**A secret from a grim page of American history threatens to destroy thousands of lives.** Gwen Marcey was tops in her forensic field. Then cancer struck, her husband left, and her teenage daughter engaged in active rebellion. Gwen's best chance to start a new life was a temporary job in...
**A secret from a grim page of American history threatens to destroy thousands of lives.**
Gwen Marcey was tops in her forensic field. Then cancer struck, her husband left, and her teenage daughter engaged in active rebellion. Gwen's best chance to start a new life was a temporary job in Utah reconstructing faces from an 1857 massacre site.
The Mountain Meadows Interpretative Center asked Gwen to reconstruct the faces of three intact bodies that were discovered from the wagon train massacre of more than 120 people by Mormon fanatics calling themselves Avenging Angels. But just as she is nearing completion on her reconstructions, things around the center turn deadly.
Gwen discovers the ritualized murder of a young college student with a stolen identity and is called on by the local police to use her forensic art skills to aid the investigation. Soon she discovers an uncanny resemblance between one of her reconstructions and the death mask of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church. And realizes that she's the next target of the recreated Avenging Angels who believe she has an icon from the grave.
Gwen must weave through a labyrinth of Mormon history, discovering secret societies and festering grudges in a race against time.
**A secret from a grim page of American history threatens to destroy thousands of lives.** Gwen Marcey was tops in her forensic field. Then cancer struck, her husband left, and her teenage daughter engaged in active rebellion. Gwen's best chance to start a new life was a temporary job in...
**A secret from a grim page of American history threatens to destroy thousands of lives.**
Gwen Marcey was tops in her forensic field. Then cancer struck, her husband left, and her teenage daughter engaged in active rebellion. Gwen's best chance to start a new life was a temporary job in Utah reconstructing faces from an 1857 massacre site.
The Mountain Meadows Interpretative Center asked Gwen to reconstruct the faces of three intact bodies that were discovered from the wagon train massacre of more than 120 people by Mormon fanatics calling themselves Avenging Angels. But just as she is nearing completion on her reconstructions, things around the center turn deadly.
Gwen discovers the ritualized murder of a young college student with a stolen identity and is called on by the local police to use her forensic art skills to aid the investigation. Soon she discovers an uncanny resemblance between one of her reconstructions and the death mask of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church. And realizes that she's the next target of the recreated Avenging Angels who believe she has an icon from the grave.
Gwen must weave through a labyrinth of Mormon history, discovering secret societies and festering grudges in a race against time.
Will she be able to stop another massacre?
A Cry From the Dust (#01 in Gwen Marcey Novel Series)$26.99
A Cry from the Dust is a fascinating blend of fact and fiction. The Mountain Meadows Massacre is a real historical event subject to a real-life cover-up. This makes it ideal as the basis for a suspenseful contemporary crime thriller, as the secrets from the past and the events of the present begin to intertwine in a fundamentalist conspiracy that could lead to another act of domestic terrorism on the anniversary of the Massacre: 11 September. \\r\\n\\r\\nThe plot is complex, with seemingly small events gradually growing in importance. Gwen is a fascinating character: a woman with an unusual and intriguing professional background combined with a difficult personal background (cancer, divorce and a rebellious teenage daughter) which means people think she's got mental health issues. She's intelligent and brave, my favourite kind of heroine. \\r\\n\\r\\nThere was one thing about the writing that was slightly 'off', although I was more than half way through the novel before I worked out what it was. Most of the story is written in first person, from Gwen's viewpoint, but there are occasional short scenes in third person viewpoint, from minor characters. I'm not a fan of mixing first and third person viewpoints, and while I've seen it done better I've also seen a lot worse. This was the only glitch in an otherwise excellent novel, and I look forward to reading more from Carrie Stuart Parks.
