A Snake in the Raspberry Patch
Thirteen-year-old Liz Murphy, her parents, and four younger sisters live in the small town of Willowsbend in south-central Canada. In the summer of 1971, the family awaits the birth of a sixth child, baby boy Cole. On the day Cole arrives, the nearby Tremblay family of two adults and six children is slaughtered. The killer even cuts out Mrs. Tremblay’s tongue. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police quickly develop a person of interest. As time goes on, conjectures abound that the murderer might have been a passing stranger, a visitor, or even a neighbor. The RCMP do little, solve nothing, and come across as disinterested or incompetent.
Told entirely in the first-person, present tense voice of Liz, the story unfolds with the intimate charm of five youngsters dealing with a new baby brother, hand-me-downs, school, ambitions, fitting in, boys, and all the activities of an overwhelmed household. The Murphys’ next-in-line daughter, Rose, while only eleven, has tested near-genius. She reads about true-life crimes and goes everywhere with her Kodak camera for snapshots and a notepad to jot down interesting thoughts. Rose, over the protests of older sister Liz, vows to solve the Tremblay killings.
Jackson infuses the story with a love of youngsters and her knowledge of Canada’s flat farmlands, their desolation, the hot summers and long icy winters. Six busy Murphy children jump off the pages and thereby make a nice contrast to the dark search for the who and why of the Tremblay killings. The main story arc, not resolved until the last pages, contains unusual twists by disturbed adults that will intrigue murder mystery readers.
