A book that has many surprises, twists and turns. This book has fantastic characters and a unique story line. It also has complex love stories that boggle the mind. The element of faith was inspiring. A definite must read! ( )

Inspired by or based on a true crime from 1844, this slim novel (248 pages in a trade paperback with many blank pages between chapters) is either intended to fill in the blanks in the historical record (the last chapter seems lifted from a newspaper account I found by Googling the actual case) or is a story of Martin's imagination hung on the skeleton of the historical record of the crime. I really longed for an afterward where Martin might've explained his intent.

A woman, Betsy Reed, already the source of gossip due to her "witchy" ways, is accused of murdering her glassmaker husband by poisoning him with arsenic. The case against her hinges on the claim of a teenage girl who worked for the Reeds that she saw Mrs. Reed put white powder in her husband's morning coffee.

This is a simple story, simply told. more about secrets and things not said than a whodunit. Slowly, the secrets come out, but the ending seemed inevitable. With straight-forward prose and no clear protagonist (Betsy and the girl, Eveline, seem to share that role), the book was disappointing. Repetition of the known facts and opinions feels like padding, And while this was a fast read and I wanted to know the fate of all the characters, I did find it hard to truly care about any of them. Martin has much to say here about love, imperfections, adolescent yearnings, and a woman's role in society in early-19th Century US, but the message feels flat and left me with the sense that this could have been much better. ( )