Old Wounds: A Gillian Adams Mystery

by Nora Kelly

Book Overview

Historian Gillian Adams drops both her academic career in Vancouver and her plans to spend her sabbatical in London with policeman lover Edward in order to return to her childhood home up the Hudson and care for her aging mother whose heart is giving out. Gillian keeps her hand--and brain-- in with a light guest-lecturer load at sleepy rural Stanton College, a campus that seems serene but is soon unsettled by the murder of a student on a lonely stretch...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890208256
• ISBN13: 9781890208257
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Winner of the Arthur Ellis Best Novel Award.

Those who know Gillian Adams will learn more about her in this, the fourth novel, because Gillian Adams has come home. And while she's home she meets up with old friends and old wounds. Gillian is lecturing at Stanton College near by and living with her mother Estelle and a cat named Rumpole. A student from her class is found dead and the result is murder. When an old acquaintance is arrested as a suspect Gillian doubts his guilt and goes in search of the truth. Her mother who has a weak heart can't help but put in her two cents and later Gillian receives a visitor who also can't help but get involved.I enjoyed Old Wounds it was well done. Suspects are pointed out one by one as the twists and turns take us through this academic whodunit. I think readers will identify with Gillian as she remembers her past, deals with forgotten emotions and makes plans for the future. I found her relationship with her mother interesting. In Chapter 12, there is a scene where they discuss something they do have in common, solving the mystery, and Gillian has come home boasting of a clue and Estelle becomes indignant and reminds her that she is playing the part of Watson, not Holmes. To me, that moment was very poignant as to how we try to hold on to the parent role no matter the age of our children. Poisoned Pen Press will publish Gillian Adams first three mysteries. In the Shadow of King's was put out in August; Bad Chemistry will be out in 2000; My Sister's Keeper will also be out in 2000.It's a very good read.

A good mystery

After holding the chair of her school's history department for a year, Professor Gillian Adams plans to take a sabbatical. She wants to spend time in London with her significant other Edward. However during a break, Gillian returns home to assist her mother who recently broke her hip. Gillian is shocked at how fragile her mother has become. Because of a weak heart, Gillian figures her mother has little time left. She changes her plan to spend time in Upstate New York with her mother. Gillian accepts a teaching job at nearby Stanton College.However, the serene upper Hudson turns deadly when two students find the corpse of a peer, Nicole Bishop, in Dee's Pond. It initially appears that a hunting accident occurred, but soon evidence surfaces that someone deliberately murdered Nicole. The police find a semi-nude picture of the victim inside the home of the town's weirdo. Witnesses place the eccentric individual at the crime scene. In spite of the mounting proof, Gillian feels the prime suspect is innocent because she knows him quite well. However, as Gillian investigates, the police arrest someone else, who Gillian also thinks is innocent.OLD WOUNDS is a slow moving, pondering academic mystery that challenges readers with each twist and turn. Action is not a by-word associated with this tale. The story line allows the delightful characters to show their true disposition and motives that dictate much of their behavior. Reminiscent of Joanne Dobson's style of writing, Nora Kelly has provided fans of academic cozies with a pleasant novel.