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Kansas 1878-79: The story opens with the thoughts of a prisoner who can hear the gallows being built outside for his execution in a few days time. Most of the novel is then devoted to explaining how he got there. Why is he accused of murder and who really did? More importantly, can his old lover Eden Murdoch find out the answer to these and other questions in time, and then convince the sheriff that Brad is innocent and shouldn't hang? Well, that is the mystery plot. The majority of the book, though, is taken up with presenting the past and present story of various complicated relationships, as two lovers are reunited but with a lot of obstacles in their way. At least 75% of the plot/storyline is recounted inside the cover of the book. I'm not sure whether a previous book by the author, An Uncommon Enemy, is about these characters but a lot of the novel seems to be taken up with recounting their past. And the romantic plot is rather more important than the mystery detection. There is also another strand to the story which is where the title of the book comes from - Eden is the widow of a Cheyenne Indian man, and is opposed to the plans of a local businessman to make a profit by redeveloping the natural spring - Solomon Spring - as a health spa and sell bottled water. This could have been really interesting but somehow wasn't the most memorable or prominent aspect of the book for me. I found it an enjoyable enough read but think that it isn't really enough of a mystery to satisfy genre fans, and the proportion of the book taken up with backstory is rather frustrating. I would recommend relabelling as "A story of the Victorian West".
Reviewed by Luci Davin, November 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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