The Great Houses of Pill Hill by Diane Josefowicz
Egyptologist, Victorianiana expert, and prolific author Diane Josefowicz has written The Great Houses of Pill Hill, a wickedly witty, sharp, and sophisticated locked-room mystery that takes place in a Gilded Age home in the fictional New England town of New Preston. The mesmerizing plot is far from formulaic or predictable, with each chapter revealing surprising twists.
Protagonist/narrator Hannah “Cookie” Cooke is a frustrated fine arts major turned interior designer somewhat envious of the success of former classmates achieving gallery representation and burgeoning careers. Her niche art specialty is the meticulous re-creation of rather macabre true crime scenes in accurate, to-scale dioramas. Three-dimensional miniature models have been created for museums, fine art displays and theatrical sets for over 200 years. Cookie constructs these unique puzzle boxes as an aid to her amateur detecting, hoping to gain insight by spotting overlooked clues. She has completed several devoted to infamous crimes, including the never-definitively solved Lizzie Borden case. When her work is featured as a last-minute addition in a local art gallery exhibition, it attracts the attention of police detective Phelps, who is sufficiently impressed to secure funding for a commission to construct a diorama depicting the scene of the crime in a current murder investigation.
A Dream Restoration Project
Cookie has developed a reputation for professionalism, technical skill, and knowledge of architectural designs through her work on various heritage property renovation projects. She is hired by wealthy power couple neurosurgeon Dr. Chuck Halsey and his wife Lana, owner and creative force behind Lana Pura, an upscale line of home textiles, to rehabilitate their recent acquisition. It’s her biggest project yet with a massive budget and the opportunity to showcase her talents to attract similar affluent clients.
The couple purchased an 1880 brick home designed by one of New England’s greatest architects in the area of town known as “Pill Hill,” a neighborhood once populated with prosperous doctors and their families. The exterior remains impressive with a patterned slate roof, copper gutters and hand-carved wood trims adorning a long portico. The interior is replete with chandeliers; grand rooms, including a glassed-in music room; original parquet floors hidden under rotting carpet; and everything dust-covered, showing signs of wear and neglect. Further inspection reveals a hidden room decorated with Egyptian iconography.
The antiquated and oddly situated kitchen, unsuitable for entertaining, is tiny, but Lana Halsey has specific requirements for a design magazine-worthy showstopper that include commercial-sized appliances and rift-sawn white oak countertops. To maintain structural integrity, the crumbling central chimney must remain to enable removing a wall to accommodate the new kitchen. Lana insists the already complicated blueprints be redrawn to include a rare beehive oven that was revealed during the destruction phase. Originally, this domed brick structure next to the kitchen hearth would have been used for baking or slow cooking. In addition to patience and diplomatic skills, the renovations will require multiple repairs, possible replacement of the entire infrastructure and an enormous infusion of cash before the real interior design work can begin. With their confidence in Lana as the arbiter of decision-making, the Halseys remain undaunted. Cookie’s dream job instantly morphs into a nightmare when client Chuck Halsey is discovered murdered during their housewarming bash — not just dead but burnt to a crisp in the new kitchen.
A Deadly Housewarming
Hannah Cooke’s moral compass markedly deviated from true north when she violated the unwritten professional code of ethics by having an affair with employer Chuck Halsey, even taking into account the indifference of his wife Lana. The emotion involved is decidedly more lust than love but suffices to motivate her to assist Detective Phelps in finding the killer. Additionally, the fact that Lana is out of communication and has not paid the final invoice may also be providing a significant incentive. A long list of shady characters and bizarre crime details begins to emerge: neurosurgeon Halsey has amassed a large number of negative reviews about his practice; the township is experiencing an increase in drug trafficking, and another inexplicable murder occurs.
Diane Josefowicz has written an engrossing, baffling riddle of a mystery. The Great Houses of Pill Hill will keep readers guessing until the last page is turned.
About Diane Josefowicz:
Diane Josefowicz is the author of Guardians & Saints: Stories, L’Air du Temps (1985), and Ready, Set, Oh: A Novel. She is also the author, with Jed Z. Buchwald, of two histories of Egyptology: The Zodiac of Paris and The Riddle of the Rosetta. She serves as managing editor of the Victorian Web, the internet’s oldest and largest website devoted to Victoriana. A graduate of Brown University, she holds a PhD in History of Science from MIT and an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Find her online at www.dianejosefowicz.com.
