基本信息出版社：Minotaur Books
页码：240 页
出版日期：2008年02月
ISBN：0312362226
International Standard Book Number：0312362226
条形码：9780312362225
EAN：9780312362225
装帧：精装
正文语种：英语
内容简介
Genealogist and mother of three Torie O’Shea is out birding on the cliffs of the Mississippi River as part of New Kassell, Missouri’s first ever bird-watching Olympics, when someone starts shooting at her and her partner. Disoriented and running for their lives, they stumble over an antique trunk and discover a badly beaten dead body stuffed inside.
Soon after this disturbing event, musicologist Glen Morgan shows up at the Kendall House, Torie’s new textile museum, claiming to be Torie’s cousin and to have proof that Torie’s grandfather secretly may have written a number of popular songs for the Morgan Family Players, who were famous country music singers. Being a genealogist and the head of the local historical society, Torie doesn’t appreciate anyone shaking up a family tree that she has spent years putting together, but Glen’s old recordings are more than she can resist. After a little digging in the library and some serious snooping into the shooting, Torie starts to uncover secrets about her family and the town that even she didn’t know.
Rett MacPherson’s intricate plots and delightful small-town characters with long family histories hit all of the right notes in The Blood Ballad, the newest installment in her terrific Torie O’Shea series.
From the Inside Flap
Genealogist and mother of three Torie O’Shea is out birding on the cliffs of the Mississippi River as part of New Kassell, Missouri’s first ever bird-watching Olympics, when someone starts shooting at her and her partner. Disoriented and running for their lives, they stumble over an antique trunk and discover a badly beaten dead body stuffed inside.
Soon after this disturbing event, musicologist Glen Morgan shows up at the Kendall House, Torie’s new textile museum, claiming to be Torie’s cousin and to have proof that Torie’s grandfather secretly may have written a number of popular songs for the Morgan Family Players, who were famous country music singers. Being a genealogist and the head of the local historical society, Torie doesn’t appreciate anyone shaking up a family tree that she has spent years putting together, but Glen’s old recordings are more than she can resist. After a little digging in the library and some serious snooping into the shooting, Torie starts to uncover secrets about her family and the town that even she didn’t know.
Rett MacPherson’s intricate plots and delightful small-town characters with long family histories hit all of the right notes in The Blood Ballad, the newest installment in her terrific Torie O’Shea series.
作者简介
RETT MACPHERSON is the author of ten previous Torie O’Shea novels. She lives with her husband and three children in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Visit her Web site at www.rettmacpherson.com
媒体推荐
Praise for Rett MacPherson
“Torie’s determined historical detective work will absorb cozy readers.”
---Publishers Weekly on Died in the Wool
“MacPherson deftly ties together fascinating historical facts, colorful characters, and a suspenseful plot. This series seems to get more and more enjoyable with age.”
---Booklist on Thicker than Water
“Delightful . . . Weaving the story and the characters into the believable minutiae of small-town life, MacPherson provides a stellar example of the traditional cozy.”
---Publishers Weekly on Blood Relations
“A slice of Americana as warm and comforting as apple pie à la mode.”
---Booklist on Blood Relations
“O’Shea has developed into a thoroughly likable character. . . . Long may she snoop.”
---St. Louis Post-Dispatch on A Comedy of Heirs
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
In MacPherson's tepid 11th Torie O'Shea mystery (after 2007's Died in the Wool), the New Kassell, Mo., genealogist learns that her fiddler grandfather, John Robert Keith, was possibly related to the Morgan Family Players, a Depression-era country band famous in five states. Glen Morgan, the grandson of musician Scott Morgan, phones Torie to say he has a tape suggesting Torie's grandfather wrote some songs Scott Morgan took credit for. Meanwhile, during a birding expedition, Torie witnesses the dumping of a corpse, who turns out to be another Morgan grandson, Clifton Weaver. Soon after, Torie receives an eerie CD, evidently mailed by Weaver before his death. On the CD is a blood ballad, in effect the murder confession of Belle Morgan, a member of the clan who disappeared years earlier, sung by an unidentified female. When the song leads to the discovery of Belle's long-lost body, Torie gets on the case. Her slogging through genealogical clues doesn't have a lot of drama, but her warm spirit is sure to appeal to cozy fans. (Feb.)
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From the Back Cover
Praise for Rett MacPherson
“Torie’s determined historical detective work will absorb cozy readers.”
---Publishers Weekly on Died in the Wool
“MacPherson deftly ties together fascinating historical facts, colorful characters, and a suspenseful plot. This series seems to get more and more enjoyable with age.”
---Booklist on Thicker than Water
“Delightful . . . Weaving the story and the characters into the believable minutiae of small-town life, MacPherson provides a stellar example of the traditional cozy.”
---Publishers Weekly on Blood Relations
“A slice of Americana as warm and comforting as apple pie à la mode.”
---Booklist on Blood Relations
“O’Shea has developed into a thoroughly likable character. . . . Long may she snoop.”
---St. Louis Post-Dispatch on A Comedy of Heirs
文摘 Chapter 1
Eighty-two years ago, Isabelle Mercer was a girl like many other girls of the day. She was about to be married. Her father had just become mayor of New Kassel and she read the St. Louis society pages every day. Faithfully,” Rachel said. She stood in my living room, wrapped in a shower curtain and wearing her hair piled on top of her head in a big loose bun. “Her fiancé came from the glitzy world of Westmoreland and Portland in St. Louis, and Isabelle Mercer wanted to fit in terribly. Then one night after she had spent the evening at her friend Verna’s house, Isabelle disappeared into the night, never to be seen again.”
When my daughter had finished her little spiel, she looked at me with a mixture of triumph and hope. That is until her younger sister, Mary, rolled her eyes and said, “Loser.”
“Mom!” Rachel screeched. “Don’t listen to her.”
“I’m not listening to her,” I said.
“You know as well as I that I did good. I did good, didn’t I? Say it?”
“Yes, you did good.”
“Good enough to get the job?” she asked. If possible, she made her big brown eyes even bigger. That works on her dad, but since my mom has the same brown eyes, I’ve been immune for a while.
I was in the middle of trying to find somebody to give tours of the historical homes of our native New Kassel, Missouri. It’s a nice, very small tourist town located on the Mississippi River, and people come from miles around for our festivals, food, and antiques. I am the owner of two historical landmarks, the Gaheimer House and the Kendall House, and I’m also head of the historical society. It’s my job to hire people for this sort of thing, and Rachel desperately wanted to be hired.
“So do I get the job?” she a
……