Beacon Street Mourning: A Fremont Jones Mystery (Fremont Jones Mysteries) - Hardcover

Day, Dianne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385486103 ISBN 13: 9780385486101

Publisher: Doubleday, 2000

Synopsis

Deadly crime turns to personal tragedy  for the normally intrepid Fremont Jones in the latest of Dianne Day's acclaimed series of historical mysteries.

Still not completely recovered from the two broken legs she suffered in her previous adventure, Fremont Jones learns that her father, Leonard Pembroke Jones, is gravely ill and hospitalized in Boston. Deeply distressed, and always suspicious of her detested stepmother, Augusta, Fremont sets out at once with her life-partner, Michael Archer, to be at her father's side.  Their arrival finds Leonard slightly improved, and despite his physician's doubts about the possibility of a full recovery, he is sent home-much to Fremont's dismay-only to die shortly thereafter in the middle of the night. Could Augusta be complicit in his illness? Fremont is certain of it, and she immediately begins to search the house for possible poisons. But then Augusta herself is shot to death, which would seem to exonerate her from blame-or does it? Determined to uncover the truth, Michael and Fremont embark on their own private investigation and soon discover potential suspects in some of the least likely places.

Rich in the same period atmosphere for which Dianne Day's previous books have been so highly praised, Beacon Street Mourning also adds fascinating new dimensions to the character of Fremont Jones. Thrust back into the world of her childhood-the proper Bostonian world from which she fled just a few short years ago-Fremont is forced to face previously unacknowledged feelings and hidden fears. And at the same time, she must use her hard-won skills as an objective investigator to solve the most personal case of her career.  In her most intensely charged novel to date, Day proves once more that she is not only an extremely skilled weaver of intricate puzzles but also an expert in plumbing the depths of human emotion.

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Review:

Fremont Jones, still mending from her last adventure (Death Train to Boston) is called back from San Francisco to Boston because of her father's illness. When Fremont arrives to find him hovering near death, her dislike of her stepmother, Augusta, soon blooms into suspicion about Augusta's role in Leonard's mysterious "wasting" disease. Their strained relationship becomes even more difficult when Fremont insists that Leonard be moved immediately to a hospital. Fremont is so encouraged by her father's progress and so willing to make him happy that, despite her feminist principles, she acquiesces to his wish that she marry her lover Michael, the intriguing Russian émigré who is also her partner in a California detective agency. But then Leonard dies, supposedly of a heart attack. Fremont is certain he's been poisoned, but when Augusta too dies--shot to death--it becomes clear there is more than one adversary for the plucky young woman to contend with, and she sets out to solve the mystery.

Fremont Jones is an intriguing character, a Boston Brahmin and bluestocking whose New England roots are strong and deep and whose independence and autonomy are often in conflict with her love for Michael as well as with the cultural mores and values of her time and place. Author Dianne Day gets the period details down perfectly and adds to the picture of Fremont Jones that has emerged from her previous books featuring this strong-willed, sexy, and consistently interesting heroine. The pace is slow, but both the development of character and the atmosphere Day creates make that a plus rather than a minus. --Jane Adams

From the Publisher:

6 1.5-hour cassettes

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0385486103
• ISBN 13: 9780385486101
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288