Death of Winter Shaker

Having visited a Shaker village and purchasing my copy there, I found that I could visualize the setting so easily. Ms. Woodworth does an excellant job of presenting the Shaker community very accurately. ( from what I learned ) I was very surprised at the development of the plot. I am looking forward to adding the rest of the Shaker mysteries to my collection

I loved this book. Before reading it, about all I knew about the Shakers was that they were originally a fringe group of Quakers who shook (rather than quaked) in the presence of the Lord, and who believed in chastity for all members -- and that they made beautiful furniture and were outstanding cooks. But this book takes you right into a Shaker community, and makes the people seem very real. It therefore provided a fascinating glimpse into their way of life. But that was all serendipitious -- it is an excellent mystery in its own right, and thoroughly enjoyable. I can't wait to read the rest of this series.

This is a fascinating novel about a part of American history that I don't know very well. Shaker society was never really covered in class, and so I read this with fascination. Besides the well done parts about Shaker society, the mystery itself is also fun to read about. Sister Callahan seems to be the only sane person sometimes there as the other Shakers are portrayed as religious fanatics to the point of being violently fanatical. I'm hoping that the people we meet in the next book will be a tad calmer. Besides that one problem I was still enchanted by this book and look forward to the next one.