A Field of Darkness (Madeline Dare Series #1)

by Cornelia Read

Overview

Madeline Dare isn't your average detective. Born into a blue-blood family, she followed her heart to marry ruggedly handsome Dean, a farmboy-genius investor who's as far from high society as humanly possible. Now Maddie's stuck in the post-industrial wasteland of Syracuse, New York, while her husband spends weeks on the road perfecting the railway equipment innovation that might be their only chance to escape. She can handle churning out lightweight features for the local paper—it's the Dean-less nights in their dingy, WASP-castoff-crammed apartment that Maddie can't stomach. Obsession trumps angst when a set of long-buried dog tags link her favorite cousin to the scene of a vicious double homicide. Drawn by the desire to clear her cousin's name, Maddie uncovers a startling web of intrigue and family secrets that could prove even more deadly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446699495
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	07/11/2007
Series:	A Madeline Dare Novel , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Cornelia Read grew up in New York, California, and Hawaii. She is a reformed debutante who currently lives in New York City. To learn more about the author, you can visit her website at www.corneliaread.com.

Editorial Reviews

The mystery component is slender and too attenuated to be suspenseful, but the clipped accents of Madeline's sardonic voice keep calling us back to be regaled by the pomps and cruelties of "those smug and didactic and murderous City-on-a-Hill prigs" and help her mourn "the traditions of my people, my tribe, a beauty that is as lost as the passenger pigeon."
— The New York Times

Marilyn Stasio

Read's impressive debut stars the unusual Madeline Dare, a jumble of contradictions who comes from an old-money Long Island family but is married to Dean, a railroad worker, in Syracuse, N.Y., which our heroine likens in a moment of exasperation to "some mental dust bowl." Dean's job requires frequent travel, while Madeline writes fluff features for the local newspaper. Nothing in her background prepares her for trying to solve the bizarre 20-year-old murder of two young women, a crime that her cousin, Lapthorne Townsend, might have been involved in. Read writes with verve and passion as Madeline sets out to clear her cousin's name, an effort that develops into a much larger, life-changing struggle. Some readers may find Madeline's volatile character less than credible, but the fine supporting cast-notably husband Dean and flaky, flamboyant friend Ellis-consistently delights. The author's sharp social commentary on everything from the idle rich to the environment adds to the pleasure. 5-city author tour. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Blue-blood Madeline Dare settles in Syracuse, NY, with her blue-collar husband and finds a hobby in uncovering a web of intrigue and family secrets. A debut already acclaimed by Lee Child and Ken Bruen. Read lives in Berkeley, CA. Five-city author tour (with Lee Child). Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Snobbery, bigotry and cultural clashes are brought to a boil by malicious talk of an old murder. Madeline Dare, the poor relation of an old North Shore Long Island WASP family, is a child of oft-divorced parents brought up in a world of privilege even as the money trickles away. Married to Dean Bauer, an inventive farm son who's often away working in Canada, Madeline hates her job on a small Syracuse paper-and hates everything else about Syracuse. On a visit to the family farm, her father-in-law shows her dog tags he uncovered in a field where two unidentified young girls were found 19 years before, their throats cut, posed in a bizarre tableau. The tags bear the name of her favorite cousin, Lapthorne Townsend. In an attempt to prove his innocence, Madeline starts investigating the murders without involving the police. The girls had been seen at the State Fair with two soldiers from Camp Drum, but the silhouettes they posed for have disappeared. When Madeline finds the artist murdered, clues at the crime scene lead her to realize that a serial killer is at work. She and her friend Ellis shuttle between her relatives' crumbling estates and lowlife bars before more murders bring to light the shattering truth. Read's sensational debut features spot-on descriptions of upstate-downstate conflicts, strong characterizations and a fascinating plot.

Kirkus Reviews

Madeline Dare, born into Long Island Society and raised amid the wealthy of California, is married to a Syracuse Railroad worker and writing for a small town newspaper. Dare dislikes Syracuse and her working-class in-laws while, at the same time, rejecting her upper-class upbringing. Upon learning of a twenty-year-old murder in the area, Dare investigates the crime, which is intertwined with her cousin Lapthorne Townsend. Hillary Huber reads this slow-moving mystery with a steady, even voice. Huber follows each shift in time and location as Dare daydreams about her life before Syracuse, remembering Lapthorne and all her adventures with him. As Dare seeks to uncover the truth about Lapthorne's life, she is forced to examine her own. M.B.K. 2007 Audies Award Finalist © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

FEB/MAR 07 - AudioFile