Barbara R. (Crop4Fun) reviewed No Escape: A Masey Baldridge/Luke Williamson Mystery (Walker Mystery) on + 1217 more book reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Brewer does a fine job of capturing the horror of a real mass killer--yellow fever, aka Yellow Jack or Bronze John--in this finely wrought tale about the three partners of the Big River Detective Agency in Memphis, Tenn., in 1873. The three detectives are Masey Baldridge, a gimpy Confederate veteran; Luke Williamson, a Union gunboat pilot who's now captain of the steamboat Paragon; and ex-prostitute Salina (Sally) Tyner. They're engaged secretly by the mayor of Memphis to discover who has been skimming funds from the Howard Association, a benevolent group fighting the devastation of yellow fever. Williamson's role is quickly restricted as Memphis imposes a quarantine that isolates the Paragon and its passengers. Baldridge takes a direct approach, investigating the puzzling murders of people already dying of the fever. Sally dons the nursing garb of the Howard Association and gets a close look at the ravages of the fearsome disease. Brewer movingly evokes both the panic and the heroism engendered by a fever whose origin was then unknown and whose treatment and prevention were bitterly debated. The result is a mystery that engages the reader's attention at several levels simultaneously.
From Library Journal
The latest addition to Brewer's consistently engaging Mississippi riverboat series (No Remorse, LJ 8/97) shows Luke Williamson's ship quarantined during a yellow fever rampage in 1873. When murders occur on-board, Luke depends on Masey Baldridge and Salina for assistance. A sturdy read.
Brewer does a fine job of capturing the horror of a real mass killer--yellow fever, aka Yellow Jack or Bronze John--in this finely wrought tale about the three partners of the Big River Detective Agency in Memphis, Tenn., in 1873. The three detectives are Masey Baldridge, a gimpy Confederate veteran; Luke Williamson, a Union gunboat pilot who's now captain of the steamboat Paragon; and ex-prostitute Salina (Sally) Tyner. They're engaged secretly by the mayor of Memphis to discover who has been skimming funds from the Howard Association, a benevolent group fighting the devastation of yellow fever. Williamson's role is quickly restricted as Memphis imposes a quarantine that isolates the Paragon and its passengers. Baldridge takes a direct approach, investigating the puzzling murders of people already dying of the fever. Sally dons the nursing garb of the Howard Association and gets a close look at the ravages of the fearsome disease. Brewer movingly evokes both the panic and the heroism engendered by a fever whose origin was then unknown and whose treatment and prevention were bitterly debated. The result is a mystery that engages the reader's attention at several levels simultaneously.
From Library Journal
The latest addition to Brewer's consistently engaging Mississippi riverboat series (No Remorse, LJ 8/97) shows Luke Williamson's ship quarantined during a yellow fever rampage in 1873. When murders occur on-board, Luke depends on Masey Baldridge and Salina for assistance. A sturdy read.
