Death at the Falls
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
When newly minted lawyer Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter travel to Niagara Falls on a mysterious assignment from Lady Rotherton, they quickly discover familiar dangers beyond the water’s edge . . .
DEATH AT THE FALLS
October 1890: As Prudence and Geoffrey settle into the most elegant hotel in Canadian Niagara, they observe a popular tourist area torn between natural beauty and industrial power. Also attracting their attentions are the antics of daredevil Crazy Louie Whiting, determined to be the first person to navigate the falls without drowning. Shortly after their arrival, Crazy Louie sends a specially designed test barrel containing a sheep over the falls. But when the barrel is retrieved and opened, the battered body of a local Tuscarora Indian spills out.
When Geoffrey and Prudence learn of the dead man’s suspicions about rampant bribery among greedy land developers and local officials, they wonder if there’s a connection to their client, Rowan Adderly. A young woman whose father disappeared while she was a child, the land she is due to inherit could be worth millions—and inevitably the sharks have come feeding.
In a move to block Rowan’s inheritance, her greedy grandmother has declared Rowan to be the illegitimate offspring of an illicit affair between her son and a seductive Irish songstress. As Prudence and Geoffrey dig deeper into the region’s undercurrent of opportunistic greed, their investigation is impeded at every turn by murder and attempted murder. They will have to work quickly to solve a convoluted case before a determined killer sends one of them on a fatal plunge . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Simpson's intriguing seventh Gilded Age mystery (after 2021's The Dead Cry Justice) sends New York investigative attorneys Prudence MacKenzie and Geoffrey Hunter to Niagara Falls in 1890, when land prices are skyrocketing in the face of burgeoning industrialization. Lucas Adderly, before he went missing seven years earlier, put some of his family fortune as well as valuable newly purchased land in trust for his daughter, Rowan, who's expected to gain control of the trust on her upcoming 18th birthday. Lucas's greedy mother attempts to block Rowan's inheritance by claiming that the girl's late mother was promiscuous and she's another man's child. Shortly after arriving in Niagara, Prudence and Geoffrey watch "Crazy Louie" Whiting, who hopes to be the first human to survive a trip over the falls, send a sheep down the cascade in a barrel. When the barrel reaches the bottom, it reveals the corpse of a surveyor's assistant who suspected collusion between corrupt government officials and those seeking profits from Niagara land. Incorporating characters ranging from Indigenous tribespeople to souvenir shills, Simpson brings Niagara and its contentious modernization to life. This one's for history buffs and fans of smart female sleuths.
