Original Sin - Paperback

by Mary Monica Pulver (Author)

Kori Price Brichter planned on a wonderful Christmas. She and her police officer husband, Peter Brichter, had invited their friends, Frank and Mary Ryder and Gordon Ramsey, to spend the holiday with them, their son Jeep, and their nanny, Jill. Most important, Kori had invited Evelyn Biggins to join them. Having believed that all of her relatives had died, Kori was particularly thrilled to have found Evelyn, now her only living relative, to tell her of her family history. But Evelyn had only been in the house for a few hours when she was found, dead, in the house's library, victim of an apparent murder. Since the guests were now isolated in house because of a blizzard, the only possible conclusion is that one of them had killed Evelyn. But who? "A bright gleam of the golden age peeks through in Original Sin and brings the word classic right up to date. All are party to a death that couldn't have been committed by any of them. With astute misdirection and a cleverly concealed motive, Pulver has constructed a mystery of legendary proportions." -Ellen Nehr, Murder ad lib "In Original Sin, Mary Monica Pulver offers a delightful 1990s version of the classic traditional mystery. The setting is a country mansion (in the American Midwest) at Christmas, isolated by a snowstorm, with a group of people hiding various guilty secrets. The plot is beautifully and fairly constructed, and readers who enjoy good puzzles will find a great one here. But those who prize interesting characters won't be disappointed. Further acquaintance with Kori and Peter Brichter and new baby Jeep will only whet the appetite for more books in the series. Altogether, Original Sin is a sparkling, thoroughly enjoyable novel-absolutely perfect holiday reading " -Dean James, Manager, Murder by the Book "Mary Monica Pulver is one of the best-kept secrets in mystery.... She turns out some of the finest books going. Original Sin is so elegant it takes your breath away." -Drood Review of Mystery "Clever trickery in the John Dickson Carr classic locked-room puzzle-mode.... A clever, cozy read." -American Bookseller

Author Biography

Mary Monica Pulver is an incidental Hoosier -- Terre Haute, Indiana, had the hospital closest to her parents' home in Marshall, Illinois. She spent the later part of her childhood and early adult life in Wisconsin, graduating from high school in Milwaukee. She was a journalist in the U.S. Navy for six and a half years (two in London), and later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Mary Monica sold her first short story, "Pass the Word," to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, in 1983, and has since sold more than two dozen short stories to anthologies and magazines, including some in Germany, England, Italy and France. She has appeared in such anthologies as The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, Shakespearean Mysteries, Royal Whodunnits, Unholy Orders, Murder Most Crafty, and Silence of the Loons. Her first mystery novel, Murder at the War, appeared from St. Martin's Press in 1987 and was nominated for an Anthony as Best First Novel. The Unforgiving Minutes and Ashes to Ashes followed in 1988; but Original Sin was sold to Walker, who also presented the fifth book, Show Stopper, in May of 1992. Berkley Diamond brought these mysteries out in paperback. They feature detective Peter Brichter - a cop one reviewer said was "a hardboiled sleuth who's somehow landed in a cozy mystery." In 1998 Mary Monica began writing a new series for Berkley featuring amateur needleworking sleuth Betsy Devonshire. Set in Excelsior, Minnesota, Crewel World came out in March and was followed by 18 other titles in the series. These light and traditional novels are written under the pseudonym Monica Ferris, and all have gone to multiple printings - the first one is in its thirteenth printing! Mary Monica has won a place on national and local best-seller lists, including USA Today and the independent mystery bookstore compilation. She is a member of Sisters in Crime (a national organization that promotes women who write mystery fiction), remains a paid speaker on the life of a mystery author.