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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
an engrossing read, October 9, 2003
Even though Carolyn Hart is a well known mystery novelist (authour of the Henrie O. & Death on Demand mystery novels), and even though the shocking murder of Faye Tatum is the central focus of "Letter From Home," this particular novel is not really a 'straight' mystery novel. If you're expecting a plethora of perplexing clues, red herring suspects and a few intriguing plot twist and turns, be forewarned, "Letter From Home" has very few of these stock plot props. What "Letter From Home" does possess, however, is a gripping story about how the particular events of the summer of 1944 changed the lives of two particular young girls: 14 year old Gretchen Gilman and 16 year old Barbara Tatum.More than 50 years later, journalist Gretchen Gilman receives a letter from her old home town in Oklahoma, reminding her of the shocking events from the summer of 1944. The war was in full swing, the young men were constantly leaving in order to join up, and many of the women have left to work in the factories at other towns; which is precisely why Gretchen is able to land a summer job as the Gazette's newest cub reporter. Gretchen is happy and proud -- she desperately wants to become a real reporter after she graduates, and this is her first real step towards achieving that goal. And then Gretchen's world is rocked when a friend's mother is brutally murdered. Faye Tatum was a bit unconventional for the small town she lived in -- she was an artist, more concerned about her art than maintaining a showroom house and garden. Faye also spoke her mind and didn't suffer fools gladly, much to the fury of the town's preacher, the Reverend Byars. And then Faye is found brutally strangled in her living room. Almost at once scandalous stories about how Faye went out dancing at the Blue Light (a place respectable married women just didn't go) even though her husband was away at a training camp, and of a man seen going into and coming from the Tatum residence late at night, begin to circulate. And when it becomes known that Clyde (Faye's husband, home of furlough) has disappeared, and that he and Faye had quarreled bitterly the night before she was murdered about her frequenting the Blue Light, everyone is sure that Clyde had strangled Faye in anger. Only Barbara refuses to believe that her father had anything to do with her mother's death. But as the hours slip by and political pressure mounts on the police to find Clyde and to quickly resolve Faye's murder, Gretchen cannot help but fear that no one really shares in Barbara's belief in her father's innocence, and that the real killer just may get away with murder... "Letter From Home" proved to be a gripping read, even if it wasn't a 'straight' mystery novel. From the very first page, when Gretchen starts remembering what happened that fateful summer to the very last page when she finally learns who really killed Faye Tatum, I was enthralled. Carolyn Hart did a magnificent job in evoking the atmosphere and feel of what it was like to live in a small town in the war torn 1940s -- the fears, the giddy need to feel alive, the emptiness of lost dreams, the rigid need to control smaller aspects of one's life, and to have everyone around you conform -- the authour captures all this wonderfully. Her character portrayals were brilliant too, esp her character portrayal of the murdered woman, Faye Tatum. Given that we don't actually 'meet' Faye until after she's been murdered, the very fact that Faye's vivid character seems so alive, manages to holds "Letter From Home" together, propels the story forward, is a testament of Ms Hart's excellence as a storyteller. Briskly paced, "Letter From Home" was an absorbing and engrossing read not to be missed.
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by Deanna Raybourn
by Carolyn Hart
by Carolyn Hart
by Carolyn Hart
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