All These Bodies
Summer 1958, and the upper Midwest is plagued by serial murders. Every victim has been bled dry, but the scenes were “suspiciously clean of blood.” For months, no witness remains alive, no suspect is identified.
The last three murders, of the Carlson Family in small-town Black Deer Falls, Minnesota, break the no-clue pattern. Peculiar goings-on at the Carlson home alarm a neighbor, and local lawmen rush in soon after the Carlson killings. When they arrive, a stranger, fifteen-year-old Marie Hale, uninjured but covered from head to foot in blood, stands quietly in the Carlson home.
Marie decrees she trusts no adult and will talk only to the town sheriff’s son, seventeen-year-old Michael Jensen. Michael, a good student and athlete, works part-time at the local newspaper and welcomes the challenge of getting Marie’s story. This YA mystery centers on Michael and Marie’s cat-and-mouse interactions. As Marie spins out snippets of what happened, we remain unsure if she is the sole killer, the killer’s helper, or an unwilling victim. Michael becomes more and more enthralled by her pretty appearance, intelligence, and confidence.
The bloodless murders and Marie’s involvement make an engaging beginning. The small-town residents’ honest reactions progress sensibly from fear to rage and disgust. But distracting ghost-like faces pop up, and unexplained markings on trees and gravestones raise more questions. Finally, what could have been a big ending leaves open what really happened. The killer, other than perhaps Marie, remains a mystery along with the killer or killers’ motives. Blood-drained victims but no blood at any murder scene before the Carlson family will strike avid crime readers as curious if not implausible. Perhaps a sequel will fill in the gaps.
