Alarmed by a call from Caroline, her 18 year old nice who works as an "interperter" at the famous 17 century village in Plymouth, Massachuestts, writer Miranda Lewis arrives at the historic tourist spot where Caroline plays the part of a pligrim maid, reenacting the daily life of the legendary Mayflower colony.
But here at the Plymouth Plantation, Miranda also discovers protesting Indians, hostil Pilgrims... and murder. When the decapitated head of Miles Standish- or rather, the man who plays him- rolls out of a wicker basket, suspicion falls on Caroline, who had a heated arguement with the victim the night before.
Determined to prove her niece innocent, Miranda starts nosing into the lives of the "interperters" and soon discover a sordid history of spilled blood, vengeance and a killer bent on a very permanent kind or reanactment.

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Historian Miranda's niece Caroline is working at Plimoth Plantation as an "interpreter", portraying one of the Pilgrim women. But when a severed head is found in Caroline's basket, the history that matters is much more recent.

Interesting insights into both Pilgrim history and the workings of Plimoth Plantation. Good mystery also.

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Fictional brew of history and mystery. Many Pilgrim references.

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This is a very good mystery that includes a lot of historical information about Plimoth Plantation and the Pilgrims as well as the Indians who interacted with them. Each chapter is headed by a quote from either Mourt's Relation or Good Newes From New England which are real accounts of Pilgrim life written in the 1600's.

The characters in the book are each very different and some are quite eccentric. In this installment of Leslie Wheeler's Miranda Lewis Mystery series, Miranda has a frantic communication from her niece who is an interpreter of living history at Plimoth Plantation, so Miranda goes right away to find a very disturbed niece, Caroline. The interpreters speak and dress in the manner of the day. The person who plays the part of Miles Standish is murdered in a very gruesome way and Miranda sets out to find out who killed him and why and also fears for her niece's safety.

This is a very enjoyable book and especially if you like history it has a lot of factual information in it. I found it to be a page-turner and highly recommend it to mystery lovers and historical mystery readers.

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Some good historical references- information we don't get in textbooks. The main character Miranda is likeable, in her 40's, divorced, no kids, so she's free to go wherever she wants.

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I wasn't too keen on this book overall. There were a lot of characters and it was hard to keep track of who was who. I was also confused by the supposed ages of some of these characters. I will say that the end had a good showdown that was pretty decent.

Having said that, if you have been to Plimoth Plantation (as I have), that part of the book is cool. If you know how the village is set up and how the "interpreters" play theri roles, it is fun to read a fictionalized account of them. Also knowing where the Eel River Walk and Native American homesite is located is helpful towards the end.

Sadly, I won't be reading another book by this author again.

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