Deadly Shaker Spring

By Deborah Woodworth

Book Overview

We have frightening enemies living among us, known by their strange dress. These so-called Shakers are shrewd and canny. . .a scourge; a tumor that must be sliced from our side . . Sister Rose Callahan read the printed flyer and shivered. Its message terrified her. She was aware that Believers had sometimes been objects of resentment from the outside world, but nothing like this. Who could write such things? And who could be responsible for recent acts of violence directed against the peaceful Shaker community? A sister had suffered a mysterious wound to the head; a sackful of rats were set loose in the schoolroom, food had been stolen -- and now a hate-filled message points to continued mischief. Sister Rose, recently honored with the position of Eldress despite her youth, seeks clues in the journals of her aged predecessor. She discovers a shocking similarity to outrages perpetrated years before, as well as a scandalous secret about a present-day sister. Now Rose must look both outside and within the cloistered religious community to find clues that link an old murder, a recent death, and an unknown enemy whose thirst for revenge overrides the ultimate sin...of murder.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380792036
• ISBN13: 9780380792030
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Great "History" Mystery

Woodworth looks at a little known religious movement in American history and brings the people to life, as well as demythologizing the Shaker movement. This was a fascinating story, and I look forward to more of Sister Rose and tales from the Shaker community.

If you are interested in Shakers...

I got this book for Christmas and couldn't put it down! As a Shaker enthusiast, the culture was very real to me, the characters very believable, and very suspenseful. I can't wait to read the other books by this author.

Mystery set in a Shaker village is educational and fun.

This book, and "Death of a Winter Shaker", were great stay-up-too-late-reading mysteries. Sister Rose is a clever, human central character. I happen to sing in a Shaker Chorus in New Hampshire, and so found the information on these utopian egalitarian folks very fascinating, and yet woven into the story in a very unobtrusive way.