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Nell Sweeney, who we first met in STILL LIFE WITH MURDER, is now an established part of the Hewitt family, taking care of Gracie Hewitt, adopted grand-daughter of matriarch Viola Hewitt. Her eldest son, Dr William, is the black sheep of the family and, having survived an escape from Andersonville, has continued to use morphine and opium purportedly because of the pain in his injured leg, using that as an excuse to stay away. The youngest son died at Andersonville, leaving only the profligate middle son Harry to run Hewitt Mill and Dye Works in Charlestown. Bridget Fallon has disappeared. Her parents have gone to 'Mr Harry and Mr Hewitt for help, but have been rebuffed. Neither Harry nor his father really care about any of their laborers. As a last resort, they have come to the Colonnade Row house to ask Mrs Hewitt for help in finding their daughter. Nell goes out to Charlestown and talks to the mill workers during their lunch break. She learns that Bridget is a bit stuck-up and not as good a girl as her mother believes her to be. She has a boyfriend Virgil who has recently been released from prison in Charlestown. The site of that prison is now occupied by Bunker Hill Community College, and the bridge connecting Charlestown with Cambridge at that point is still called the Prison Point bridge by the locals. Will reappears in Boston, quietly watching Nell and Gracie on one of their daily walks to the Boston Common. He helps Nell with her quest for Bridget, and begins to take on some responsibility for his actions during the course of this book. 1868 Boston is well portrayed in this series. Once you suspend disbelief that a woman like Mrs Hewitt would hire a lowborn Irish girl to be governess, and allow her to snoop on other people's behalf, we have an enjoyable story set in the Gilded Age of Boston, an age of great building, as well as an age of great wealth and greater poverty. There is no trace of Colonnade Row in what is now Boston's downtown shopping area, and Charlestown is but a shell of the prosperous city that existed there in the 19th century, but this book brings them back into existence.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, June 2004
This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.
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Nell Sweeney, who we first met in STILL LIFE WITH MURDER, is now an established part of the Hewitt family, taking care of Gracie Hewitt, adopted grand-daughter of matriarch Viola Hewitt. Her eldest son, Dr William, is the black sheep of the family and, having survived an escape from Andersonville, has continued to use morphine and opium purportedly because of the pain in his injured leg, using that as an excuse to stay away. The youngest son died at Andersonville, leaving only the profligate middle son Harry to run Hewitt Mill and Dye Works in Charlestown. Bridget Fallon has disappeared. Her parents have gone to 'Mr Harry and Mr Hewitt for help, but have been rebuffed. Neither Harry nor his father really care about any of their laborers. As a last resort, they have come to the Colonnade Row house to ask Mrs Hewitt for help in finding their daughter. Nell goes out to Charlestown and talks to the mill workers during their lunch break. She learns that Bridget is a bit stuck-up and not as good a girl as her mother believes her to be. She has a boyfriend Virgil who has recently been released from prison in Charlestown. The site of that prison is now occupied by Bunker Hill Community College, and the bridge connecting Charlestown with Cambridge at that point is still called the Prison Point bridge by the locals. Will reappears in Boston, quietly watching Nell and Gracie on one of their daily walks to the Boston Common. He helps Nell with her quest for Bridget, and begins to take on some responsibility for his actions during the course of this book. 1868 Boston is well portrayed in this series. Once you suspend disbelief that a woman like Mrs Hewitt would hire a lowborn Irish girl to be governess, and allow her to snoop on other people's behalf, we have an enjoyable story set in the Gilded Age of Boston, an age of great building, as well as an age of great wealth and greater poverty. There is no trace of Colonnade Row in what is now Boston's downtown shopping area, and Charlestown is but a shell of the prosperous city that existed there in the 19th century, but this book brings them back into existence.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, June 2004
This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.
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