Elder Legacies - Paperback

by Leenie Hobbie (Author)

ELDER LEGACIES, book one of the forthcoming Tommie Dubois Herbal History Mystery series, introduces Scottish immigrant, Thomasina 'Tommie' Dubois, 24 year-old war widow, and her16-year-old African American apprentice, Nell Fisher. Tommie and Nell own and operate a tearoom and apothecary in the Victorian home Tommie inherits. The bedroom

community of New Babylon, situated near the nation's capital, appears to be a sleepy village, but it holds dark secrets harking back to the days of slavery. Tommie and Nell discover the dead body of their boarder, Clarence Patterson. Has the deadly influenza raging across the globe struck, as the doctor hastily declares? This appears likely--- until Nell is abducted. A reluctant and inexperienced sleuth, Tommie rises to the challenge.

When Tommie first came to America her greatest wish was to become mistress of a traditional home filled with family and homemaking modeled after MRS. BEETON'S BOOK OF HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, a Victorian Martha Stewart. Tommie clings to the book's promises of orderly habits resulting in guaranteed happiness despite all evidence to the contrary. Ever optimistic and sometimes comically naïve, Tommie tries to make her way in a man's world and finds she may have more in common with the rabble-rousing suffragists than with Mrs. Beeton.