Till the Cows Come Home

March 15, 2004
Set in Pennsylvania dairy farm country, newcomer Clemens's absorbing mystery thriller explores the impact of runaway development and loss of agricultural land on farmers such as her engaging heroine, motorcycle-riding, 29-year-old Stella Crown. The story opens with the aftermath of a calving as graphic as any similar scene in James Herriott's All Creatures Great and Small
: "I tried to wipe the blood off my face, but my gloves were too messy... I looked down at my boots and they were hidden beneath birth muck and manure." This sets the tone for a series of menacing incidents—a leaking hole in a manure pit, a dead cow, a missing dog, a flooded barn—that spell trouble for Stella and others in her rural community. Worst of all is a mysterious illness afflicting children. The author excels at drawing true-to-life characters, including Howie, Stella's family farmhand of 20 years; Zach, her 14-year-old helper; Carla, the veterinarian who sews up the cow that delivers the calf; and her fellow bikers. An attractive barn painter and an old beau provide some romantic conflict, while a suave developer makes a splendid villain.

April 1, 2004
Stella Crown runs the family dairy farm with alone farmhand Howie to help her. Together they stave off rapacious developers who have been buying up land near Philadelphia-but at the expense of Stella's social life. Just about the time a particularly obnoxious developer is again rejected, things begin to go wrong: someone sabotages the manure lagoon, a cow is purposely killed, the electricity is tampered with, and so forth. In addition, two neighboring children have died from a mysterious, flulike disease. Stella, full of foreboding, retaliates. Talented first-timer Clemens's solid, commendable prose, in-depth characterization, and sympathetic subject matter make this a good choice for regional and larger mystery collections.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.