Book Review: Barbara Hamilton’s The Ninth Daughter

Posted January 16, 2011 by Kathy Davie in Book Reviews

I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Source: the library
Book Review: Barbara Hamilton’s The Ninth Daughter

The Ninth Daughter


by

Barbara Hamilton


amateur sleuth, historical mystery in a paperback edition that was published by Berkley on September 1, 2009 and has 359 pages.

Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon


Other books by this author which I have reviewed include A Marked Man

First in the Abigail Adams amateur sleuth historical mystery series set in Boston, Massachusetts.

My Take

Took forever before I realized why the title…and so very appropriate it was too on two levels. Abigail herself, a ninth daughter of Eve, who goes poking her nose into things that don’t concern her. And Abigail’s time period, the 1760s, when religion was the be-all and end-all of everyone’s world.

A fascinating mystery set by Hamilton incorporating as primary characters, the Sons of Liberty and their families, showing us the real personalities living the fight for freedom from English royal tyranny. Hamilton does a lovely job of portraying the mores, culture, style, and passion of the time bringing the dry facts we learned in History class to life in a very unexpected manner.

It appears that Abigail Adams (Mrs. John Adams) is the primary heroine, no surprise there, with a heart of gold and a nose (or need!) for fighting injustice. In The Ninth Daughter she stands up to Sam Adams’ obsession with nothing interfering with the goals of the Sons even if it means allowing a murderer to run free by asserting that finding her missing friend is part and parcel of what their common goals are all about — justice for all. That one cannot pick and choose what to uphold.