Cry of the Innocent: A Faith Clarke Mystery
In 1774 Williamsburg, Virginia, Faith Clarke bears full responsibility for raising her son and running Clarke Tavern after the recent death of her husband. When Phineas Bullard, an influential but despised businessman, is hacked to death in her private meeting room, Faith falls under suspicion. Does the onerous debt her husband owed to Bullard give her a motive for murder? Bullard’s pocket book and sabre are missing, along with his young Jamaican slave, the only possible witness to the crime. It soon becomes clear to Faith that Bullard had many enemies, but why did he rent her room when there are many other more affluent establishments in Williamsburg, and why is the murderer trying to ruin her reputation as an honest businesswoman? Faith is determined to clear her name and is horrified to discover Bullard was involved in the abhorrent business of capturing and selling freed slaves. Faith’s feelings are conflicted because she owns two slaves herself, but she plans to ask the governor to free them and cannot countenance rogues who choose to profit from people’s misery.
With a background set during the lead-up to the American Revolution, this has the makings of an engaging murder mystery, but as I read, I was plagued by more questions than answers. Events seem to hang without resolution, and some occurrences have no clear bearing on the plot. Many small details are enticing but don’t lead anywhere.
The parts dealing with Faith’s slaves illuminate feelings about this subject with compassion. The tension of the times is palpable, and the pressure the British placed on daily life, where even serving tea could put you on the wrong side of an ever-widening divide, is well-drawn.
