Thursday, January 6, 2011

No Less in Blood -D.M. Pirrone

No Less in Blood
D.M. Pirrone
Five Star, Mar 9 2011, $25.95
ISBN 9781594149276

In Birch Falls, Minnesota twelve year old Linnet Chapman waits with her maternal grandfather Jackson Schlegel for her mother, Grace to come to get her. Grace never arrives at the Schlegel manse, no longer owned by the family, as her abusive husband Luke murdered her in Chicago. Luke next searches for Linnet.

In 1904 mining magnate Andrew Jackson Schlegel writes a will that will make any kin of his wealthy. Meanwhile in the present adoptee Rachel Connolly, searching for her biological parents, finds proof her late birth mother Minna McGrath was related to the Schlegels. She meets Linnet in Birch Falls where the latter shares the diary she found of her great-grandmother Mary Anne Schlegel, who vanished at the 1893 Columbian World's Exposition. This provides a link between the two women even as Jackson and Luke team up to eliminate the females in their way.

No Less In Blood is an excellent thriller in which a historical missing person’s case leads to a second mystery one century later. The story line is fast-paced as the two females struggle to survive their respective male predator. Readers will enjoy this taut tale of the impact of an event in 1893 leading to a will in 1904, which in turn leads to avarice amidst and extended family.

Harriet Klausner

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