Heritage of Darkness

by Kathleen Ernst

Overview

Dark Secrets Hidden in Norwegian Traditions

For curator Chloe Ellefson, a family bonding trip to Decorah, Iowa for rosemaling classes seems like a great idea-until the drive begins.

Chloe's cop friend Roelke takes her mother's talk of romantic customs good-naturedly, but it inflates Chloe's emotional distress higher with

each passing mile.

After finally reaching Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, Chloe's resolve to remain positive is squashed when she and Roelke

find Petra Lekstrom's body in one of the antique immigrant trunks. Everyone is shaken by the instructor's murder, and when Mom

volunteers to take over the beginners' class, Chloe is put in the hot seat of motherly criticism. As she investigates, Chloe uncovers dark family

secrets that could be deadly for Mom . . . and even herself.

Includes photos of featured artifacts from the real Norwegian-American Museum.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595988317
Publisher:	Three Towers Press
Publication date:	09/01/2021
Pages:	360
Sales rank:	427,090
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Kathleen Ernst is an award-winning author, educator and social historian. She has published fifteen novels and one nonfiction book, including her bestselling American Girl mystery, Danger at the Zoo, which was an Agatha Award finalist in the category of best children’s/young adult mystery. She took an interpreter job at Old World Wisconsin and later worked as a Curator of Interpretation and Collections at the historical site.

Editorial Reviews

10/01/2013
All is not serene in rural Iowa when a craft instructor's corpse turns up in an antique trunk. Historian Chloe's sleuthing instincts kick in; this is her fourth cozy outing (after The Light Keeper's Legacy).

Library Journal

2013-08-15
Murder is the latest exhibit in a Norwegian folk-art museum. Together with her boyfriend, police officer Roelke McKenna, and her mother, Marit, Old World Wisconsin curator Chloe Ellefson is visiting Decorah, Iowa. She and Marit are staying with an old friend while Marit renews old friendships and teaches a class in Rosemaling, the Norwegian art of decorative painting. Chloe signs up for the beginner class to try to forge a closer bond with her mother, who's a gold medalist in Rosemaling. Roelke has tagged along to spend more time with Chloe. Their Christmas vacation plans go awry when Chloe discovers the nearly lifeless body of Petra Lekstrom in a hand-painted trunk in the Vesterheim Museum. When Petra dies, Roelke is roped into helping the local police by providing behind-the-scenes information when he's not busy with his chip-carving class. The ever-curious Chloe, who has the ability to read vibes from inanimate objects, picks up some bad ones in the museum. Since Petra was a sly, competitive and manipulative person always trying to get an advantage over her fellow painters, it's no surprise that she had more enemies than friends. Several of her original group of artists have had bad luck over the years, but a series of attacks on them now makes Chloe eager to dig into the past many of them shared at Luther College long ago. Chloe's fourth (The Light Keeper's Legacy, 2012, etc.) provides a little mystery, a little romance and a little more information about Norwegian folk art and tales.

Kirkus Reviews