Death on the Prairie

by Kathleen Ernst

Overview

A Road Trip into the Past Turns Deadly

Chloe Ellefson and her sister, Kari, have long dreamed of visiting each historic site dedicated to Laura Ingalls Wilder. When Chloe takes custody of a quilt once possibly owned by the beloved author, the sisters set out on the trip of a lifetime, hoping to prove that Wilder stitched it herself. But death strikes as the journey begins, and trouble stalks their fellow travelers.

Among the Little House devotees are academic critics, greedy collectors, and obsessive fans. Kari is distracted by family problems, and unexpected news from Chloe's boyfriend jeopardizes her own future. As the sisters travel deeper into Wilder territory, Chloe races to discover the truth about a precious artifact-and her own heart-before a killer can strike again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595988355
Publisher:	Three Towers Press
Publication date:	09/01/2021
Pages:	356
Sales rank:	418,992
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Kathleen Ernst is an award-winning author, educator and social historian. She has published fifteen novels and one nonfiction book, including her bestselling American Girl mystery, Danger at the Zoo, which was an Agatha Award finalist in the category of best children’s/young adult mystery. She took an interpreter job at Old World Wisconsin and later worked as a Curator of Interpretation and Collections at the historical site.

Editorial Reviews

2015-07-16
Two sisters take a road trip that will change their lives. Chloe Ellefson, a collections curator at Old World Wisconsin, is a big fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder, so she's thrilled when her elderly neighbor Miss Lila brings her a quilt that may have been owned or even made by Wilder. Miss Lila wants Chloe to decide which of the many museums devoted to Wilder should get the quilt, but then she's killed in a break-in before Chloe can gather much information from her. Although Chloe's not very close to her sister, Kari, who's married to a dairy farmer and has two children, they both have happy childhood memories of the Little House books and the times they pretended to be Laura and her sister Mary. So she asks Kari to go with her to visit all the museum candidates. At their first stop, they're unable to prevent a young man from dying of anaphylaxis. Then Chloe finds herself interfering in a fight between a Wilder-obsessed wife and her controlling husband. The woman leaves her husband behind and joins the group on Alta Allerbee's Laura Land Tours bus. Chloe's dream trip keeps getting worse as she realizes Kari's hiding a secret and at least two of the people tagging along on the tour are violently anti-Wilder. Her struggles to uncover several secrets reveal some surprising things about her heroine. This sixth adventure for Chloe (Tradition of Deceit, 2014, etc.) is a real treat for Little House fans, a fine mystery supplemented by fascinating information on the life and times of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Kirkus Reviews