I Died for Beauty

December 16, 2024
Flower’s winning third whodunit featuring Emily Dickinson (after I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died) finds the poet looking into a suspicious fire in 1857 Amherst, Mass. During a frigid winter that’s already killed some of the town’s poorer residents, Emily decides to sponsor a local family with close ties to her maid, Willa Noble. Her focus shifts, however, when a fire in the town’s Irish section kills every member of the Doolan family except young Norah Rose. Emily and Willa take Norah Rose in, and before long, rumors start swirling that the Doolans were murdered. Shocked, Emily and Willa decide to investigate, eventually unearthing evidence of arson and clues that point toward the college where Norah Rose’s father worked. Flower makes clever use of the real-life Cold Storm of 1857 to deepen her characterizations of Emily and Willa and burnish their reputation as crime-solvers. This series continues to impress. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency.

February 1, 2025
The bitterly cold winter of 1857 kills many people, not all of them casualties of the weather. Although Emily Dickinson lives in the family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her parents and sister, she prefers to spend her time with second housemaid Willa Noble--who narrates the book--much to her family's annoyance. As several local groups organize help for less fortunate people, who have little wood or food to get them through the winter, the weather forces Amherst College to cancel classes. But the Dickinsons still host dinner parties, including a welcome reception for new professor Godard Weston and his wife, Verona, whose lovely appearance is very much at odds with her actions. That night a fire consumes the home of an Irish family adjacent to the college, and all the inhabitants are presumed dead until Emily's dog, Carlo, finds a young girl in the woods. When Mr. Dickinson refuses to take in Norah Rose Doolan, she goes to the home of Emily's brother, Austin, and his wife, Susan. Emily fears that if no family can be found for her, Norah Rose--who relates most closely to Willa because of their shared experience of impoverished childhoods--will be sent to an orphanage. The discovery that large rocks were placed in front of the doors to the Doolan home to keep them from opening during the fire marks the family's deaths as murder. Carrying Willa in her wake, Emily is determined to investigate and will not be deterred. Even though she's an atheist, Emily shows more Christian charity than most as she and Willa uncover the secrets that lead to a killer. A delightful series that casts new light on a beloved poet's life.

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