The Marsh Queen

April 1, 2022

DEBUT Hartman's first novel is interwoven with strong natural history themes, evoking the works of Barbara Kingsolver. Raised in the swamps of northern Florida, Loni Mae is now a bird artist with a plum job at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. When her mother starts showing signs of dementia, she returns to her hometown to help her brother sort through their mother's belongings, all the while stumbling over clues that seem to indicate their father's decades-ago death wasn't a suicide. On a quickly diminishing family leave, Loni Mae is unable to chart a path forward. She goes about her disorganized days juggling family expectations, questioning townsfolk about her father's death, sketching birds, and skittishly avoiding romance with a local man. The nonlinear story line is interspersed with long passages on drawing birds, the Floridian swamp, and gardening lore. Four-fifths of the way through the book, the action suddenly picks up when Loni Mae uncovers town secrets that threaten her understanding of the past. Her subsequent undertakings occur at an incongruously breakneck pace before the story wraps up a little too neatly with a family gathering at the nursing home. VERDICT Recommended for those who prefer happy endings.--Erin O. Romanyshyn

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May 9, 2022
Hartman debuts with a well-crafted and fast-paced family drama set in the Florida panhandle. As a girl raised on the edge of a marsh, Loni Murrow adores her Fish and Game officer father, Boyd. When Loni is 12, Boyd dies in what some insist is a boating accident, though others hint at suicide. Hartman flashes forward to the present day, 25 years later, with Loni working at the Smithsonian as a bird artist. When her brother, Phil, summons her to deal with their mother, Ruth, who has a broken wrist and possible dementia, Loni is plunged back into the small town she had hoped to leave behind. Phil and his hairdresser wife are moving Ruth into assisted living much too expeditiously for Loni’s taste, and selling Ruth’s house. Loni’s attraction to a canoe-rental proprietor, comforting visits with her dad’s avuncular former boss, and illustration work offered by her best friend at a science museum in Tallahassee keep her grounded as she investigates Boyd’s death, prompted by a mysterious letter found at Ruth’s house. The closer she gets to the truth, the more someone tries to scare her away with disturbing anonymous threats. Hartman’s depiction of the natural setting show her to be a talented writer, as do the well-executed takes on museum work, botany, and ornithology. Readers will hope to see Loni back for more.

June 30, 2022
Loni Mae Murrow has been haunted by her father's death since she was 12 years old. Her passion for drawing--and her desire to escape--led her away from her hometown of Tenetkee, Florida. Starting over as an ornithology artist, she now works at the Smithsonian. But when her mother has an accident, Loni's brother wants to move her to assisted living, and Loni must return to Tenetkee to help clear out the house. Loni finds a clue to the true circumstances of her father's death, a letter from a mysterious Henrietta. But with little evidence to go on and a reluctant set of witnesses, Loni flails. Her dogged investigation takes her from an unexpected romance to a dangerous game with a killer. With its atmospheric swampland setting, Hartman's debut brings to mind Delia Owens' blockbuster Where the Crawdads Sing (2018), while the mystery itself is on par with Stacy Willingham's A Flicker in the Dark (2022). While the plot has many different threads to follow, the fast pace and short chapters keep the story moving for an enjoyable ride.

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August 1, 2022
A dutiful family visit propels a young woman into the dark mysteries of her past. Loni Murrow loves her job as an ornithological illustrator for the Smithsonian, where she has dreamed of working since girlhood. Raised in the tiny Florida Panhandle town of Tenetkee, she high-tailed out of there as soon as she was old enough. She and her mother, Ruth, never got along, especially after Loni's father, Boyd, died when she was 12. His death was ruled an accidental drowning, but the Florida Fish & Game agent and inveterate angler knew the waters better than anyone, and rumors swirl. Loni reluctantly takes a leave from work and heads south after her mother breaks her wrist in a fall. When she gets to Tenetkee, she discovers her earnest younger brother, Phil, and his bossy wife, Tammy, have already stuck Mom in assisted living and found tenants for her house. Oh, and Ruth is well along into dementia, her house is a wreck, her memory's intermittent, and her attitude toward her daughter is as mean as ever. Loni hopes to get her settled and return to Washington quickly, but a mysterious note she finds in Ruth's suitcase sends her looking for the truth about Boyd. She looks for answers from his former boss, the kindly Capt. Chappelle, and other friends and neighbors. But someone who doesn't appreciate her investigation vandalizes her car. As Tenetkee grows to seem more ominous than laid back, Loni finds solace in canoeing its waterways--and in a growing friendship with Adlai Brinkert, the handsome fellow who owns the canoe rental shop. The book's lyrical evocations of natural Florida, beautiful but perilous, ring true, as does its depiction of the entanglements of small-town life. Family dynamics are a strong point, and the author builds suspense skillfully as Loni unearths connections between past and present that could be lethal. This debut novel, set in rural Florida, deftly combines family drama and tense thriller.

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