The Blazing Tree: A Michael Merrick Mystery

New York: Signet, 2000. First printing. Paperback. Good. In the first book in this gripping historical mystery series, Boston police reporter Michael Merrick investigates a series of fires--one of which led to murder--within a local Shaker community."Though there are fewer than ten Shakers extant today, this communal sect, officially named the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, once numbered some six thousand at their peak around 1830, spread among several villages in the eastern United States. In Mary Jo Adamson's riveting mystery, "The Blazing Tree," a structural fire--the latest and most frightening in a series of unexplained blazes in the Shaker community of Hancock Village, Massachusetts--has resulted in the death of an elderly man. Boston newspaperman Michael Merrick, on orders from his publisher, is propelled into impromptu undercover detective work at the village in the hope of unmasking the arsonist. Merrick's assignment quickly becomes a race against a clever murderer who will not hesitate to kill again. With richly textured prose and striking characterizations, Ms. Adamson takes the reader into the midst of everyday life in an 1840s Shaker village, weaving a compelling and suspenseful tale. Moreover, her comprehensive research brings powerful verisimilitude to the descriptive and narrative elements of the story, and summons a long-lost era back to colorful life. Whether as novel or as mystery, this is a first-class read." - review by Robert E Tompkins"She writes like a dream."--New York Times Book Review Book is in good condition, moderate edge wear, bumped corners and spine, creasing to the spine and front cover near the hinge. Back corners creased. Pages clean and binding tight.