnum & Bailey Circus? A genteel adventure that offers readers suspense! romance! and an intriguing blend of factual and fictional characters...Highly enjoyable. -- The Washington Post A riveting tale of murder and intrigue. -- Forecast Informationen zum Autor CYNTHIA PEALE is the pseudonym of Nancy Zaroulis, author of Call the Darkness Light and The Last Waltz , among other successful novels. She has written two previous Beacon Hill mysteries, The Death of Colonel Mann and Murder at Bertram's Bower . She lives outside Boston. Klappentext When the lights come on after a séance in the parlor of Victorian Boston's most celebrated spiritualist! a pillar of the community lies dead. The world of restless and vengeful spirits has invaded Beacon Hill--while Caroline Ames! seated next to the victim! may hold the key to an all-too-real crime. From the mysterious device called the telephone to the new electric conveyances that cross the Charles! a tide of change is rising around Caroline! her brother! Addington! and their boarder! Dr. MacKenzie. For Caroline! it has been a time to face her loneliness--and the growing affection she feels for Dr. MacKenzie. For Addington! it is a time marked by the fierce! ineffable pull of a beautiful but dangerous woman. Now they find themselves in the center of a maelstrom! at the heart of a case of multiple murder. And while a killer has already claimed two victims! a clairvoyant has revealed the third: "Ames next . . ." Chapter 1 In a darkened room in a house on Lime Street, on the flat of Beacon Hill, Caroline Ames sat at a table clasping the hand of her friend, Dr. John Alexander MacKenzie, and tried to speak to her mother, who had been dead for a year and a half. There were six other querants in the room. The medium, Mrs. Evangeline Sidgwick, was in deep trance. Her control, a temperamental entity named Roland, had spoken some minutes before in answer to a question--not Caroline's--but since then he had been silent for what seemed a very long time. Caroline shifted in her chair. Her back itched just below her waistline, but her corset made the place impossible to scratch. The room was very warm--too warm, the windows closed and the curtains drawn against the bright May afternoon--and filled with a scent she could not identify: some heavy, musky odor that smelled the way she imagined incense might smell. As if in answer to her movement, Dr. MacKenzie squeezed her hand. Impulsively she squeezed back. Improper, she knew, but she didn't care. Dr. MacKenzie, over these last months, had proved to be the best friend she'd ever had, and she realized she had grown perhaps too fond of him. What would she do if he decided to move on, to return to his position as a surgeon with the army in the West? Well, she would worry about that when it happened. For now--and particularly now, at this moment--he was here with her, and that was all that mattered. It had been a daring thing to come here this afternoon. She'd had to swear Dr. MacKenzie to silence, make him promise not to tell Addington where they were going. Addington--her older brother, the guardian of her life--disapproved of mediums. Very probably he would have forbidden her to attend this seance today. In which case, she'd have had to engage in a deception even more blatant than the one she'd devised. We are going to walk in the Public Garden, she'd told him, such a lovely day, the first really good spring day we've had. He'd accepted it and gone about his business. And now here she was, and after all her maneuvering, she'd failed. Her mother hadn't come through. Dear Mama. Where was she? Was she happy? Busy about her work, up there in the ether or heaven or wherever she lived, now that she had pa...

ldquo;How can you resist a story that combines seances, Victorian scandal, and the Barnum & Bailey Circus? A genteel adventure that offers readers suspense, romance, and an intriguing blend of factual and fictional characters...Highly enjoyable.”
--*The Washington Post

*“A riveting tale of murder and intrigue.”
--*Forecast

Autorentext
CYNTHIA PEALE is the pseudonym of Nancy Zaroulis, author of Call the Darkness Light and The Last Waltz, among other successful novels. She has written two previous Beacon Hill mysteries, The Death of Colonel Mann and Murder at Bertram’s Bower. She lives outside Boston.

Klappentext

When the lights come on after a séance in the parlor of Victorian Boston's most celebrated spiritualist, a pillar of the community lies dead. The world of restless and vengeful spirits has invaded Beacon Hill--while Caroline Ames, seated next to the victim, may hold the key to an all-too-real crime.

From the mysterious device called the telephone to the new electric conveyances that cross the Charles, a tide of change is rising around Caroline, her brother, Addington, and their boarder, Dr. MacKenzie. For Caroline, it has been a time to face her loneliness--and the growing affection she feels for Dr. MacKenzie. For Addington, it is a time marked by the fierce, ineffable pull of a beautiful but dangerous woman. Now they find themselves in the center of a maelstrom, at the heart of a case of multiple murder. And while a killer has already claimed two victims, a clairvoyant has revealed the third: "Ames next . . ."

Zusammenfassung
When the lights come on after a séance in the parlor of Victorian Boston’s most celebrated spiritualist, a pillar of the community lies dead. The world of restless and vengeful spirits has invaded Beacon Hill--while Caroline Ames, seated next to the victim, may hold the key to an all-too-real crime.

From the mysterious device called the telephone to the new electric conveyances that cross the Charles, a tide of change is rising around Caroline, her brother, Addington, and their boarder, Dr. MacKenzie. For Caroline, it has been a time to face her loneliness--and the growing affection she feels for Dr. MacKenzie. For Addington, it is a time marked by the fierce, ineffable pull of a beautiful but dangerous woman. Now they find themselves in the center of a maelstrom, at the heart of a case of multiple murder. And while a killer has already claimed two victims, a clairvoyant has revealed the third: “Ames next . . .”

Leseprobe
Chapter 1

In a darkened room in a house on Lime Street, on the flat of Beacon Hill, Caroline Ames sat at a table clasping the hand of her friend, Dr. John Alexander MacKenzie, and tried to speak to her mother, who had been dead for a year and a half.

There were six other querants in the room. The medium, Mrs. Evangeline Sidgwick, was in deep trance. Her control, a temperamental entity named Roland, had spoken some minutes before in answer to a question--not Caroline's--but since then he had been silent for what seemed a very long time.

Caroline shifted in her chair. Her back itched just below her waistline, but her corset made the place impossible to scratch. The room was very warm--too warm, the windows closed and the curtains drawn against the bright May afternoon--and filled with a scent she could not identify: some heavy, musky odor that smelled the way she imagined incense might smell.

As if in answer to her movement, Dr. MacKenzie squeezed her hand. Impulsively she squeezed back. Improper, she knew, but she didn't care. Dr. MacKenzie, over these last months, had proved to be the best friend she'd ever had, and she realized she had grown perhaps too fond of him. What would she do if he decided to move on, to return to his position as a surgeon with the army in the West? Well, she would worry about that when it happened. For now--and particularly now, at this moment--he was here with her, and that was all that mattered.

It had been a daring thing to come here this afternoon…