North Star Conspiracy [Mass Market Paperback]

Miriam Grace Monfredo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

Glynis Tryon, the delightful Seneca Falls, New York, librarian introduced in Seneca Falls Inheritance (SMP, 1992), returns, still balancing her own life against the momentous events of the times. With sure authenticity, the author evokes the atmosphere of 1854, seven years before the Civil War, and brings to life the vivid cast of characters involved. A local election is pending, from which Glynis and Elizabeth Cady Stanton hope will come gains for women's rights. A wealthy resident has started Seneca Falls's first theater, and its production of Macbeth looms large in the story. Glynis herself faces a wrenching decision: Constable Cullen Stuart wants her as his wife when he moves west to become a Pinkerton man. Warm as her regard for Cullen may be, Glynis is reluctant, knowing how her life must change after marriage. Meanwhile, Seneca Falls has become an important stop on the Underground Railroad. Fugitive slaves following the North Star to Canada find support from many of the town's inhabitants, including Glynis. It is a difficult commitment at best, and when complicated by murder, a perilous one as well. Once again, Miriam Grace Monfredo has combined historical events, a moving personal story, and an engrossing mystery in a work of extraordinary interest.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1854, six years after her adventures with Elizabeth Cady Stanton described in Seneca Falls Inheritance , librarian Glynis Tryon returns for a suspense-filled adventure based on the northward escape of fugitive slaves. Women's rights' advocate Glynis rejects the marriage proposal of her friend Constable Cullen Stuart, who leaves Seneca Falls, N.Y., to join the Pinkertons. Missing him, she busies herself in the planning of the town's new theater and the upcoming campaign for state assembly of a banker who favors women's rights. She is puzzled by both the recent suspicious death of a freed slave from Virginia and the murder of a slave-catcher who was last seen with a woman from the theater group. Then Niles, her landlady's son, returns from Virginia to announce his plans to marry Kiri, a slave whom he has convinced to run away. Glynis's role in helping Kiri farther along the Underground Railroad and her observations at Niles's trial in Virginia for abetting the slave's escape mesh seamlessly with details of the librarian's personal life in this intricately plotted, historically vivid, thoroughly satisfying mystery.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Unmarried (by choice) librarian Glynis Tryon (Seneca Falls Inheritance, 1992) learns firsthand of the iniquities of slavery when her boardinghouse landlady's son Niles returns to their western New York home with Kiri--a beautiful mulatto slave he helped escape from a Virginia plantation. A slave-catcher is on their trail, and though Glynis manages to get Kiri to her sister's house in Rochester, a stop on the Underground Railroad, Niles is captured and returned to Virginia to stand trial. In Richmond to help Niles's lawyer, Glynis learns that three recent murders back home all tie in with Kiri--and with the murder of her fleeing family 13 years before by a villainous overseer, now living up north under another identity. With help from Constable Sundown and Cullen Stuart, a Pinkerton detective, Glynis and Kiri bait a trap for the villain and spring it during the debut performance of Macbeth at Seneca Falls's just-opened theater. Stimulating fare (despite a subplot or two too many) that effectively parallels the powerlessness of slaves and women--the disenfranchised--building to a dramatic courtroom sequence. Sojourner Truth, Matthew Brady, et al., appear in memorable cameos. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 353 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425147207
• ISBN-13: 978-0425147207
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful taste of history/mystery, June 18, 1999

By 

Kimberly Bright - See all my reviews

This review is from: North Star Conspiracy (Mass Market Paperback)

This wonderful and touching mystery gives wonderful insight into life before the Civil War in various parts of the United States. The characters are extremely well drawn--the reader develops real concern and care for them--and seem very representative of the times. This would be a challenging time period to write about and Monfredo does it with compassion. An excellent series best read in order but don't let that stop you from reading any of them. I can't wait for the next one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific whodunnit, with a marvelous cast of characters, December 30, 2001

By 

drdebs (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: North Star Conspiracy (Mass Market Paperback)

Miriam Grace Monfredo is one of the best historical mystery writers today, and her skills are well displayed in this book, the second in the Glynis Tryon series set in the upstate New York town of Seneca Falls in the middle of the 19th century. Glynis is the town librarian, with a strong belief in women's suffrage (along with her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton). Until this story unfolds, however, she has been less supportive of the abolitionist cause which was strongly supported around Seneca Falls through participation in the Underground Railroad. Through the events linked to this murder mystery, however, Glynis is forced to rethink her position and ends up travelling as far as Richmond to fight against the Fugitive Slave Act.

One of the best things about Monfredo's stories is that she shares with you an entire town, in all its complexity and liveliness. Every character in the book is lovingly and lavishly drawn, and several plots unfold simultaneously which gives the stories a feeling of authenticity that is hard to beat.

You will want to rush out and buy the next story (Blackwater Spirits) immediately, to see how Glynis's friendship with the new Seneca/French constable, Jacques, turns out!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historical Fiction At Its Best, May 16, 2000

By 

Mrs. L. Weaver - See all my reviews

This review is from: North Star Conspiracy (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this book. Though it is the second in the series, it was the first one for me, and I intend to read the rest of the series now. It rates a close second to City Of Light in the realm of historical fiction based in my part of NY State. I like that it includes real characters along with the most important issues of the time, and murder, mystery, romance and good fictional character development.