Louisa and the Crystal Gazer: A Louisa May Alcott Mystery [Paperback]

Anna Maclean (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2006

Louisa is skeptical when her dear friend Sylvia Shattuck expresses a desire to contact her long-dead father through a medium. But she puts her doubts aside to accompany Sylvia to a séance at the home of Boston's most famous crystal gazer. On their second visit they find the medium murdered, and what began as an idle curiosity becomes a compelling investigation. It seems that to solve the mystery of the medium's death, Louisa must first uncover the surprising truth about her life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anna Maclean is the pseudonym of an award-winning journalist and the author of several historical novels.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Signet (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451218329
• ISBN-13: 978-0451218322
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,323,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Historical

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining reading., March 11, 2007

By 

J. Lesley "(Judy)" (Midsouth, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Louisa and the Crystal Gazer: A Louisa May Alcott Mystery (Paperback)

This Louisa May Alcott mystery is an entertaining read. It is not violent or crude or excessively bloodthirsty. The writing is good, my overall take is that it is pleasant. If you want to read a very low key, undemanding type of historical mystery then this may suit you very well. I am trying very hard to be positive about what was, for me, just an O.K. book. My problem is that I could have put this book down at any point without finishing it and never wondered what the remainder would have been.

I am a mystery fan. I am a fan of historical mysteries. This particular story just did not have enough heft to satisfy me. After all, one of her principal suspects was Phineas T. Barnum! It was always a given that he could not possibly have committed the murder because we know the life history of Mr. Barnum. He lived, breathed and walked upon this earth and he was never tried for murder. When an author takes the chance of using a true person in their fictional work they make their plotting extremely vulnerable. I knew at once that this character could be eliminated as a suspect. The person who was guilty was, for a rabid mystery reader, obvious. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to appear smart after the fact but I knew very, very early on that this person was going to be guilty.

None of the above stated things make this a bad book. I simply want true, died in the wool mystery readers to know that this particular book will not be any challenge to their solving abilities. If you like light reading with some mystery thrown in, by all means read this book. I actually appreciated it more for the observations on Alcott's life history (always assuming that the facts are fully researched and accurate) than for the mystery.

My overall rating --- not bad, just not intriguing enough to make me go out and buy any more in the series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderfully engaging read, July 18, 2006

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Louisa and the Crystal Gazer: A Louisa May Alcott Mystery (Paperback)

Another brilliantly rendered Louisa May Alcott mystery novel to enjoy! This time Louisa is in Boston, temporarily separated from her family, as she endeavours to make a living as a seamstress, as well as continue to write her "blood and thunder" stories n the hopes of getting them published. But it isn't too long before Louisa finds herself caught up in yet another perplexing murder investigation.

It is December of 1855, and Louisa is hoping to earn some extra money for Christmas presents with her sewing. But when her good friend, Sylvia Shattuck, begs her to accompany her to a seance, Louisa finds herself reluctantly agreeing to accompany Sylvia in order to keep an eye on her easily susceptible friend. Louisa fully expects that the medium will be a fraud, but what she didn't expect was to find inspiration for a story at the seance. So that when Sylvia decides to pay the medium a second visit, Louisa readily agrees to go along with her. But how different this visit turns out to be; for this time, the young friends find the medium dead. And when the police disclose that this is actually a case of murder, and arrest the medium's shady servant, Louisa decides to do some sleuthing of her own. For Louisa is sure that the maid is innocent of the murder, and rather suspects that the murderer will be found amongst the medium's clients. But who killed the medium, and why exactly was she killed? With a suspect list that includes a hero and P. T. Barnum himself, Louisa soon finds herself pouring over gossip and delving into scandal in order to unearth a murderer...

This is the third installment in a wonderful new series featuring Louisa May Alcott, the noted American novelist, as detective. And like the previous two novels in the series, "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" was a wonderfully absorbing read -- the storyline was a very intriguing one, full of plot twists and turns, with just the right number of red herring suspects to keep one happily occupied trying to figure who committed the murder and why. And that, together with the swift pacing that gathered momentum and suspense as the plot unfolded, and the brilliantly rendered scenes and characters that were full of period detail and charm, made "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" a treat beyond compare. As with the other two novels, I thought that the author had done a fantastic job of capturing Louisa May Alcott's voice and spirit. It is perhaps and odd thing to note, but I feel that with each new mystery novel, Anna Maclean gives me a better appreciation of Louisa May Alcott, not only as a writer but as a person as well. To sum up, "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" was a deliciously delightful read, and if you haven't read any of these novels yet, hesitate no longer: you will be glad that picked up this, or indeed any of the books in the series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Louisa May Alcott Mystery, February 6, 2007

By 

Judy Brown Eyes (Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Louisa and the Crystal Gazer: A Louisa May Alcott Mystery (Paperback)

It was great to find this series since I'm a big fan of Luisa May Alcott's fiction. To think that Luisa had another life (at least in fiction) that her public didn't know about. Anna Maclean does a wonderful job of painting the character and indomitable spirit of Luisa in Boston during her younger years, and she has obviously done a lot of research on that period of Alcott's life before she became the celebrated Miss Alcott, the author of "Little Women." As with the other two novels, I thought that the author had done a fantastic job of capturing Louisa May Alcott's voice and spirit. "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" was a wonderful read, and if you haven't read any of these novels please buy them, I went back and purchased the other two in the series, and hope there will be more upcoming mysteries for Luisa and her friend Sylvia to solve.