Old Murders (Silver Dagger Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Frankie Y. Bailey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Silver Dagger Mysteries | Publication Date: January 1, 2000

If you think life in a small Southern town is boring, then you’ve never been to Gallagher, Virginia. While a bitter battle for the heart of downtown Gallagher is brewing between an out-of-town multimillionaire real estate developer and a local entrepreneur, it’s discovered that a local artist is missing. At the same time a story of a 50-year-old murder resurfaces and someone wants to make sure the truth about the case is buried forever.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frankie Y. Bailey is an academic who has managed to incorporate her love of crime fiction and films into her work as a criminologist. She is the author of Edgar-nominated Out of the Woodpile.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: Overmountain Press (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157072217X
• ISBN-13: 978-1570722172
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,011,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars realistically refreshing cozy, May 15, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Old Murders (A Lizzie Stuart Mystery series) (Paperback)

The small southern college town of Gallagher, Virginia might seem quiet and tranquil to an outsider but crime historian Professor Lizzie Stuart certainly knows better. A Yankee real estate executive and a local businessman are locked in a bitter battle over the fate of downtown Gallagher. Lizzie doesn't know whose ideas are the better choice but since she just accepted a permanent position at Piedmont State University, she knows she has to get involved.

Local politics become the furthermost thing from her mind when she discovers that local artist and Piedmont student RoeAnn is missing. She hasn't come home to her baby in days and the aunt that is watching him doesn't want to get the police involved. Since Lizzie's lover John Quin is the college chief of police, she notifies him, which sets in motion a series of events that end with a local lawyer being shot. A guilty Lizzie starts asking questions which brings her to the attention of somebody who will do anything to make certain some secrets stay buried.

Once again Frankie Y. Bailey has created a realistically refreshing cozy that captures the ambiance of the area and the temperament of the people who live there. One of the charms of this series is that the heroine continues to grow and change so that readers never get bored with the character. The who-done-it is well constructed and in these cases the reader is left to ponder whether the two crimes are linked or are committed by two different individuals with separate agendas.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Involving characters in an interesting series, February 22, 2009

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Old Murders (A Lizzie Stuart Mystery series) (Paperback)

Old Murders is third in a series of novels about the adventures of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Stuart, college professor and amateur detective. This novel finds her in Gallagher, Virginia, on a temporary teaching assignment at Piedmont State University, where her romantic interest John Quinn works. A local woman ominously disappears. Lizzie is peripherally drawn into the argument of a prominent local family when one of them offers to create an institute for the college with Lizzie as its head. An eager student involves Lizzie in researching a fifty-year old murder that might have current ramifications.

Lizzie is an interesting character because she straddles so many fences in her life. She was raised by her loving and beloved grandparents, who none-the-less hurt her deeply by refusing to tell her anything about her parents: their estranged daughter and an unknown man. A highly educated modern woman, Lizzie is still haunted by her grandmother's elaborate system of superstitions. A Black woman, she is in love with a white policeman. A career woman, she is torn between her own opportunities and the possibility of moving or losing Quinn as he pursues his own. I find Lizzie a very endearing character that I can really empathize with, and I hope that the series continues for a long while.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This series keeps getting better and better, June 28, 2003

By 

kmorical (Belmont, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Murders (A Lizzie Stuart Mystery series) (Paperback)

This series is refreshingly different - from the quirky Lizzie, her adorable straight man, Quinn to the eccentric old-money southern bells. Of course I couldn't put it down. I appreciate the way Dr. Bailey slowly builds the characters, giving them endearing, and in some cases, down right infuriating, depth. The inventive way everything ties together is quite simply, masterful. As this installment intimate, I look forward to reading yet another of the unconventionally fascinating processes she uses to find out what became of her mother, Lizzie's apparent antithesis. As well as enjoy her blooming relationship with Quinn.