Heart of Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery
Heart of Stone is the fourth in Ziskin’s mystery series featuring reporter Ellie Stone. Ellie’s not on the clock right now. Instead, in late August of 1961, she’s on vacation in the Adirondacks. She’s sunning herself on the dock at her aunt’s cabin when she and her skinny-dipping aunt are interrupted by the oafish chief of police, “Tiny” Terwilliger. He’s seen Ellie with her camera, and he wants her to photograph the two bodies on the beach. A man and teenage boy are dead, presumably from failed dives from the rocks above. Ellie can’t turn off her reporter’s instincts, though, and as the police chief seems so inept, she has to fill in the blanks that he’s ignoring.
It’s not entirely a working vacation, as Ellie is reunited with childhood friends at nearby Arcadia Lodge. Like her, they’re Jewish and subjected to anti-Semitism from Terwilliger. Ellie and her old friend Isaac are instantly attracted to each other as adults, and their passionate affair makes her less than popular at the Lodge. It turns out the dead man is another old friend from the Lodge, one who changed his Jewish name to something more Gentile and seemingly rejected his friends. Aside from her profession, Ellie now has a more personal reason to discover the truth behind the deaths.
Ziskin expertly captures the feel of summer in the Adirondacks with friends gathering to make music, argue, and drink, not to mention the thrill of a summer romance. It’s a summer menaced by death, though, and Ellie is alone in sensing that something isn’t what it seems. She’s an appealing character, strong but flawed – both men and alcohol are a weakness – and I look forward to her next investigation.
