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Louisa May Alcott has accepted the invitation of a family member to visit in New Hampshire. Shortly after her own arrival, her parents and sisters join her. They are strapped for money so this offer comes as a godsend. As Louisa settles in, she begins to meet her neighbors and the town members. Unfortunately, the villagers are not happy. Ernst Nooteboom was found dead at the bottom of a cliff. He had apparently been hiking and had fallen to his death. His sister Lilli swears that Ernst was murdered and plans to make life difficult for the person she suspects. In addition to this tragedy, Louisa believes that her neighbor is acting suspiciously. Ida Tupper is married to a young traveling salesman who has been out of town for months. She has an adult son from an earlier marriage and an invalid brother. Louisa begins to doubt Ida's claims about her husband's activities. While she does not have any specific concerns, she does doubt Ida's stories. Louisa must find the truth regarding Ernst's death and Ida's missing husband if she wants to prevent another murder from happening. LOUISA AND THE COUNTRY BACHELOR is written in the village cozy tradition. A large portion of the book deals with the trivial and everyday activities of buying groceries, feeding a household and interacting with the neighbors. While Louisa is involved in investigations, she does very little active investigating. For the most part she hears rumors and stories during conversations and notices activities during her walks in town and in the country. Personally, this is not the type of book that I enjoy. Taking a real person and turning them into a fictional character is a very risky business. There is no way to determine how a person would react to a situation and it is almost impossible for a fictional work to reflect a person's true actions. While some books do come close and create situations that seem realistic to the historical figure's actions they are still not real. In addition, I did not enjoy Louisa May Alcott's books as a child and my opinion of her works never changed as I grew up. For this reason, I did not warm to her much as a protagonist. LOUISA AND THE COUNTRY BACHELOR is the second mystery featuring Louisa May Alcott.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, December 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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