Running a museum in Philadelphia seems so innocuous. How
could it possibly bring the museum director Nell Pratt into
contact with murders? In the seventh book in her Museum
series, Sheila Connolly tells us of a house the museum owns
down a DEAD END STREET. A do-good society hopes they can
work with the not-for-profit museum to renovate and in so
doing, rehabilitate the area. Nell Pratt agrees to look at
the house with them - to her regret.
By contrast with a lot of tales in which a body would have
been found or buried years before in this kind of old
house, the danger is right in your face. Someone shoots at
the inspection party in this run-down neighbourhood where
respectable people don't go. Nell survives but not everyone
is so lucky. Nell's boyfriend James who is in the FBI helps
her through the police interviews, but she has no idea
whether this was a random crime, or one connected to the
renovation group, or to the house itself.
I was interested to read about the shifting fortunes of
this industrial city. Once a centre for sugar refining,
iron and steel, and other manufacturing, it has now slumped
with just an ice-cream maker left from the old days.
Families have moved to suburbs and the formerly residential
area is depicted here as derelict, used for anti-social
activity. By contrast, our heroine is also invited to visit
a gracious colonial residence with fifty acres of land. Two
ladies who grew up in this family home want it preserved
intact after their deaths, not torn down to make way for a
McMansion. The contrast could not be stronger, with tea, a
silver service and dainty sandwiches. Nell realises that
both rich and poor buildings are equally parts of history.
Full marks to Sheila Connolly, who has many mysteries under
her belt, for not sugar-coating the ills of modern city
society. Her determined heroine Nell and her readjustment
to reality provide a fine counterpoint to all the small-
town mysteries. Some of her friends and staff are from
various cultural minorities, so Nell's exploring the
complex issues comes across honestly and in an open manner.
Personal issues also get addressed in the hunt for the
killer. Can Nell do anything constructive about the DEAD
END STREET? She knows she has to try. This is a gripping,
distinctive read from a popular and much travelled author.
The New York Times bestselling author of Privy
to the Dead returns to Philadelphia for more history—and
a chilling mystery . . .
When the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society discovers it
owns some unique real estate, a deadly plot unfolds . . .
Society president Nell Pratt believes life is finally going
her way. Everything’s running smoothly at work, and her love
life is thriving. Then some unexpected news rocks her
foundation. Two members of a local neighborhood rescue
program, Tyrone Blakeney and Cherisse Chapman, inform Nell
that her society owns an abandoned row house in a rundown
area of Philadelphia and they insist on taking her to see
the property before its date with the wrecking ball.
But soon after they arrive at the house, Cherisse is fatally
shot and Tyrone is badly injured. The police believe it’s
just random violence in a bad neighborhood, but Nell thinks
there’s more to it and is determined to find answers before
someone else becomes history . . .
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