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Deadly Past #2
Deadly Design
What promises to be a perfect summer for Millie Kirchner—a chance to volunteer at the archaeology site at Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s secret retreat—turns ominous as first an archaeology intern and then Millie’s housemate are murdered. A secret involving a stolen ring ties the nearby mansion called Highgrove, possibly designed by Jefferson, to a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Exhaustive research leads Millie to discover that the deadly past holds the key to the murders in the continuation of this series that links the doings of a founding father to modern times.
- GenresMystery
329 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
About the author
Marion Moore Hill
8 books7 followers(from author's website: abbreviated)
Marion Moore Hill was born in Oklahoma and grew up primarily in Illinois and Kansas. She holds the A.A. degree from El Dorado (Kansas) Junior College (now Butler County Community College), the B.S. in journalism from Oklahoma Baptist University and the M.A. in communications from Stanford University. Hill has worked as a newspaper reporter, college English and journalism teacher, legal secretary, and ad copywriter. For several years, she and husband Elbert owned and operated a small ethnic/gourmet grocery in Durant.
She writes two series of mystery novels: the Scrappy Librarian Mysteries and the Deadly Past Mysteries. In the former series, tough, funny Oklahoma librarian Juanita Wills solves mysteries using her research skills and knowledge of fellow townspeople in small-town Wyndham, Oklahoma. In BOOKMARKED FOR MURDER, published in 2003, Juanita runs afoul of a secret hate group operating in her community. In DEATH BOOKS A RETURN, published in 2008, she searches for the truth about an unsolved 50-year-old racist murder.
Hill loves animals and gave her librarian heroine a canine sidekick, Rip, whom Juanita has ironically named for Jack the Ripper because he's timid around strangers. Juanita's significant other, Wyndham Police Lieutenant Wayne Cleary, tries to dissuade her from snooping into possibly dangerous situations, but her nosy nature sends her sleuthing anyway. Her reporter friend, Vivian Mathiesen, aids and abets.
Marion Moore Hill was born in Oklahoma and grew up primarily in Illinois and Kansas. She holds the A.A. degree from El Dorado (Kansas) Junior College (now Butler County Community College), the B.S. in journalism from Oklahoma Baptist University and the M.A. in communications from Stanford University. Hill has worked as a newspaper reporter, college English and journalism teacher, legal secretary, and ad copywriter. For several years, she and husband Elbert owned and operated a small ethnic/gourmet grocery in Durant.
She writes two series of mystery novels: the Scrappy Librarian Mysteries and the Deadly Past Mysteries. In the former series, tough, funny Oklahoma librarian Juanita Wills solves mysteries using her research skills and knowledge of fellow townspeople in small-town Wyndham, Oklahoma. In BOOKMARKED FOR MURDER, published in 2003, Juanita runs afoul of a secret hate group operating in her community. In DEATH BOOKS A RETURN, published in 2008, she searches for the truth about an unsolved 50-year-old racist murder.
Hill loves animals and gave her librarian heroine a canine sidekick, Rip, whom Juanita has ironically named for Jack the Ripper because he's timid around strangers. Juanita's significant other, Wyndham Police Lieutenant Wayne Cleary, tries to dissuade her from snooping into possibly dangerous situations, but her nosy nature sends her sleuthing anyway. Her reporter friend, Vivian Mathiesen, aids and abets.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 13, 2009
I really like Marion Moore Hill, both of her series are interesting and fun to read with likable characters and very complex puzzles.
Deadly Design centers around the earliest history of our country with Thomas Jefferson as a central character, not in actual dialog but as the focus of historical research that is the centerpiece of this book.
I'm a history buff and I like Jefferson but somehow some of this book went a little too far bringing in architecture, politics, Lewis & Clark's voyage to the Louisiana Purchase lands, studies of weather, issues of slavery, and love of reading - just to name a few! I still loved the book, will read the next one when it comes out but hope that there is a little better balance between the past and the present.
Deadly Design centers around the earliest history of our country with Thomas Jefferson as a central character, not in actual dialog but as the focus of historical research that is the centerpiece of this book.
I'm a history buff and I like Jefferson but somehow some of this book went a little too far bringing in architecture, politics, Lewis & Clark's voyage to the Louisiana Purchase lands, studies of weather, issues of slavery, and love of reading - just to name a few! I still loved the book, will read the next one when it comes out but hope that there is a little better balance between the past and the present.
August 21, 2009
With her new inheritance, single mother Millie Kirchner and nine-year-old Danny set out for a vacation at Jefferson's Poplar Forest octagon house, with Millie volunteering and Danny in historical day camp. But their sojourn is haunted by the recent death of a nearby archaeologist. Their housemates, too, are puzzling--one young girl is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend, and the other seems obsessed by historic jewels. Millie learns that a grave in the local cemetery is the last resting place of a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
December 2, 2009
Nicely written. Met the author at a book signing - lovely woman. Look forward to reading her other books.
February 9, 2010
I really liked this book, the history was well recorded and I learned a little about the digs.
May 6, 2020
Deadly Design by Marion Moore Hill is the second book in the Deadly Past Mystery series. Millie Kirchner, who received an inheritance in the first book of the series, Deadly Will, now has money to spend some of her summer volunteering at an archeology site, Poplar Forrest, one of Thomas Jefferson's homes in Virginia, while her nine year old son Danny spends a week at a children's archeological camp there. During their stay, they live in a Victorian mansion with three other women, who work at various jobs at the same site. One of the three is Alice Ross, wife of another of the beneficiaries from the same Will in book one of the series, who was killed. The other two are persons she is just meeting: Jill Green, lover of jewels and girlfriend of Luke Brooks, an archeologist at a nearby site, Highgrove; and Cynthia Cisneros, who is being stalked by a former boyfriend, Ted Lofts.
Obviously with ties to two archeological sites, both of which are related to houses designed by Thomas Jefferson, the story of the four contemporary women is mixed with much historical and archeological information concerning the founding of our country. Alice searches for beautiful clothing from the time in second-hand shops, and has also found a diary of a woman named Prissy who records the troubles she was having with her lover Ephraim and her father. Jill is flirting with Chas Locke, an archeologist at Poplar Forrest because he is also a lapidary, but upset that Cynthia seems to find Luke interesting. To add to the mix, shortly before Millie and son arrive in Lynchburg, Paige Oberlin, who worked at Highgrove, was murdered. A murder, a stalker, jealousy and unfaithfulness between friends and workers, threaten to mar Millie's perfect summer vacation. By the end of the vacation even she and her boyfriend Scott (who is in Denver studying for Ph.D. comprehensives) are fighting.
But the thrill of history continues. The workers at Highgrove believe, because of the similarity of design, that the house they are working on may be a Thomas Jefferson building which Millie could write about in a professional paper. Given the diary Alice has found, she may even tie it to a particular Ephraim (Hayes) that was one of the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition under Jefferson. The connection may be even tighter because of a jewel Jill has which was stolen near St. Louis when Ephraim was there. Between her friends and acquaintances she will soon have a lovely Ph.D. thesis and published book.
It's all very exciting, but another murder occurs, this time at Poplar Forrest, this time of someone Millie and Danny know. There is a bit more to fear than a motorcycle running across their path or a former boyfriend hounding one of their roommates. And I will admit that although logically explained, the murderer was not the one I expected.
It is another clever, complex mystery in the series. Lovers of history, particularly anything to do with Thomas Jefferson from a virtual tour of the area and houses to knowledge about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as well as people interested in working archeology, will love this book. The characters are well-drawn, the plot is a bit bulky but nicely pulled together in the end. In fact, if anything, it may be too serendipitous; I would love to have a historical thesis with leads from that many sources to fit together so perfectly. But this is a novel; it should end well; it does. And to be perfectly honest, the parts relating to the Lewis and Clark expedition and the results therefrom were the part of this novel that I liked the best. Pulling together the mystery from the past was more thrilling for me than solving the murder in the present.
Obviously with ties to two archeological sites, both of which are related to houses designed by Thomas Jefferson, the story of the four contemporary women is mixed with much historical and archeological information concerning the founding of our country. Alice searches for beautiful clothing from the time in second-hand shops, and has also found a diary of a woman named Prissy who records the troubles she was having with her lover Ephraim and her father. Jill is flirting with Chas Locke, an archeologist at Poplar Forrest because he is also a lapidary, but upset that Cynthia seems to find Luke interesting. To add to the mix, shortly before Millie and son arrive in Lynchburg, Paige Oberlin, who worked at Highgrove, was murdered. A murder, a stalker, jealousy and unfaithfulness between friends and workers, threaten to mar Millie's perfect summer vacation. By the end of the vacation even she and her boyfriend Scott (who is in Denver studying for Ph.D. comprehensives) are fighting.
But the thrill of history continues. The workers at Highgrove believe, because of the similarity of design, that the house they are working on may be a Thomas Jefferson building which Millie could write about in a professional paper. Given the diary Alice has found, she may even tie it to a particular Ephraim (Hayes) that was one of the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition under Jefferson. The connection may be even tighter because of a jewel Jill has which was stolen near St. Louis when Ephraim was there. Between her friends and acquaintances she will soon have a lovely Ph.D. thesis and published book.
It's all very exciting, but another murder occurs, this time at Poplar Forrest, this time of someone Millie and Danny know. There is a bit more to fear than a motorcycle running across their path or a former boyfriend hounding one of their roommates. And I will admit that although logically explained, the murderer was not the one I expected.
It is another clever, complex mystery in the series. Lovers of history, particularly anything to do with Thomas Jefferson from a virtual tour of the area and houses to knowledge about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as well as people interested in working archeology, will love this book. The characters are well-drawn, the plot is a bit bulky but nicely pulled together in the end. In fact, if anything, it may be too serendipitous; I would love to have a historical thesis with leads from that many sources to fit together so perfectly. But this is a novel; it should end well; it does. And to be perfectly honest, the parts relating to the Lewis and Clark expedition and the results therefrom were the part of this novel that I liked the best. Pulling together the mystery from the past was more thrilling for me than solving the murder in the present.
October 10, 2024
This book was a snooze fest, scattered, and overly historical. The plot itself seemed hidden.
February 26, 2013
I didn't care much for this book. The leading lady gets cut-off by a motorcyclist somewhere in the first few pages, and she obsesses about the driver for half the book. Even meets him, of course, and likes talking to him, but decides to "play it cool for the sake of her son"---because her ex-husband rode a motorcycle and her son thought it was 'cool'.
The story plot is good. The characters are OK, but a bit difficult to distinguish. The writing leaves a bit to be desired. There's a lot of words upgraded from what is needed. And I intensely dislike the common habit now of using "bring" when it should be "take". Look up the definition..
She has a part-time temporary job helping out at an excavation looking for homes Thomas Jefferson designed. Her 9-year old son is with her, but she has 3 housemates who just love children and babysit for her most the time. One one occasion, she and her son tour an old graveyard, she spies a very old grave in the back, and the name stays with her. Then she hears a story about a stolen ruby ring from a girl obsessed with jewelry. Then she volunteers at another old home being excavated that T J might have designed (her housemates babysit more). She runs into another clue that has a name that might be the nickname of the man on the tombstone, and voila! she puts that all together. From my little experience in genealogy...you don't DO that!!! Like there was only one man named Ephraim 200 years ago. And it goes forward from there.
Oh yeah, she doesn't 'drives', she 'tools'. She doesn't walk, she 'strides'. Her nostils get 'assailed'. AFter 'renewed fear' paralyzes her legs, she walks out a door, runs, and THEN all her strength and adrenaline are gone. In a diary, she finds out that Ephraim is assaulted and taken to a hospital....a hospital?..200 years ago? in a small town in VA?? and 2 paragraphs later, he was taken to a doctor's house after the assault.
The story plot is good. The characters are OK, but a bit difficult to distinguish. The writing leaves a bit to be desired. There's a lot of words upgraded from what is needed. And I intensely dislike the common habit now of using "bring" when it should be "take". Look up the definition..
She has a part-time temporary job helping out at an excavation looking for homes Thomas Jefferson designed. Her 9-year old son is with her, but she has 3 housemates who just love children and babysit for her most the time. One one occasion, she and her son tour an old graveyard, she spies a very old grave in the back, and the name stays with her. Then she hears a story about a stolen ruby ring from a girl obsessed with jewelry. Then she volunteers at another old home being excavated that T J might have designed (her housemates babysit more). She runs into another clue that has a name that might be the nickname of the man on the tombstone, and voila! she puts that all together. From my little experience in genealogy...you don't DO that!!! Like there was only one man named Ephraim 200 years ago. And it goes forward from there.
Oh yeah, she doesn't 'drives', she 'tools'. She doesn't walk, she 'strides'. Her nostils get 'assailed'. AFter 'renewed fear' paralyzes her legs, she walks out a door, runs, and THEN all her strength and adrenaline are gone. In a diary, she finds out that Ephraim is assaulted and taken to a hospital....a hospital?..200 years ago? in a small town in VA?? and 2 paragraphs later, he was taken to a doctor's house after the assault.
June 13, 2015
It’s always fun meeting authors in person and I had the opportunity to meet mystery writer, Marion Moore Hill at a recent TCPL program. I was familiar with Hill’s paperback ‘scrappy librarian’ mystery series as I like occupational mysteries. Those books were grabbed up by customers when I put them on display last April during National Library Week. Hill is a good speaker and she gave her audience interesting insights into how she does her research and writes her books. My own interest was piqued by another of her series, “The Deadly Past” and asked that TCPL order both Deadly Will and Deadly Design.
Because I am very interested in architecture, I read Deadly Design first. The plot features both Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest retreat and the fictitious Highgrove, a nearby home purportedly also designed by Jefferson. Recently wealthy single Mom, Millie Kirchner is our protagonist. She also figures in the first book, Deadly Will. Millie plans to spend her summer touring Jeffersonian landmarks with her 9-year old son. Their first stop is Lynchburg where Mollie plans to volunteer at Poplar Forest while Danny attends the archeology camp. One murder precedes them and another soon follows. Whom among Millie’s housemates or the crews at both Highgrove or Poplar Forest have the motive and opportunity to commit the crimes? While trying to solve the mystery, readers learn a reasonable amount about urban archaeology digs and historical research. Light reading providing great ideas for future travel.
Because I am very interested in architecture, I read Deadly Design first. The plot features both Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest retreat and the fictitious Highgrove, a nearby home purportedly also designed by Jefferson. Recently wealthy single Mom, Millie Kirchner is our protagonist. She also figures in the first book, Deadly Will. Millie plans to spend her summer touring Jeffersonian landmarks with her 9-year old son. Their first stop is Lynchburg where Mollie plans to volunteer at Poplar Forest while Danny attends the archeology camp. One murder precedes them and another soon follows. Whom among Millie’s housemates or the crews at both Highgrove or Poplar Forest have the motive and opportunity to commit the crimes? While trying to solve the mystery, readers learn a reasonable amount about urban archaeology digs and historical research. Light reading providing great ideas for future travel.
September 17, 2009
"Deadly Design" is a mix of history and suspense. As a non-American, I don't know much about American history, and appreciated this insight into the life and time of Thomas Jefferson. However, I did feel that the suspense part of the story lacked some polishing. Everybody seemed to have a motive and/or a secret to keep, and Millie was rather too obvious a wanna-be detective in her musings as she mentally evaluated each person's motivation.
Still, the history/suspense mix was well balanced and the mix worked well. The plot was interesting enough to keep me well entertained, and I finished the book in just a couple of days, undeterred by the fact that I hadn't read the first book in the series.
Still, the history/suspense mix was well balanced and the mix worked well. The plot was interesting enough to keep me well entertained, and I finished the book in just a couple of days, undeterred by the fact that I hadn't read the first book in the series.
February 7, 2016
History, archaeology, murder, romance, mystery - excellent plot with good characters. I didn't know who the murderer was until the last several chapters.
Set at Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Millie Kirchner - single parent - arrives to spend a summer working an archaeology dig. With a bit of disposable income, she brings her son along with her and they reside with three other women in a house located near the dig. Highly recommended as a fast, challenging, delightful read.
Set at Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Millie Kirchner - single parent - arrives to spend a summer working an archaeology dig. With a bit of disposable income, she brings her son along with her and they reside with three other women in a house located near the dig. Highly recommended as a fast, challenging, delightful read.
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July 29, 2011mystery set at Poplar Forest, a less famous home of Thomas Jefferson. Millie and her young son Danny get to spend the summer away from their home in Texas to volunteer at the dig at Poplar Forest. A housemate is killed during Millie's stay.
March 19, 2010
Better than her last book, with more historical details. Still a very cozy mystery, and the heroine stumbles onto the solution more than solves the mystery.
September 27, 2015
Terrible book! Was it a mystery? A travelogue? A history lesson? Whatever it was, I wasted my time reading it. Don't bother!
January 29, 2016
Very Nancy-Drewish and not well-written.
June 20, 2017
pretty good story, i was surprised who did it. i really like the main characters.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews