The orphanmaster was a real position in New Amsterdam, the forerunner of New York City. As there were many children orphaned in these early colonial times, it became a full-time job finding them new homes as servants, farmworkers, laborers, etc. Aer Vissar takes his job very seriously, so when his orphans begin disappearing and are later found to be ritualistic carved up and eaten, he takes this personally. As does Blandine VanCouvering, an orphan herself, who is a she-merchant in the Dutch colony. The murders are blamed on the "witika" or Native American spirit cannibalist. It is clear to many, however, that a spirit could not be doing this.

This is a mystery wrapped in a romance with a bit of grisly ghost story thrown in. I found it to be a page-turner. Both the good guys and the bad guys were given enough back story to help the reader understand them, so it didn't become a one-sided tale. Although the author leads us to discover fairly early who the murderers are, there is lots of mystery left while the book's characters figure it out. The romance is between Blandine and Edward Drummond, an Englishmen sent to the colonies in pursuit of the murderers of Charles I. How he becomes involved in the orphans' plight and Blandine's life is a great part of the story. Blandine is a wonderful woman character who informs us that women as a whole might have been better off if the Dutch had maintained control of New York instead of the English. She's bright, hard-working, clever, and beautiful - what more could you want from a heroine? Edward is, of course, brave, smart, cunning, and handsome - the perfect hero. Except they both have their faults and weaknesses. This is no bodice-ripper.

The reader gets a slice of life in this early period of America's history, with Petrus Stuyvesant a prominent character. Blandine has a relationship with the black citizens as well as the native Americans, so there is a bit of information as to how all these people lived. The killings are rather grisly, especially when you know these are children being killed, but the author does not go overboard. Although I grimaced a lot, it did not make me sick. According to the author, her husband requested she write a mystery for him and I think she did a fine job in doing that and more. The bad guys are really evil and there is enough heart-pounding suspense at the end of the book to keep one reading into the night.