I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
When a literary icon stays with the Dickinson family, Emily and her housemaid Willa find themselves embroiled in a shocking murder in this new mystery from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning author Amanda Flower.
August 1856. The Dickinson family is comfortably settled in their homestead on Main Street. Emily’s brother, Austin Dickinson, and his new wife are delighted when famous thinker and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson comes to Amherst to speak at a local literary society and decides he and his young secretary, Luther Howard, will stay with the newlyweds. Emily has been a longtime admirer of Emerson’s writing and is thrilled at the chance to meet her idol. She is determined to impress him with her quick wit, and if she can gather the courage, a poem. Willa Noble, the second maid in the Dickinson home and Emily's friend, encourages her to speak to the famous but stern man. But his secretary, Luther, intrigues Willa more because of his clear fondness for the Dickinson sisters.
Willa does not know if Luther truly cares for one of the Dickinson girls or if he just sees marrying one of them as a way to raise himself up in society. After a few days in his company, Willa starts to believe it’s the latter. Miss Lavinia, Emily’s sister, appears to be enchanted by Luther; a fact that bothers Emily greatly. However, Emily’s fears are squashed when Luther turns up dead in the Dickinson’s garden. It seems that he was poisoned. Emerson, aghast at the death of his secretary, demands answers. Emily and Willa set out to find them in order to save the Dickinson family reputation and stop a cold-blooded fiend from killing again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Flower's spirited second whodunit featuring Emily Dickinson and her maid, Willa Noble (after 2022's Because I Could Not Stop for Death), sees the pair solving the murder of Ralph Waldo Emerson's secretary. It's 1856, and Emerson is preparing to visit Amherst, Mass., to speak at the town's literary society. To the delight of the Dickinson family, Emerson and his secretary, Luther Howard, have decided to lodge with Emily's brother, Austin, and his new bride, Susan. Shortly after the men arrive in Amherst, however, complications arise: first, a peddler punches Luther in the face outside Austin and Susan's home and warns the couple that their guest is a "monster" who will ruin their lives. Then, Willa becomes disturbed after Luther suggests that she share some of Emily's writings with him, ostensibly as a way to get Emerson's opinion on them. When Luther turns up poisoned to death in Austin's garden, placing the Dickinson family's reputation (and possibly their lives) under threat, Willa and Emily must delve into the peculiar man's past to ferret out the killer. Flower plays scrupulously fair with readers and evokes the period marvelously. Fans of Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries will be thrilled.
