The White Crow (Beacon Hill Mysteries (Doubleday)) [Kindle Edition]

Cynthia Peale (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This gaslight thriller, the third and last to feature the brother-and-sister team of Caroline and Addington Ames (after 2001's Murder at Bertram's Bower), delivers some notable frissons, even if it never quite embraces the supernatural. When Addington, a committed skeptic, asks William James his opinion of society medium Mrs. Sidgwick, the eminent psychologist replies: "Even if there were no other medium in the world who had her powers, she alone proves that such powers exist. I put it this way: If you seek to prove that all crows are not black, you need only one white crow. And Mrs. Sidgwick is my white crow." At a s ance conducted by Mrs. Sidgwick, Caroline is anxious to make contact with her late mother. Alas, the spirit of Mrs. Ames proves elusive. When Mrs. Sidgwick succeeds in reaching the deceased wife of one of the other "querants," Theophilus Clay, a liberal philanthropist and one of the richest men in Boston, that worthy gentleman drops dead on the spot. After Addington proves Clay's death to be murder, Mrs. Sidgwick receives an ominous message reading "Ames next." The unsurprising denouement is somewhat disappointing, even conventional, after the beguilingly atmospheric buildup. The languid pace and frequent longueurs won't please more impatient, hot-blooded mystery fans, but those who care more for rich historical backdrop than the mechanics of crime-solving should be reasonably satisfied. (Mar. 19)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The newest Beacon Hill Victorian mystery takes Caroline Ames into the suspect world of spiritualists. Her brother Addington disapproves, so she attends a s ance with their boarder, Dr. McKenzie. Unfortunately for them, another attendee drops dead after receiving a message from "beyond." Solid.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 483 KB
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (April 16, 2002)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC1L06
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,800 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a straight forward read but rich in ambience, March 22, 2002

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Crow: A Beacon Hill Mystery (Hardcover)

I'm always torn whenever I read one of Cynthia Peale's Beacon Hill mysteries -- on the one hand I love the manner in which Ms Peale brings the Boston of the Victorian period to life with all it's prissiness and it's snobbish double standards. And I also like the manner in which she depicts all her characters, both secondary and primary -- you really get to see all the different facets of the different characters. But I also find myself ready to spit nails at the attitude of the men in these book towards the women. And here, much as the feminist in me wants for Caroline Ames (the charming and amiable heroine-detective of this series) to really administer a swift kick in the seat of the pants to her supercilious older brother, Addington (preferably so that he takes a fall down the stairs), I have to admire Ms Peale's accurate portrayal of the social mores of the period, and admire her courageous stance. It would be only all too easy to write about a sister and brother team that we modern readers would find more sympathetic and accessible. However Ms Peale has given us a detecting hero (Addington Ames) who is snobbish and priggish and a little narrow minded, as well as a detecting heroine (Caroline Ames) who even as she sometimes chafes at her brother's attitude towards her and all things modern, is still a product of her upbringing, and who is NOT one of the crusading Amazonian feminist that the Victorians feared so much.

Hoping to make 'contact' with their dead mother, Caroline Ames decides to secretly visit the medium, Mrs. Sidgwick (Caroline has to keep this visit a secret because she knows that her brother would disapprove and probably forbid her from attending the seance). The seance however turns out to be a disaster: not only does Caroline fail to make contact with her mother, but she also becomes a suspect when philanthropist Theophilus Clay is murdered while the seance is in session. As much to protect his sister from the police, as well as because an old friend of the family requests him to investigate the matter, skeptical Addington Ames finds himself delving into matters paranormal. And no one is more surprised than he when things take a distinctly dangerous turn when this current murder investigation suddenly leads him to back to another painful episode from his past, and an old enemy who feels that he has a score to settle with the Ameses...

While I did enjoy reading "The White Crow," I must own that mystery-wise it was an incredibly straightforward read, and that the mystery plot did unfold at a rather sedate pace. Ms Peale seemed to pay more attention to the subplot dealing with the blossoming relationship between Caroline and the Ames's lodger, Dr. Mackenzie, which was something I didn't mind at all as I'm rather partial to Caroline, and welcomed any plot deviations that dealt with her. So, here's my opinion: read this book on a drizzling evening (this novel was meant for exactly that kind of weather) and enjoy it for it's rich and vivid imagery, and for it's charming heroine.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I hope not the last, August 3, 2008

By 

S. R. Schnur "srschnur" (ME USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: White Crow, The (Paperback)

This is the third of a series called "Beacon Hill Mysteries." They have all been good, but this is the best of the lot. The late Victorian age was a time when science was stretching into the technology of daily life, and the very air was alive with possibility. Boston, on the other hand, had a stultifying rigid caste system. Despite a great admiration for science, those who experimented too much stood the chance of becoming "ruined" and no longer being accepted into polite society.

Our characters in this mix are Addington Ames, the middle aged and stuffy older brother of Caroline Ames, thirty six year old spinster, and their boarder, Dr. MacKenzie, invalided from the Army by a Sioux bullet. The characters are beautifully drawn and set solidly in their period with no anachronistic issues.

The first book in the series is "The Death of Colonel Mann." The second is "Murder at Bertram's Bower." Each book is better than the last. I am looking for more.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb third in the series, I loved it!, August 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The White Crow (Mass Market Paperback)

As usual Cynthia Peale did not disappoint me! And I am so glad. I enjoyed The White Crow as much if not more than the first and second books in the series. Her characterizations are excellent (and not just the main characters!), the plot is entertaining and well-planned, and the way she captures old Boston at the turn of the century is nothing short of brilliant. I feel that I am there learning about what Boston was really like. To find this atmosphere of a Boston past in a modern-day book is amazing. I am eagerly awaiting a fourth in the Beacon Hill series. Please!