Cover of Too Soon for Flowers

Too Soon for Flowers

Bracebridge Mystery seriesbook 2 of 4Next:No Rest for the Dove(2000) →

Lust, deceit, and murder bloom in old New England....

Spring, 1764. While the specter of smallpox stalks colonial Boston, much of the city seeks refuge in the burgeoning countryside. Restful, bucolic Bracebridge is one such haven, and young widow Charlotte Willett and her neighbor Richard Longfellow, scientist and gentleman farmer, host a handful of guests undergoing the generally accepted procedure of inoculation.

Read more

Yet shortly after the quarantine begins, one of the patients is found dead and Charlotte and Richard are thrust into a whirl of rumor, conjecture, and fear. What, if not smallpox, caused the patient's untimely demise? Has the distraught physician in charge something to conceal? And who might have risked contagion to commit murder? Before these questions can be answered, another shocking death occurs.

Now, as some superstitious townsfolk blame both the Pox and the Devil, Charlotte and Richard are determined to follow logic and reason to the all too human source of the problem. But can they arrive at the truth before another victim is claimed?

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 291 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Too Soon for Flowers? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Too Soon for Flowers. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Through a Gold Eagle Shares mystery, historical mystery, historical fiction
  2. Murder at Marble House Shares mystery, historical mystery, historical fiction
  3. Deadlier than the Pen Shares mystery, historical mystery, historical fiction
  4. Blackwater Spirits Shares mystery, historical mystery, historical fiction

“If you want more of the same (mystery), start with these.”

  1. The Opening Night Murder
  2. The Deathly Portent
  3. Death of a Doll Maker
  4. An Untimely Frost

“If it was the historical mystery that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Stalking-Horse
  2. North Star Conspiracy
  3. Thoreau at Devil's Perch
  4. Must the Maiden Die

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics
  2. Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82
  3. Petticoat Detective
  4. Merely A Mister