MARY JO ADAMSON – The Blazing Tree.

Signet, paperback original; first printing, June 2000.

   Adamson, whose previous mysteries featured Lt. Balthazar Marten and were set in present day Puerto Rico, starts a new series with this book. Taking place in 19th century New England, The Blazing Tree is the first case tackled (and solved) by Boston police reporter Michael Merrick.

   Merrick, at one time a serious opium-eater, has been rehabilitated and given his previous position by an unknown benefactor. The newspaper’s owner, Jasper Quincey, will not say who that good soul is, but he gives Merrick a new assignment: to become his eyes and ears and find out who is responsible for a number of fires that have been set near and around Hancock, a Shaker village somewhere in western Massachusetts. One of these fires, not accidental, has now caused a fatality. Perhaps murder was not what was intended, but a death it is all the same.

   Masquerading as a new member, Merrick joins the community of Shakers and his investigation begins — and which is where the mystery comes to a near dead stop. Or at the least, it proceeds in only fits and starts. For history buffs, there is a goodly amount of background to be filled in, all very interesting, but that’s not the real problem.

   Which is this: there is simply too much story involved. One of the Shakers in Hancock is the same man who was the partner of Merrick’s father, and who may have cheated his mother out of his share of the business. The man’s son is tormented by a strange affliction now known as Tourette’s syndrome. Another boy is lame and unable to speak, traumatized by some earlier accident or bad treatment. And there is Sister Esther, with whom Michael soon finds himself falling in love. This causes problems, as celibacy is one of the main tenets of the Shaker religion.

   So it is no wonder that the mystery falters and stutters. Adamson has very good intentions, but in spite of a semi-uplifting ending — the mystery is solved, given some of Quincey’s eventual input, but not all of Michael’s problems — the tale doesn’t quite get out of second gear.

   As an aside to more devoted detective fiction fans, the resemblance to Nero Wolfe and his second-in-command, Archie Goodwin, is probably quite intentional.

          — May 2000. This review first appeared in The Historical Novels Review. It has been revised and expanded since then.

[UPDATE] 03-03-08.    Using Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV as a guide, here’s a complete list of all of Ms. Adamson’s mystery fiction:

       ADAMSON, M(ARY) J(O).  1935- .

   According to the calendar, Adamson’s first series ended far too early. I’ve not read any of them, but from what I’ve read, Marten was a homicide detective for the NYPD who traveled to Puerto Rico and decided to stay.

      — The Balthazar Marten books:    [Setting: Puerto Rico.]

         * Not Till a Hot January. Bantam, 1987.
         * A February Face. Bantam, 1987.
         * Remember March. Bantam, 1988.
         * April When They Woo. Bantam, 1989.
         * May’s New Fangled Mirth. Bantam, 1989 .

   Until I checked online just now, I was positive there were more in Ms. Adamson’s second series than two, but that’s all there seems to have been:

      — The Michael Merrick books:    [Setting: Massachusetts, 1870s.]

         * The Blazing Tree. Signet, 2000.
         * The Elusive Voice. Signet, 2001.