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Isadore's Secret: Sin, Murder, And Confession In A Northern Michigan Town (2008)

by Mardi Jo Link(Favorite Author)

3.68 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0472050796 (ISBN13: 9780472050796)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

University of Michigan Press/Regional

review 1: Good job of making a century-old murder come to life. Since I live in Michigan, I was somewhat familiar with the story about the murder of a nun in a small parish near Cedar, Mi. Mardi Link writes true crime with lots of life and just enough documentation that you know she checked it out. She also adds in interesting details about the time of the year, the crops the farmers would have been growing at the time, quotes from the nun's book, Polish customs, etc. The interesting thing is that the bones which were dug up in the church basement include an unborn fetus, yet even in the trial this is never mentioned, with only a brief excuse that the prosecution felt the woman had suffered enough without casting doubts on her virtue. But to me the all male court system wasn't prote... morecting the dead nun's reputation but the reputation of the child's father... not to mention the possibility that the father was the murderer not the person convicted. Can't understand why the defense didn't bring it up except their access to evidence was severely limited. This is the one fact in the book that seems more rumor than truth since it is never mentioned in the official record. She may well have been pregnant but I wanted that fact dealt with more directly in the book and it wasn't.
review 2: Marti Link created a very intriguing, well researched and written book. An unusual murder mystery, that says much about this Polish immigrant community. While vacationing in Northern Michigan, I attended Mass at Holy Rosary church in Leland, and later found out it was the setting of an actual murder of a nun, the premise of Isadore's Secret. Being from Michigan and personally knowing of the places mentioned in the book, made the book even more engaging. However, even if you are not from Michigan, you will still find Isadore's Secret a page turning. less

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