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Tuesday, October 13, 2020

The Widows by Jess Montgomery

 Our Mystery Book Club read The Widows by Jess Montgomery for our October selection. 

I thought it was a good historical fiction/mystery and is the first book in The Kinship Series.


About: "Kinship, Ohio, 1924: When Lily Ross learns that her husband, Daniel Ross, the town’s widely respected sheriff, is killed while transporting a prisoner, she is devastated and vows to avenge his death. Hours after his funeral, a stranger appears at her door. Marvena Whitcomb, a coal miner’s widow, is unaware that Daniel has died, and begs to speak with him about her missing daughter. From miles away but worlds apart, Lily and Marvena’s lives collide as they realize that Daniel was not the man that either of them believed him to be—and that his murder is far more complex than either of them could have imagined. Inspired by the true story of Ohio’s first female sheriff, this is a powerful debut about two women’s search for justice as they take on the corruption at the heart of their community. 

Inspired by the true story of Ohio’s first female sheriff, this is a powerful debut about two women’s search for justice as they take on the corruption at the heart of their community."

I like historical novels for one.  This is based on Ohio's first female sheriff as it says.

This is Maude Collins. "Originally appointed to the job after her husband, Vinton County Sheriff Fletcher Collins, was murdered, Sheriff Maude (as she was called) was elected by an impressive majority the following year. During her groundbreaking tenure, Maude Collins not only transported a fair number of prisoners, she also took down moonshine stills, investigated five murders, and even took the former marshal of Hamden into custody after he was convicted of killing a suspect."

You can read more about her here: https://ohioec.org/ohio-cooperative-living/sheriff-maude-makes-history/#:~:text=Maude%20Collins%20was%20the%20first,the%20county's%20clerk%20of%20courts.



Now the book The Widows starts with the same incident but then brings in other things that were happening at the time; moonshine, mines and treatment of the workers, move to start unions, and treatment of women. It makes for a good story. 

Lily is determined to find out what happened to her husband, not buying the explanations others are giving her. She helped her husband in the jail and picked up on a thing or two. As Marvena's story entwines with hers, she doesn't know whether to be angry with Daniel or help Marvena. The story twists together more and more as the women pull together to save the town and it's people, risking their own lives.

I really liked it. In all fairness, the MBC had mixed reviews. Some loved it. Some thought it was a little long, but we agreed being a first book in a series, characters and backgrounds need to be set up. A couple of people had read the second book in the series, The Hollows and liked it. A third book, The Stills, is coming our March of 2021. 

About the author: Jess Montgomery

https://jessmontgomeryauthor.com/

"Under Jess's given name, she is a newspaper columnist, focusing on the literary life, authors and events of her native Dayton, Ohio for the Dayton Daily News. Her first novel in the Kinship Historical Mystery series, THE WIDOWS, garnered awards even before publication: Montgomery County (Ohio) Arts & Cultural District (MCAD) Artist Opportunity Grant (2018); Individual Excellence Award (2016) in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council; John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio) in 2014.

I recommend The Widows if you like historical mysteries with strong female characters and are looking for a new series.




1 comment:

  1. I'm a fan and will continue to read the series as time goes by. :-)

    ReplyDelete