The Weaver and the Factory Maid (Ringan Laine, 1) [Hardcover]

Deborah Grabien (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ringan Laine, 1 | Publication Date: December 10, 2003

Haunted by the ghosts of characters memorialized in their songs, a pair of lovers must uncover the truth behind the ghosts' deaths.

When Ringan Laine, British folk musician, becomes the owner of a restored eighteenth-century cottage, he discovers right away that the cottage and the ancient barn on Ringan's property are haunted.

Ringan and his longtime lover Penny, researching the identity of their unwanted tenants, learn that they were a young couple, victims of a famous double murder in the year 1817 - their story the subject of a song that is a staple in Ringan's repertoire. And they must stage a full-scale musical exorcism to lay the ghostly couple to rest.

The Weaver and the Factory Maid is only the first in what promises to be an exciting new mystery series features the ghosts of characters in folk ballads.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A cozy series based on folk ballads with ghosts may be good in theory, but in her mystery debut, Grabien, the author of a couple of mystical fantasies (The Eyes in the Fire; Plainsong), offers too little plot and a less than engaging protagonist, the self-centered Ringan Laine. An English musician and architect, Ringan specializes in restoring old houses. After he obtains a life interest in a West Country barn and cottage from a defaulting client, he discovers that the former building is haunted by the ghost of a lovelorn weaver, the latter by the spirit of the girl the weaver loved. The deceased make their presence felt to Ringan and his hearty girlfriend, Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes, who enjoin others to help lay the ghosts to rest. The only mystery here, given away on the back of the galley, doesn't amount to much by conventional crime standards. Handselling to folklore fans and New Agers may help take up the slack left by disappointed mystery readers.
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From Booklist

When British folk musician Ringan Laine receives a lifetime lease on a cottage in lieu of payment for renovations done on a Somerset manor house, he has no idea the place is haunted. That changes quickly when ghostly figures begin to appear. Ringan and his lover, Penny, investigate the cottage's history and determine that the ghosts are a weaver and a factory maid, young lovers murdered in 1817. Only a musical exorcism by his group, the Broomfield Hill Quartet, will let the lovers rest and allow Ringan to claim his property. In this first in a series that will explore the ghosts of characters in folk ballads, Grabien effectively mixes the ghost story with the contemporary drama. Each chapter opens with part of the ballad of the weaver and the factory maid. Nicely incorporating period details and background on folk music, this involving tale will appeal especially to ghost-story fans and to readers of Sharyn McCrumb's Songcatcher (2001) and Erin Hart's Haunted Ground [BKL My 1 03]. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (December 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312314221
• ISBN-13: 978-0312314224
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,314,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming supernatural mystery, May 3, 2004

By 

Virginia Q Kaderabek (Decatur, ga USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weaver and the Factory Maid (Ringan Laine, 1) (Hardcover)

When Ringan Laine, folk musician and historic house restorer, acquires a house in payment for a job, he and his long-time lover, theatre producer Penelope Wintercraft-Hawkes, find that they're not the house's only occupants. Through detective work, they look for a way to deal with their spectral houseguests.

The book features a charming British setting and characters, plus an added fascination for those of us interested in traditional folk ballads. In marketing, it may suffer from being "neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring." It has many of the aspects of a "cozy" mystery. It also has the supernatural aspect, although designed more to intrigue than to terrify. It would be a shame if genre-driven marketing fails to find a way to effectively market this charming whatever-it-is, which should appeal to mystery and supernatural readers; persons interested in traditional music; and Anglophiles.

As a fan of series books, I'd say that The Weaver and the Factor Maid also has many of the elements that can support a successful series. Ringan's musician friends and Penny's theatre work should offer many logical ways for them to become involved in supernatural mysteries. There are also a gracious plenty of spooky ballads from which to draw stories. I'm looking forward to the next installment, The Famous Flower of Serving Men.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Utterly charming, December 29, 2003

By 

Kristin Ohlson "Reader and writer" (Cleveland Heights, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Weaver and the Factory Maid (Ringan Laine, 1) (Hardcover)

I read this on a five-hour cross-county plane trip and was so engaged that I never noticed the turbulence. This is the kind of mystery that delivers just about everything I like-- fine writing, doughty characters, a beguling and ghostly plot, a narrative that weaves in fascinating threads from history, folk music, and architecture-- and there's even a little existential Pandora's box cracked open towards the end, as the characters wonder about the morality of ejecting the ghosts from their cozy human world. I'm thrilled that there are more of these Grabien mysteries in the Thomas Dunne pipeline!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming and spooky, March 26, 2006

By 

Kelly Erickson "kelbow1600" (Henderson, Nevada USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Weaver and the Factory Maid (Ringan Laine, 1) (Hardcover)

I picked this one up at the library. It was spooky and charming. I guess I scare easily, because there were parts that I waited to read during the daytime, instead of before bedtime. I couldn't be as brave as those 3, seeing ghosts all over the place. I don't ever want to see a ghost, thank you very much.

I think I am going to have to get the next one in this series. I just wish it came with a CD, so that I could hear what these songs sound like. I am assuming they are actual songs, right?