Janet Kellough – författare

When Nathan Elliott disappears, can a Methodist circuit rider discover what truly happened? After an absence of many years, Nathan Elliott returns to the lakeside village of Wellington in Ontario’s Prince Edward County to be at his dying father’s side. Within a few days of his return, his brother reports that Nathan disappeared while the two were cutting firewood and no trace of him can be found. Shortly after, Nathan’s wife arrives in the village. Claiming that she can contact the dead, she begins to hold séances for the villagers.Thaddeus Lewis, a Methodist circuit rider, is outraged. Lewis’s ethical objections propel him on a twisted path. On his journey, Lewis encounters towering sand dunes and a mysterious wild boy. After coming up against greed, fraud, and murder, can Lewis learn the truth about Nathan Elliott? Religious conflict and political dissension all play a part in this tale set in 1844 Upper Canada.

In this third novel in the series, Thaddeus Lewis and his son journey into the heart of disaster.When the bloated corpse of a man dressed in women’s clothing washes up on the shore of Lake Ontario near Thaddeus Lewis’s home, nothing is found on the body except a small scrap of green ribbon.The year is 1847 — "Black ’47" — and 100,000 Irish emigrants are fleeing to Canada to escape starvation. The emigrants bring with them the dreaded "ship’s fever," and soon Canadian ports are overflowing with the sick and dying and entire families are being torn apart. Lewis’s youngest son, Luke, who has aspirations of becoming a doctor, volunteers in the fever sheds in Kingston. When he finds a green ribbon on the lifeless body of a patient named John Porter, he is intrigued by the strange coincidence. Though dealing with demons of his own, young Luke enlists his father’s help to uncover the mystery, a tale of enmity that began back in Ireland. Their search leads them to the heart of the criminal underworld of Toronto, where the final acts of vengeance play out against the tragedy of the fever sheds.

Someone is digging up the graves at the Strangers’ Burying Ground in Toronto — the final resting place of criminals, vagrants, indigents, and alcoholics — and the only person who seems to care is the sexton, Morgan Spicer. The authorities are unconcerned; after all, for years the growing village of Yorkville has been clamouring to have the bodies moved and the Burying Ground closed.The distraught Spicer enlists the aid of his old friend Thaddeus Lewis, who has unexpectedly returned to preaching on the Yonge Street Circuit. The graveyard’s secrets lead Lewis and his son Luke into the hidden heart of 1851 Toronto where they discover a trail of corruption and blackmail tied to an old sexual scandal and a dangerous enemy intent on vengeance.

Thaddeus Lewis, an itinerant “saddlebag” preacher still mourns the mysterious death of his daughter Sarah as he rides to his new posting in Prince Edward County. When a girl in Demorestville dies in a similar way, he realizes that the circumstances point to murder. But in the turmoil following the 1837 Mackenzie Rebellion he can get no one to listen. Convinced there is a serial killer loose in Upper Canada, Lewis alone must track the culprit across a colony convulsed by dissension, invasion, and fear. His only clues are a Book of Proverbs and a small painted pin left with the victims. And the list of suspects is growing …