Old World Wisconsin
is a living history site devoted to telling the story of the German
Immigrants to Wisconsin. The site is beautifully designed with farms
showing how the settlers lived from the earliest immigrants to those
after the Civil War.
Chloe Ellefson is a
Curator at Old World Wisconsin and very proud of the living history
museum. She is planning a major event about the Civil War and wants
to highlight the lives of the individuals, but her boss has different
ideas. He wants to stage a reenactment of a Civil War battle. Chloe
is against it, but he insists believing it will bring more visitors.
However, when a reenactor's body turns up on one of the farms and
Roelke, a policeman and Chloe's boyfriend, suspects murder, the
celebration becomes more complicated.
The story takes
place on two levels. One is the present day celebration; the other is
a tale of tho early settlers Klaus and Rosina, who are Roethe's
forebears. The book follows both stories weaving the plots together
with the historic site.
The author knows a
great deal about the technical aspects of reenactments. I found it
fascinating. The historical detail is also well done. The story of
Klaus and Rosina has a tragic aspect that highlights the reality of
the settler's lives where marriage was often a matter of convenience
rather than love.
I did feel that the
search for the murderer contained too much redundant information. It
seemed that the characters kept repeating the same information over
and over. However, the inclusion of the Civil War love story keeps
the tension high.
If you enjoy a good
mystery with a historical context, you may enjoy this one.
I received the book
from Net Galley and Midnight Ink for this review.
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