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Books > Fiction > Special features
First published in 1944 Fell Murder sees E.C.R. Lorac at the height
of her considerable powers as a purveyor of well-made, traditional
and emphatic detective fiction. The book presents a fascinating
`return of the prodigal' mystery set in the later stages of the
Second World War amidst the close-knit farmerfolk community of
Lancashire's lovely Lune valley. The Garths had farmed their
fertile acres for generations and fine land it was with the
towering hills of the Lake Country on the far horizon. Garthmere
Hall itself was old before Flodden Field, and here hot-tempered
Robert Garth, still hale and hearty at eighty-two, ruled his
household with a rod of iron. The peaceful dales and fells of the
north country provide the setting for this grim story of a murder,
a setting in fact which is one of the attractive features of an
unusual and distinctive tale of evil passions and murderous hate in
a small rural community.
In these short stories, Jack D. Forbes captures the remarkable
breadth and variety of American Indian life. Drawing on his skills
as scholar and native activist, and, above all, as artist, Forbes
enlarges our sense of how American Indians experience themselves
and the world around them.
Though all the main characters are of Indian descent, each is a
unique combination of tribal origin, social status, age, and
life-style-from native elder and college professor to lesbian
barmaid and Chicano adolescent. Nevertheless the U.S. government
(and perhaps white society as a whole) narrows the definition of
"Indian."
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