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THE BROTHERHOOD
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Atlantic Bridge
Publishing, 2004
Reviewed by Joy
Calderwood
Mystery
Eli Miller submits
himself for disciplining by his fellows of The Brotherhood, and finds he
is being beaten to death. He has been betrayed by the man he trusted
most.
Josie Galloway,
Wiccan High Priestess in Eli’s home town, experiences all of this with
him. Trapped in the afterlife, Eli is sending his experience to her so
strongly that Josie is unable to protect herself. She dreams the same
horrible dream night after night but is unable to remember the dream
when she wakes up. All of Josie’s friends can see from her face what a
horrible toll it is taking on her.
Doug Brewster, the
new Sheriff of Mariposa, is not a happy man. His good friend Josie has
the same medallion-shaped bruise on her chest that Eli Miller’s corpse
does. She says it appeared the night she had the first bad dream, but
Doug trusts his instincts about Josie so little that he thinks he must
consider her a suspect. In his by-the-book investigation, he discovers
even more mysteries about her, and in doing so makes her a target for
murder.
The Brotherhood is
led by the charismatic Reverend Chuck, who has placed himself at the
head of the long-extant Brotherhood of Mariposa. Using a combination of
fundamentalist Christianity and small town bigotry, he leads an
efficient survivalist army. Where, Sheriff Brewster asks himself, is the
least likely place to hide a witch when a vengeful out-of-town killer
comes after her? Among The Brotherhood, of course. The result of his
decision is that a den of snakes can no longer be concealed.
Author T.L.
Schaefer has not confined herself to writing a tight mystery about the
small town life with which she is so familiar. The psychology of her
characters is crucial. In THE BROTHERHOOD, one of the things brought to
the fore is the bigotry lingering on the fringes of any isolated small
town. This is still background, however, to the personal conflicts of
Josie and Doug. Years ago Josie fled to Mariposa hoping to hide for the
rest of her life. Doug, too, has such a stain from his childhood in
Mariposa that one wonders he ever came back to face it, much less be
elected Sheriff. As Josie and Doug are forced to accept their feelings
for each other, the driving forces in their lives are gradually
revealed. Other characters, too, puzzle us until they are exposed.
Surrounded by all
these interesting mysteries, how could any reader resist? The lives of
Sheriff Ashton and Arden Jones were too neatly wrapped up in THE
SUMMERLAND to base another interesting psychological novel on them, so
we welcome the appealing Josie Galloway, also met in THE SUMMERLAND, to
center stage. If you are willing to connect with Josie, a genuine “white
witch,” as your protagonist, you will be in THE BROTHERHOOD for the
duration. I did have two small niggling complaints. Surely Josie, with
her powers, would have more confidence in her ability to protect
herself? And why is there one important person who remains forever
shadowy and unexplained? That one person is a loose end waiting for
another book. Whether it is written or not depends on Schaefer.
Last year I
reviewed THE SUMMERLAND, also a mystery set in Mariposa. T.L. Schaefer
has developed her writing skills markedly in the intervening time.
Almost suddenly, she has developed a sense of what background detail
contributes to the story and what should not be included. The result is
a seamless narrative that can be swallowed down smooth and unhindered.
THE BROTHERHOOD, now out in ebook, is a strong candidate for paperback
release. I call this to the attention of paper publishers looking to
fill the “exotic” niche in their lists.
January 2005 Review
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