Louisa and the Crystal Gazer: A Louisa May Alcott Mystery

by Anna Maclean

Book Overview

A young Louisa May Alcott accompanies her friend Sylvia to visit Boston's most famous spiritual medium, Mrs. Agatha D. Percy, to contact Sylvia's long-dead father. Louisa isn't one to believe such... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451218329
• ISBN13: 9780451218322
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Louisa May Alcott Mystery

It was great to find this series since I'm a big fan of Luisa May Alcott's fiction. To think that Luisa had another life (at least in fiction) that her public didn't know about. Anna Maclean does a wonderful job of painting the character and indomitable spirit of Luisa in Boston during her younger years, and she has obviously done a lot of research on that period of Alcott's life before she became the celebrated Miss Alcott, the author of "Little Women." As with the other two novels, I thought that the author had done a fantastic job of capturing Louisa May Alcott's voice and spirit. "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" was a wonderful read, and if you haven't read any of these novels please buy them, I went back and purchased the other two in the series, and hope there will be more upcoming mysteries for Luisa and her friend Sylvia to solve.

Fun With Louisa May Alcott

This is a great addition to the series. Louisa gets involved with bogus mediums and seances and also with P. T. Barnum. All the while the germ of an idea of a story about a family of four girls(you know what that is going to be!) runs around her mind. If you enjoyed the other novels in the series you will like this one.

a wonderfully engaging read

Another brilliantly rendered Louisa May Alcott mystery novel to enjoy! This time Louisa is in Boston, temporarily separated from her family, as she endeavours to make a living as a seamstress, as well as continue to write her "blood and thunder" stories n the hopes of getting them published. But it isn't too long before Louisa finds herself caught up in yet another perplexing murder investigation. It is December of 1855, and Louisa is hoping to earn some extra money for Christmas presents with her sewing. But when her good friend, Sylvia Shattuck, begs her to accompany her to a seance, Louisa finds herself reluctantly agreeing to accompany Sylvia in order to keep an eye on her easily susceptible friend. Louisa fully expects that the medium will be a fraud, but what she didn't expect was to find inspiration for a story at the seance. So that when Sylvia decides to pay the medium a second visit, Louisa readily agrees to go along with her. But how different this visit turns out to be; for this time, the young friends find the medium dead. And when the police disclose that this is actually a case of murder, and arrest the medium's shady servant, Louisa decides to do some sleuthing of her own. For Louisa is sure that the maid is innocent of the murder, and rather suspects that the murderer will be found amongst the medium's clients. But who killed the medium, and why exactly was she killed? With a suspect list that includes a hero and P. T. Barnum himself, Louisa soon finds herself pouring over gossip and delving into scandal in order to unearth a murderer... This is the third installment in a wonderful new series featuring Louisa May Alcott, the noted American novelist, as detective. And like the previous two novels in the series, "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" was a wonderfully absorbing read -- the storyline was a very intriguing one, full of plot twists and turns, with just the right number of red herring suspects to keep one happily occupied trying to figure who committed the murder and why. And that, together with the swift pacing that gathered momentum and suspense as the plot unfolded, and the brilliantly rendered scenes and characters that were full of period detail and charm, made "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" a treat beyond compare. As with the other two novels, I thought that the author had done a fantastic job of capturing Louisa May Alcott's voice and spirit. It is perhaps and odd thing to note, but I feel that with each new mystery novel, Anna Maclean gives me a better appreciation of Louisa May Alcott, not only as a writer but as a person as well. To sum up, "Louisa and the Crystal Gazer" was a deliciously delightful read, and if you haven't read any of these novels yet, hesitate no longer: you will be glad that picked up this, or indeed any of the books in the series.