Quaker Indictment

NY Times Book Review

Quietly affecting...[this] Quaker has the strength of her beliefs -- and a good head on her shoulders.

San Francisco Chronicle

One of the most endearing detectives of recent years.

Publishers Weekly

A villainous government agency crosses swords with Elizabeth Elliot, Clerk of the Cambridge, Mass., Friends Meeting, in the fourth of Irene Allen's Quaker series (Quaker Testimony, 1996). Now in her 60s, Elizabeth is visiting her old college friend Rebecca Nichols in Seattle. Rebecca is determined to prove the existence of radioactive compounds in the soil and water around the Hanford, Wash., plutonium plant, believing the contaminants responsible for the cancers that killed her mother, her father and her sister. On an expedition to collect soil samples, Rebecca is arrested by security men; later that day, she is found dead of a gunshot wound near her home. Elizabeth teams up with Dr. Meghan Zillann, a decidedly un-Quaker friend of Rebecca's, to pin the murder on the Hanford security force. Starting slowly and pausing frequently to preach against the evils of a government that would contaminate the land while manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, the story eventually reaches an exciting conclusion and a surprising murderer. As in all of Allen's books, the story focuses on a moral dilemma and Elizabeth's deep religious convictions dictate how she reacts. Unworldly as she might be and nearly crippled with arthritis, she reads the clues smartly and even takes physical action when she must. Readers may, however, find that the polemics, especially in the opening sections of the book, overwhelm the narrative. (Feb.)

Kirkus Reviews

A fourth episode in this series of low-keyed mysteries starring Elizabeth Elliot, an elderly Quaker widow from Cambridge, Mass. (Quaker Testimony, 1996, etc.). Here, Elizabeth has flown to Seattle to meet Reba Nichols, her lifelong friend from college days. The two are staying at the house of Reba's deceased parents in Richland, on land bordering the old Hanford nuclear site, which produced plutonium during WW II and still employs some locals. Reba is reluctant to sell her inherited property, convinced that people in the area are suffering from radioactive poisoning. She plans to take soil and water samples for expert analysis before confronting government authorities. With the help of Elizabeth, Reba gathers her samples, moving at one point onto the Hanford sitewhere she's stopped by security guards and taken away in a jeep. Elizabeth drives back to the town, expecting to meet Reba there after her release. Instead, her friend's body is found shot to death outside her house, and Al Cartwright, one of the guards, denies ever seeing her. Elizabeth gets little assistance from Sheriff Tomlinson but strong support from Reba's young friend Dr. Meghan Zillainas determined as Elizabeth is to find Reba's killer . . . a mission finally accomplished with a little help from Meghan's trusty dog Panda. A straightforward look at a hardscrabble community with a real-life problem, its momentum slowed by Elizabeth's preachy musings and a flabby, not-so-convincing solution. Still, mildly entertaining.