Minerva Cries Murder: An Eliza Figg Mystery - Hardcover

Ballard, Mignon Franklin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0881849464 ISBN 13: 9780881849462

Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub, 1993

Synopsis

When Eliza Figg investigates her first mystery, she must delve deep into the atmosphere of the South. By the author of Cry at Dusk, Raven Rock, Deadly Promise, The Widow's Woods, and Final Curtain.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

A first outing for poor Eliza Figg, who's been stuck in tiny Minerva, Georgia, first nursing her mama, then, on her death, cheering up her daddy, and now, on his remarriage to the petite, young Olivia, taking in the frightened, very pregnant Melody--who was boarded with the family years ago until Social Services could place her permanently, and who's now returned with nowhere else to go. Sweet Mattie is soon born, and then Melody simply disappears. Eliza, juggling babycare with her promotion work at Bellawood, an early plantation open to the public, soon has her friends, including local cop Kemper Mungo, looking for Melody, and finding: a twin sister! A pesky neighbor will die, and so will another neighbor's pesky dog, before Melody--or is it twin sister Marilyn?- -is spotted jogging in an Atlanta park, one of them all the while phoning Eliza and wanting little Mattie.... Much southern charm, and Eliza's metamorphosis from loather of second wives and babies to champion of both is touching--but Ballard's (Final Curtin, etc.) antediluvian notion of hinging a plot on twins is a serious downer. Another case for Eliza is in the works. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this series launch, Ballard ( Final Curtain ) introduces Eliza Figg, returned from a stint in the Peace Corps to Minerva, Ga., after her mother's death and her father's recent remarriage. One rainy night, pregnant Melody Lamb appears at Eliza's door; 16 years earlier, orphaned Melody lived with the Figgs before she was adopted by another family. Now, with her husband and adoptive parents all dead, Melody believes she is being followed and has no one else to turn to. Eliza takes her in, but five months later, both mother and baby disappear while on a routine stroll around the block. The baby is found unharmed nearby, but Melody remains missing, though Eliza's stepmother is sure she has recently seen her in Atlanta. Turning on a cliched device, the mystery features little suspense although it offers a pleasant Southern flavor and some appealing characters. Despite her Peace Corps experience and pursuit of graduate studies, Eliza is not especially engaging: she remains mired in childish resentment of her father's remarriage and whiney regret for her own lost loves.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0881849464
• ISBN 13: 9780881849462
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 239