Customer Reviews

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Murder: A Revolutionary War Mystery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Set in British-occupied New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the winter of 1777, Swee's debut offers a fine, tense portrait of the times and a bustling view of tavern life under siege.

Narrator and heroine Abigail Lawrence has her hands full. British soldiers are billeted throughout the tavern she has managed for her Uncle Samuel (a Patriot) since losing her husband and son to a fever eight years before. Her 15-year-old-daughter is smitten with one of the dashing young officers; one slip of her rebel tongue would lose the tavern to the British; and then she finds a guest's body in one of the rooms, impaled by a sword.

Pocketing evidence to keep it out of the hands of an imperious British captain, Abigail lands herself in the midst of an intrigue of espionage and treachery. And she still has a tavern to run.

The tavern milieu is exceptionally well done - from clothing, wartime food concerns and the useful organization of the warming kitchen, to the stables, sleeping accommodations, the fine meals and gossipy service, the evening card games and brandy, and the behind-the-scenes work of laundry, kitchen and bill-paying - all of it organic to the setting and plot.

The British and Patriot points-of-view are also subtly done, and the mystery sufficiently baffling. A strong woman who balances on a knife-edge of neutrality, and knows how to pick her battles, Abigail is an appealing, intelligent heroine.

This book was such a fun adventure! Abigail Lawrence is an instantly likeable character with a loveable staff at her taven/inn in New Brunswick during the Revolutionary War. This wonderful first novel by Karen Swee makes you wish you could travel back in time to help her solve the murder of one of her guests. I was sad when the book ended because I felt like I was just getting to know the characters. I would have loved even more descriptions of personality and locale and wouldn't mind if this were the first in a series of books about our friends at Rarian Tavern. Hint hint!

I picked this up in the library in paperback, based on the cover design. Who says you can't judge a book by its cover? This book was worth the read - very entertaining and a good combination of history and murder mystery. This book included a strong female character as well as insights into the role of women in that time period, which was interesting and easy to believe (as a work of historical fiction, you can't be sure where fact & fiction separate).

Check it out!

I was truly looking forward to reading this book as I am a fan of the historical mystery/thriller genre and this book did not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed the well-developed, detailed characters - the strong lead character of Abigail was especially satisfying. She drew me in and kept me rooting for her (and everyone else at the Raritan Tavern) page after page. The amount of historical detail provided was perfect.

My only criticism of this book (and the reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars) is that the explanation of the formation of the group of men responsible for the letters and escorting the courier, etc. was a bit rushed and muddy. I had to re-read this section a few times before I thought I had it, and understood who was doing what when and who knew the secret before the mystery was unraveled. However, I quite enjoyed the novel and thought it ended too soon...I enjoyed the plot line begun towards the end of the novel and would have loved to have read the outcome of Miriam's search. However, it's not so much criticism as it is praise...bravo to the author on an engrossing read! I anticipate (hopefully!) a sequel!

Book entertaining, well written, and with a clever and engrossing story line. Excellent description of occupying British troops, political views of the day for both sides, and good work on the personal aspects. Only problem is one that can be corrected with good editing. That is punctuation. This book is sadly lacking in good editing.
Example: "How are you Abigail?" No comma before the proper name. This occurs steadily throughout the book, as well as other poor editing examples, detracting from what should have been a 5 star read!!!!!!!

I picked this up at a used book store & couldn't put it down. Came to Amazon.com to get her next book only to find that there were no more. The author died in 2008 while writing the sequel. The lady had a lot of talent.