Through Gold Eagle - Hardcover

Monfredo, Miriam Grace

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0425153185 ISBN 13: 9780425153185

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover, 1996

Synopsis

As the 1850s come to a close, Glynis Tryon returns to her hometown of Seneca Falls, New York, where she helps defend the celebrated abolitionist, John Brown, against politically motivated charges of counterfeiting.

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Reviews

Monfredo (The Seneca Falls Inheritance, etc.) scores with another compelling mid-19th century mystery starring librarian/feminist Glynis Tryon. The sinuous plot skillfully incorporates significant political and social changes of the time, from women's suffrage to banking reform and Isaac Singer's revolutionary sewing machine. In May 1859, after a year's visit with her brother's family in Illinois, Glynis returns to Seneca Falls, N.Y., bringing along her niece Emma. A man is murdered on their train shortly after handing her a pouch containing money and a ring and mentioning Seneca Falls. Back home, Glynis is absorbed in a variety of problems: her assistant has wasted library funds on romance novels; counterfeit money and weapons thefts are rife; seven more people die; and her old swain, Sheriff Cullen Stuart, has a new lady friend. Monfredo deftly gathers these subplots into a coherent tale that leads to a finale in a panther den. There, Glynis corners the mastermind responsible for the crimes, solving a case which is tied to funding John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry and to attempts by abolitionists and the English to hasten a civil war. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass and John Brown appear but don't overshadow the commanding cast of fictional characters, including a new romantic interest for Glynis.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

It's 1859, and Glynis Tryon, librarian of Seneca Falls, New York, is going home after a year's absence helping to care for her dying sister. Glynis's shy, sad niece Emma accompanies her on the long train journey from Illinois. With Rochester behind them and only one stop before journey's end, passengers are stunned by a savage knife attack on a passenger who drops a leather pouch into Glynis's lap before disappearing, his body to be taken off the train at Seneca Falls by Constable Cullen Stuart, Glynis's old love and ally in past investigations (Blackwater Spirits, 1995, etc.). The pouch holds a double eagle coin, a ring, and a banknote, plunging Glynis and Stuart into the fierce ongoing battle between Treasury agents and the rampant counterfeiting of the era. Glynis's on-again, off-again fondness for Stuart is cooled by his reported closeness to Fleur Coddington, owner of the town's priciest dress shop, who promptly hires Emma, a gifted seamstress, after her shopgirl Sally Lunt is found murdered--just one of the string of killings chalked up here. There's more--much, much more. Chapters are devoted to the abolitionist John Brown and his raid on Harpers Ferry, and to the battle for women's rights--these laced with mini- lectures on coinage, the strictures of women's dress, Emma's legal tangle with the Singer sewing machine company, and a host of other trivial pursuits that further weigh down a novel that manages to be both tumultuous and ponderous, with characters and plots enough for a lengthy series. In the end, a trial of patience for the often intrigued but finally overwhelmed reader, who may fervently hope that less will be more in this talented writer's future outings. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Librarian Glynis Tryon finds her life touched by such historic figures as Mary Todd Lincoln and John Brown in 19th-century Seneca Falls, New York. Glynis witnesses one murder, learns of three more, and assist the constable?her one-time beau?in uncovering some local counterfeiters. Elsewhere, Brown plans the infamous Harper's Ferry incident. A thoroughly researched and detailed plot, nicely textured prose, and remarkable characterization from the author of Blackwater Spirits (Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's, 1995). Recommended.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0425153185
• ISBN 13: 9780425153185
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 386