Blackwater Spirits

Berkley Publishing Group, 1996. Near Fine. An excess of Native American lore and romantic complications blunt the impa ct of Monfredo's third historical mystery featuring Glynis Tryon, librarian in Seneca Falls, N.Y., in the mid-18th century. Glynis and the newly arriv ed doctor, a young Jewish woman from New York City, overhear a farmer voice fears for his life to Constable Cullen Stuart. Soon the farmer is fatally poisoned, and Cullen enlists Glynis's aid in talking to the farmer's angry widow, who suggests her husband's murder will be followed by others. Soon t hree more men have died. Suspicion focuses on Cullen's former deputy, Jacqu es Sundown, known to be present at each murder site. When he is arrested fo r the murder of a woman, Glynis, who has a strong attachment to the quiet, younger man now living with his mother's people on the Black Brook reservat ion, resolves to prove his innocence. Clearheaded Glynis's pursuit of Jacqu es may grate on fans who have admired her stability and judgment in North S tar Conspiracy and Seneca Falls Inheritance. Like these, this novel include s a section of historical notes at the end, which provide more detail on th e names, places and situations mentioned in the story.