All the Blood We Share
A Novel of the Bloody Benders of Kansas
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- USD 9.99
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- USD 9.99
Descripción editorial
A sinister novel based on the real Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers in the old West bound by butchery and obscured by the shadows of American history.
The winds shift nervously on the Kansas plain whispering of travelers lost and buried, whispering of witches. Something dark and twisted has taken root at the Bender Inn.
At first the townspeople of Cherryvale welcome the rising medium Kate Bender and her family. Kate's messages from the Beyond give their tedious dreams hope and her mother's potions cure their little ills—for a price. No one knows about their other business, the shortcut to a better life. And why shouldn’t their family prosper? They’re careful. It’s only from those who are marked, those who travel alone and can easily disappear, that the Benders demand their pound of flesh.
But even a gifted seer like Kate can make a misstep. Now as the secrets festering beneath the soil of the family orchard threaten to bring them all to ruin, the Benders must sharpen their craft—or vanish themselves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A real-life family of 19th-century killers provides the cast for Bruce's stellar sophomore effort (after 2021's In the Garden of Spite). In 1871, Kate Bender's family flee their comfortable farm in Pennsylvania after one of them kills a local man. Desperate for money in their hardscrabble new home on the Kansas prairie, Kate's mother, Elvira, concocts herbal remedies, and the Benders offer travelers meals and makeshift lodging. Kate, a gifted performer, is eager to cash in on the spiritualism craze by setting up as a medium, but Elvira argues that courting public recognition is too dangerous. The murder of one of their overnight guests who's carrying substantial cash proves an easier solution. Plus, the man is a transient, making the crime also low risk. Bruce excels at illuminating the inner life of a family that's at once roiled by tensions and staunchly loyal; as the Benders often say, "We take care of our own, and the rest can fend for themselves." First-person chapters from Kate and Elvira are particularly strong in a novel rich with characters as convincing as they are sinister. This is a riveting portrait of the dark side of the American dream. Those intrigued by historical crimes won't want to miss this one.
