The Widows
It is 1925 when we meet Lily Ross as she is cleaning out a jail cell in preparation for the new prisoner her husband Daniel, the sheriff, is bringing to Kinship, Ohio. Her life is turned upside down when Daniel’s uncle arrives with the news that he was shot and killed, and the prisoner has escaped.
Marvena Whitcomb, Daniel’s friend and former lover, comes into the story as a widow who has recently lost her husband in a mining accident. Her 16-year-old daughter is missing, and Daniel had promised to help find her. Still grieving her loss, Lily is asked to act as interim sheriff until an election can be held. She steps into her husband’s shoes and investigates the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death while searching for Marvena’s daughter.
Bronwyn County, Ohio, is mining country in the Appalachians. Crushing poverty and the death of loved ones in mining accidents mark every miner’s family. Attempts to unionize the workers gain momentum in the effort to bring about change. The mine owner, Luther Ross, Daniel’s brother, brings in the Pinkertons to suppress unionizing activities and control the workers, but their tactics are strong-armed and criminal. This creates more challenges for Lily in her investigations and in keeping the peace.
The stories of the two widows, Lily and Marvena, are told in alternating chapters. Jess Montgomery has based the character of Lily on a real-life sheriff of Vinton County, Ohio, during that time. I enjoyed the way she told the story through the eyes of both widows. Despite a plot inconsistency where Marvena discovers a small diamond among her daughter’s possessions at two different times, this is a well-written novel with suspense and mystery deftly woven into the history and struggles of an Appalachian mining community. The result is a gripping narrative with a vivid historical setting.
