Second book in my R.I.P. XIII reading challenge and last in Barbara Hamilton's excellent Abigail Adams mystery series was Sup With Devil.
The year is 1774, and the nervous patriots of Boston are awaiting the ship from London that will determine the fate of the city and Massachusetts Colony for the crime of dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor the previous December.
Against this backdrop of tension, Abigail is sucked into life at Harvard College, where her erudite nephew is a scholar, and solves a murder of a student. The story involves pirates, buried treasure, prostitutes, alchemy, and a host of other delightful elements.
I absolutely adore this series, and am so sorry that I don't have another book in the series to read next October. The relationship between Abigail and husband John is simply wonderful, and I enjoy meeting other revolutionary notables such as Paul Revere, John Hancock, and the ever-maddening Sam Adams.
Hamilton gives them believable dialogue and characters, and I appreciate the details she piles on--Abigail having to do her housework (laundry, cooking, child rearing, cleaning, etc.) all while gadding off to Cambridge, Concord, Lexington, and other outlying villages around Boston.
The mystery itself is well-constructed and whodunit neatly hidden for most of the book
A thoroughly enjoyable historical mystery with one of America's leading ladies as the star.
