Cullen Stuart, Seneca Falls’ constable, isn’t entirely convinced that the murder is as simple as it seems. Once again, he turns to Glynis, with her listening skills and ability to connect apparently unconnected events into a chilling whole, to help him find out who killed Roland Brant.

Miriam Grace Monfredo skillfully weaves historical events of the period into the narrative of her story, using the Civil War and the women’s rights movement of the 19th century as key pieces of the story. She leaves it up to the reader to winnow out the important information from the merely mundane, presenting events much as they must appear to her amateur sleuth. For me, this made the read all the more absorbing, the mystery all the more compelling.

This was the first Seneca Falls mystery I had read, so I can say with certainty that it stands alone. Though Glynis has a wide acquaintance and a long history in the town, her relationships with the secondary characters are presented with brevity and clarity -- I was neither confused by a lack of information nor stupefied by an excess. Miriam Grace Monfredo’s writing is clean, often beautiful, her characters are interesting and three-dimensional, and the mystery rises out of the time and place in which it is set. As soon as I finished the latest Seneca Falls mystery, I went back to the beginning -- a sure sign I enjoyed the book.

While I read my way through the first five Glynis Tryon mysteries, I recommend you look for Must the Maiden Die.

--Katy Cooper