9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A bridge to the past, November 4, 2009
This review is from: The Ninth Daughter (An Abigail Adams Mystery) (Paperback)
I have had a longstanding passion for John and Abigail Adams and the colonial period in general. This wonderful mystery has everything--details of the times, a great sense of the complexity and ambiguity of the politics of revolution, a well constructed mystery, and resonance between the present and the past. Abigail is an indominable feminist, but within the context of her times. The characters are as real to me as John Adams was after reading McCullough's biography. This was a great read!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just a Cup of Tea, February 25, 2010
Barbara Hamilton has written a wonderful book to kick off her new mystery series. "The Ninth Daughter," set in Massachusetts in the 1770's, is a book about a serial killer loose in Boston and its environs, a case where a smart and somewhat progressive woman is the sleuth. That woman is Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, who will be the second president of the United States. With Abigail as protagonist, the novel introduces a handful of other illustrious Colonial Americans: Tories and Whigs, Colonials and Royals, Calvinists and Catholics, etc.
The strength of this novel, in my opinion, is its historical accuracy and the delightful unfolding of the plot and its back stories. The story begins on the eve of the revolution and key players are representatives from the Crown and the "Sons of Liberty" (John Adams, Paul Revere, et al.). We are treated to visits to a small village a day away from Boston inhabited by Christian fundamentalists and see the protestant hatred for "papists". The Abigail Adams of this book relates well to a great variety of people sometimes using her gender as a buffer against hostility. Her friendship with a Redcoat Lieutenant and his Sergeant allow her a source, sometimes entre, to clues in solving the murders. Those characters sometimes are a backdrop when her husband (a prominent member of the Sons of Liberty) is in the room. Author Hamilton weaves these personalities and their points of view together in a living drama with great finesse and the real "feelings" of a nation in turmoil. We are aware that the preparation for the famous Boston Tea Party is a constant background throughout the book.
It is, however, how the book "works" as a novel that is the proof of the pudding in historical fiction. I admire the way in which author Hamilton crafted this book, i.e., sentence structure and the historical authenticity of language. Ms. Hamilton uses language to great advantage in that way. This is a book in which you'll frequently look away from the page and think, "what a great way to say that": e.g.,"with an Irish brogue that could have been cut like cheese with a wire;" "yet outside of Boston, the veneer of England vanished like an early frost," and "Wind as sharp as broken oyster shells." There are just a few of the many many examples of figurative language that keeps the prose so fresh and imaginative.
The denouement, the ending solutions, are so hidden and surprising, you'll be amazed at that twist, too. "The Ninth Daughter" by Barbara Hamilton is a great new book and I look forward to the next in the series. If you like American Colonial Historical Fiction, this is one that should be next on your reading list.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
the Ninth Daughter by Barbara Hamilton, December 2, 2009
This review is from: The Ninth Daughter (An Abigail Adams Mystery) (Paperback)
Barbara Hamilton sets her first in a series of historical mysteries, The Ninth Daughter, right in the middle of an emerging new nation in revolutionary Boston. All the historical figures are placed in this setting including Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Adams and of course Abigail Adams. The Sons of Liberty, a secret group fighting against the taxation of the British and for their freedom play a prominent role in this enjoyable mystery. Abigail Adams on her way to visit a friend, Rebecca, who is associated with helping the Sons of Liberty group, discovers Rebecca missing and the body of a dead woman. The woman is later identified as Perdita Pentyre, the mistress of a British Colonel. What was she doing at Rebecca's place of residence? What happened to the list of the members of the Sons of Liberty and their aliases? When Abigail's husband, John, is accused of the murder Abigail must use her acute observation powers and do everything possible to find the murderer and her friend Rebecca. Barbara Hamilton's first in this series of historical mysteries will leave you looking forward to the next book, especially if you are an aficionado of the Revolutionary Period in our history and Abigail Adams.
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