The White Crow: A Beacon Hill Mystery

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Doubleday, 2002 Amateur sleuths Caroline and Addington Ames ventue to "the other side" - the world of restless and vengeful spirits - to solve some very real flesh-and-blood crimes in Victorian Boston in the third volume of Cynthia Peale's acclaimed Beacon Hill mystery series. When Caroline Ames decides to visit a medium, she keeps it a secret from Addington. Fervently hoping to contact her mother, Caroline asks Dr. MacKenzie, the Ameses' boarder and dear friend, to accompany her to a seance held by Mrs. Sidgwick, reputed to be the best medium in Boston. Her powers prove to be quite amazing: Not reaching Mrs. Ames, she fulfills the expectations of others attending the seance. Among them is Theophilus Clay, a well-known and much-beloved philanthropist who receives a message from his late wife - and is immediately struck dead right in Mrs. Sidgwick's parlor. The police quickly determine that the detath is cold-blooded murder. Asked to help clear Mrs. Sidgwick's name Addington agrees to help, and is badly shaken when Mrs. Sidgwick receives the ominous message "Ames next" and Caroline is pushed in the path of a horse and narrowly escapes death. This takes place in Victorian Boston, and uncovers the dark secrets harbored by some of its respectable citizens, who are involved in this murder and deception. 324 pages. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.