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LIVING WITNESS
Kirkus Reviews
February 2009
Evolution: fact, opinion or motive for murder?
Annie-Victoria Hadley, the only member of the Snow Hill school
board joining former chairman Henry Wackford in a lawsuit denying
advocates of Intelligent Design their say, is clobbered with something
blunt, like a baseball bat. As she hovers between life and death,
it's assumed that vehement creationists had a go at her. Bypassing
the publicity-hungry Pennsylvania State Police, Gary Albright, the
Snow Hill Police Chief, calls in ex-FBI authority Gregor Demarkian,
the Armenian-American Poirot, who quickly learns that just about
everyone in town was within batting range of Annie-Vic's house when
she was coshed. Lining up for Intelligent Design are current board
chair Franklin Hale, board member Alice McGuffie, Alice's bully of a
daughter and Chief Albright. The evolutionists include Miss Marbledale,
the schoolteacher, and Judy Cornish and her friend Shelley Niederman,
newcomers comfortably settled in the posh new development outside
Snow Hill until they're also dispatched, presumably by an unappeased
creationist. Straddling the debate is Rev. Nick Frapp, who insists
that he's neutral since his flock's children attend his academy,
not the public school. But the more Gregor learns of the town's
movements and prejudices, the more certain he is that death has come
from another direction.
Haddam (Cheating at Solitaire, 2008, etc.), who usually has more on
her mind than mere murder, defeats the anti-scientists with fact as
well as tact. If another "monkey trial" comes up, the evolutionists
should ask her to write their brief.
Publication Date: 4/14/2009 0:00:00
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Stage: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-312-38086-1
Price: $$25.95
Author: Haddam, Jane
Kirkus Reviews
February 2009
Evolution: fact, opinion or motive for murder?
Annie-Victoria Hadley, the only member of the Snow Hill school
board joining former chairman Henry Wackford in a lawsuit denying
advocates of Intelligent Design their say, is clobbered with something
blunt, like a baseball bat. As she hovers between life and death,
it's assumed that vehement creationists had a go at her. Bypassing
the publicity-hungry Pennsylvania State Police, Gary Albright, the
Snow Hill Police Chief, calls in ex-FBI authority Gregor Demarkian,
the Armenian-American Poirot, who quickly learns that just about
everyone in town was within batting range of Annie-Vic's house when
she was coshed. Lining up for Intelligent Design are current board
chair Franklin Hale, board member Alice McGuffie, Alice's bully of a
daughter and Chief Albright. The evolutionists include Miss Marbledale,
the schoolteacher, and Judy Cornish and her friend Shelley Niederman,
newcomers comfortably settled in the posh new development outside
Snow Hill until they're also dispatched, presumably by an unappeased
creationist. Straddling the debate is Rev. Nick Frapp, who insists
that he's neutral since his flock's children attend his academy,
not the public school. But the more Gregor learns of the town's
movements and prejudices, the more certain he is that death has come
from another direction.
Haddam (Cheating at Solitaire, 2008, etc.), who usually has more on
her mind than mere murder, defeats the anti-scientists with fact as
well as tact. If another "monkey trial" comes up, the evolutionists
should ask her to write their brief.
Publication Date: 4/14/2009 0:00:00
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Stage: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-312-38086-1
Price: $$25.95
Author: Haddam, Jane