The story is set in Buffalo in 1901 just prior to the Pan American Exposition and President McKinley’s assassination. The hydro power of nearby Niagara Falls is being harnessed to produce electricity and a worker from the power plant dies under suspicious circumstances.

Headmistress Louisa Barrett investigates and shows us the ins and outs of society at that time.

Someone recommended this book to me the week before I visited Buffalo for the first time so I ran out to pick it up only to find a signed copy in my packet of conference materials!

Buffalo is rich with historical buildings and stories – everywhere we turned was the first of this or the best of that. Buffalonians have tons of civic pride.

This book really appealed to me because it described local places and confirmed stories I was hearing on tour. This is Lauren Belfer’s first novel and it drags in places, but I enjoyed it and would recommend.