‘Harlot’s Tale’ delivers murder,
mystery and multiple suspects
Shaker Heights author Sam Thomas’ debut mystery The Midwife’s Tale introduced Lady Bridget Hodgson, an aristocratic midwife, and her apprentice Martha Hawkins, who is as competent at picking locks as she is at assisting with births. In his superb sequel, The Harlot’s Tale, the English Civil War is still going on.
It is late summer 1645: the siege of York has ended, but a crippling heat wave grips the city, fraying tempers. A Puritan preacher and his family have arrived, sermonizing on street corners about sin, specifically prostitution, and proclaiming that the heat and drought are punishment from God for the sin of fornication.
When Bridget and Martha are called to a poor neighborhood, they think their services are needed to attend a birth, but the scene is a shocking murder, as a prostitute and her customer have been viciously stabbed, with Bible verses on scraps of paper pressed in their hands.
The self-righteous “hot gospellers” continue to preach, announcing that the victims’ fate was righteous and telling the crowd “Your hatred must be a charitable hatred. It must be a Christian hatred.” Bridget is furious at the hypocrisy she sees and, aided by Martha and Bridget’s nephew, Will, tries to find the killer, but the murders continue.
The firebrand preacher and his followers are suspects, but Bridget also must consider some people she knows well in York; one of the best reasons to read this series, aside from the historical interest of the setting, is the well-drawn cast of characters. From among the suspects, a new adversary emerges to challenge Bridget in the next book, The Witch-Hunter’s Tale.
The Harlot’s Tale (320 pages, hardcover) costs $24.99 from Minotaur. Sam Thomas teaches history at University School in Shaker Heights.
Thomas will sign his book at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Beachwood branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, 25501 Shaker Blvd., Cleveland, and at 1 p.m. Saturday at Fireside Bookshop, 29 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls.
New biography of Ida McKinley
Carl Sferrazza Anthony, historian for the National First Ladies’ Library in Canton, has written a dozen books about the position of the president’s wife, including biographies of Florence Harding and Nellie Taft. He now adds another Ohio first lady to his list with Ida McKinley: The Turn-of-the-Century First Lady through War, Assassination and Secret Disability.
Granddaughter of the founder of the Canton Repository, Ida Saxton was well educated, especially in math, and well traveled. Ida worked at her father’s bank, acting as manager when he was out of town. She had a serious suitor before she met William McKinley, but he died unexpectedly when she was on a European tour, and the young attorney and Civil War veteran moved in.
Ida and “The Major,” as he was always called, were devastated by the death of their two young daughters, and in her mid-20s she suffered a “complex series of related and unrelated medical crises,” including the onset of epilepsy, an infection that compromised her immune system and a bad fall that apparently resulted in a spinal injury, limiting her mobility.
In a time when a seizure disorder was considered a kind of mental illness and epilepsy patients were confined to asylums (McKinley’s successor, Theodore Roosevelt, is quoted as agreeing that such persons should be “put out of the way”) Ida, to the best of her ability, participated in social life and philanthropic work, knitting endless slippers to donate to charity and advocating for women’s rights. She refused to segregate the callers who came to her receptions.
Anthony draws from contemporary newspapers and letters, and other secondary sources, to learn the extent that Ida’s disability was reported in the media. McKinley was described as a “saint” and a “prince” for his patient devotion to his wife, which was entirely sincere, though neither he nor Ida had reservations about his concern being exploited for political reasons.
Ida McKinley (376 pages, hardcover) costs $45 from Kent State University Press. Carl Sferrazza Anthony lives in California and maintains a blog on the First Ladies’ Library website.
Events
Barnes & Noble (198 Crocker Park Blvd., Westlake) — John O’Hurley, in town to play Billy Flynn in Chicago at the Palace Theatre, signs his storybook The Perfect Dog, 6 p.m. Monday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Independence branch, 6361 Selig Drive) — Andrew Thomas, author (with Paul Thomarios) of The Final Journey of the Saturn V, about the restoration of the Saturn V SA-514 rocket, talks about and signs his book, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Brecksville branch, 9089 Brecksville Road) — Fox 8 TV director Vicki Stracensky talks about weather and signs Wise on Weather, her storybook for young readers illustrated by meteorologist Dick Goddard, 11 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Medina County District Library (4160 Ridge Road) — John Vacha, author of Meet Me on Lake Erie, Dearie! Cleveland’s Great Lakes Exposition, 1936-1937, presents a documentary on the 1939 New York World’s Fair and discusses the similarities between the two events, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Brecksville Community Center (1 Community Drive) — A writing workshop for children ages 8-14 will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 12, led by 12-year-old Broadview Heights author Aiden Shugert, whose The Marvelous Misadventures of the Fab Five is a collection of stories about five time-traveling teens. $50. 440-227-8794.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.