Jane Whitefield has been living quietly with her doctor husband in Amherst, New York, when the eight mothers of her Seneca clan descend on her in force. Her childhood friend, Jimmy Sanders, in under investigation for a murder he did not commit. Find him, the clan mothers tell Jane, and leave behind a string of purple and white beads. Jane knows what that means.

Giving a person a single string of ote-ko-a was also the traditional way for the clan mothers to appoint him to an office or give him an important task…The string of beads was an appointment to act as the agent of her people. It was a license, an assignment, a contract, a physical symbol of an agreement. It was all of these and none of them, but having it gave her a responsibility she couldn’t duck or amend.

There is no refusing this request, and so, much against the wishes of her husband, who had to patch her up the last time she came home from rescuing someone else, Jane is off on Jimmy’s trail. So are the state troopers, the late victim’s employer and all his men, and what appears to be the entire arm of the Adirondacks Mafia. No one is taking any prisoners, certainly not Jane and Jimmy and their steadily growing band of escapees.

A fun read with a wealth of detail about how to disappear and interesting stuff about the Seneca. Family is never easy, yours or anyone else’s. Recommended.

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Book Review Monday Chatter Uncategorized A String of Beads Thomas Perry