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| Plot Summary of Beaulah Hill |
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"This book by Mr. Heffernan takes place in the early 1930's in Jerusalem's Landing, Vermont. A white man is found on Beulah Hill murdered by multiple stabbings from a pitchfork. Jehiel Flood who is one of the black families left in the county owns Beulah Hill. Samuel Bradley is the local constable in charge of the investigation and he is considered bleached instead of white by law. This is making the townspeople angry because they have made up their mind that it was the black folks on the Hill that killed Royal Fermin and don't think that Samuel Bradley is the man to do the investigation. They think he could be prejudiced against the white folks in the community and will not find the real killer of Royal Fermin.
Samuel has had to enlist the help of Frenchy LeMay to help in determining who might have caused the death of young Royal and also to take some the heat off him because the white folks are saying Constable Bradley might be favoring the Negroes. In their quest to find the killer a lot of unrest is taking place between the whites and the blacks of Jerusalem Landing.
Also in this mix is a Negro woman by the name of Elizabeth, that is the local schoolteacher, and Samuel has been in love with her since he was a young boy. I believe the mystery is secondary to the story of Samuel discovering whether he is white or black and what that means to him.
This was a very gripping story and I loved the characters and was very saddened that this could have been the way of life in the 1930's during the depression when like was already tough on everyone. I will be looking for other books by Mr. Heffernan because he writes descriptively and I could actually feel and see Beulah Hill. This is definitely a five star book.
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Connie Rutter, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Beaulah Hill |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 40%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- depressing/sad
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- 1930's-1950's
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 80%
Murder of certain profession?
- "All in the family" murder
Misc. Murder Plotlets
- Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
Kind of investigator
- police procedural, American
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- minority/women/homosexual issues
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race
- Black
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- unemployed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
The antagonists are:
- racists/KKK
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Southeast
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 3-4
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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