CANR
WORK TITLE: Murder of a Recluse
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.JeanneDams.com/
CITY: South Bend
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 322
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 19, 1941, in South Bend, IN; daughter of Lawrence (a teacher) and Mildred Martin; married Edward Dams, June 19, 1971 (died, 2009).
EDUCATION:Purdue University, B.S., 1963; University of Notre Dame, M.A., 1970.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
AVOCATIONS:Music, hats, miniatures, cats, Victoriana.
AWARDS:Agatha Award for best first novel, Malice Domestic, 1995, for The Body in the Transept.
POLITICS: Independent. RELIGION: Episcopalian.WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Jeanne M. Dams is the author of two popular series of mystery novels: the “Dorothy Martin” series and the “Hilda Johansson” series. In the first series, protagonist Martin is an expatriate and amateur sleuth reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. She is widowed, in her sixties, and, as a reviewer for Publishers Weekly put it, “known for her eccentric hats and snoopy nature.”
In Dams’s first novel, The Body in the Transept, Dorothy Martin has just moved from America to England to settle in the fictional university town of Sherebury. She soon discovers a new romantic interest in the town’s chief constable, Alan Nesbitt, and a mystery in the form of a dead body during a Christmas Eve service in Sherebury’s historical cathedral. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: “Dorothy charmingly insinuates herself into village life … talking to neighbors and befriending others … and determinedly pursuing the killer even as she puts herself in danger.”
Trouble in the Town Hall, the second “Dorothy Martin” mystery, revolves around a conflict as to whether Sherebury’s ancient town hall building should be renovated or turned into a shopping mall. After discovering the dead body of a vagrant in the building’s broom closet, Dorothy again relies on village gossip for most of her clues in bringing the killer to justice. Convinced that the murder has something to do with the debate over the disposition of the town hall, she interviews some of Sherebury’s most eminent citizens, including a wealthy builder and an ardent historical preservationist. In Booklist, Emily Melton described the book as “quaint, old-fashioned, and charming,” and maintained: “This gentle British cozy is sure to be popular.”
In Holy Terror in the Hebrides, Dorothy Martin goes on holiday to the Scottish Isle of Iona and finds herself inadvertently in the company of a multi-denominational tour group of religious leaders from America. The fractious group includes a rabbi, a Catholic nun, a Lutheran organist, a Baptist choir director, and a Methodist youth organizer. When the Methodist “accidentally” falls to his death, Dorothy has her suspicions and must pursue them until the truth is uncovered. John Rowen stated in his Booklist review: “Dams’ third novel freshens the English whodunit with a clever plot, snappy pace, and spirited dialogue. The book exudes the atmosphere of the British Isles: quiet village churches, chases across moors, and stormy nights with trees crashing through stout, shuttered walls.”
As Malice in Miniature opens, Dorothy has just married Sherebury Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, and the newlyweds are living together in a seventeenth-century cottage. Their charwoman’s son, Bob Finch, is accused of stealing from a local miniatures museum, and Dorothy agrees to help prove his innocence. Although Bob is cleared of the theft, he soon becomes a suspect in a murder. A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that Malice in Miniature will “delight cozy fans anew” and noted: “Martin manages to get around the British reserve of most of the villagers as she steers this tightly paced, thoroughly entertaining tale to its unpredictable finale.”
The Victim in Victoria Station takes Dorothy to London after her husband Alan leaves on a business trip to Africa. When Dorothy discovers that the young businessperson with whom she conversed earlier has died and sees no mention of his death in the newspapers, she decides to investigate. She learns that the young man was the CEO of a burgeoning software company and finds several suspects in his company, where she works undercover as a temporary secretary. The tension rises when Dorothy stumbles into another murder mystery. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked: “Although the finale is not especially surprising, it is gratifying.”
After spending three years in England, Dorothy returns to Hillsburg, Indiana, in Killing Cassidy. David Cassidy, an old friend, dies and leaves Dorothy 5,000 dollars if she can discover who killed him. Dorothy’s husband helps her solve Cassidy’s murder. “[Dorothy] Martin has a genuine knack for transplanting the gentle British mystery to American soil,” concluded Pitt in a review for Booklist. He added that “with its finely detailed (and immensely likable) characters and interesting but not convoluted plot, this is one of those mysteries that goes best with a blanket and a cup of tea.” “Although cloying at times, Dams writes with a good ear for Midwestern dialogue and develops her characters lovingly,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer.
In To Perish in Penzance, Dorothy takes her retired constable husband, Alan, on a vacation to Cornwall, the site of a past unsolved murder that plagues him. Dorothy and Alan meet another couple interested in the same murder, which involved a woman with long blonde hair whose body was discovered in a cove in Penzance. When the couple’s adopted daughter is found dead in the same cove, the situation escalates.
“Dorothy is salty and strong-minded, but she always remembers her hats and her sunscreen; her British spouse is genial and gentle but always an ex-copper. Drug dealing, the antiques trade, and Cornwall itself, its beauty and its history of smuggling, all play roles in this lively cozy,” observed Booklist reviewer GraceAnne A. DeCandido. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that in To Perish in Penzance, “Dams treats the vagaries of aging with a warm, companionable touch, and she’s no slouch at plotting either.”
Dorothy appears again in Sins out of School. When nine-year-old Miriam Day’s schoolteacher mother is accused of fatally stabbing her father, Dorothy takes in the little girl, who quickly captures Dorothy’s heart. Dorothy’s husband encourages her to solve the murder.
“An estranged father who is a major public figure; a religious sect leached of all kindness; and a lot of bad accounting keep Dorothy on track, even as she tries to produce an American Thanksgiving in England and not tread too heavily on the toes of the investigating officers, erstwhile colleagues of her spouse,” wrote DeCandido in a review for Booklist. Any “fan of the English cozy will put the kettle on, snuggle under a lap rug, and sigh contentedly while Dorothy chats up village eccentrics, meddles her way from pub to church manse, and resolves matters with Miss Marple flair,” concluded a contributor to Kirkus Reviews.
In Winter of Discontent, Dorothy puts off Christmas preparations in order to help her neighbor and good friend, Jane Langland, track down her missing beau, the local museum curator, Bill Fanshawe. Aided by her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbit, the aging Dorothy gets more than she bargained for, finding Fanshawe’s dead body in the Roman tunnel that runs under the museum. In his hand is a coded letter. Things get out of hand when the assistant curator is attacked and then the prime suspect in this tale, which hails back to World War II, is killed. A Kirkus Reviews contributor was not overly optimistic about this ninth series installment, calling it a “so-so puzzle that threatens to drown readers in tea but excels as a primer on aging.” A much higher evaluation was offered by a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who found the novel a “captivating … mystery.” Similarly, Booklist writer DeCandido felt that this series addition “will be eagerly awaited” by series fans.
Dams returns to the cozy adventures of Dorothy Martin in A Dark and Stormy Night, which has a “classic Agatha Christie plot,” according to Booklist contributor Barbara Bibel. Here, Dorothy and her husband are invited to a weekend party at a restored country house. When a storm hits, the party is cut off from the outside world, and then Dorothy and her husband begin discovering bodies in various stages of decomposition. Assuming that the murderer is one of the guests at the party, they must keep things together until power is restored. Bibel further dubbed this a “very traditional British cozy,” while a Publishers Weekly reviewer similarly noted that “fans of traditional English mysteries should be satisfied.” Likewise, a Kirkus Reviews writer commented: “A country-house weekend provides the perfect setting for an Agatha Christie homage.”
On vacation in the Cotswolds in The Evil That Men Do, Dorothy and Alan discover a dead body in a quarry. This turns out to be a local farmer, and when Dorothy begins her own investigation, her focus is a strange young man covered with blood who was riding on a motorcycle when she and Alan encountered him not long after finding the body. Things get more complicated when this young man, Paul Jones, in turn goes missing. Then an old family friend of Paul’s, Jo Carter, turns up to inform Dorothy that Paul is actually a rock star in hiding. A Publishers Weekly reviewer appreciated the setting of this novel, but went on to complain that the “mystery itself is vague, illogical, and far too bland.” Other reviewers had a higher assessment of The Evil That Men Do. “British cozy fans will enjoy the idyllic Cotswolds setting,” noted Bibel in her Booklist review. Similarly, a Kirkus Reviews contributor noted: “British cozy fans will enjoy the idyllic Cotswolds setting.”
In The Corpse of St James’s, Dorothy and her husband are in London to attend a ceremony honoring their friend Jonathan when they discover a body. Jonathan later admits to knowing the victim but fears that sharing more information will cost his good friend her job at Buckingham Palace. While a Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that “a heroine who continually complains about her enviable travels may annoy some readers,” a Kirkus Reviews critic found The Corpse of St James’s to be “one of Dams’ better mysteries, packed with the details sure to delight anglophiles.”
A music festival and a string of suspicious boat accidents catch the attention of Dorothy and Alan in Murder at the Castle, published in 2013. Noting that the plot occasionally verges on melodrama, a Publishers Weekly critic nonetheless proclaimed: “Anglophiles, music lovers, and cozy readers will sing ‘alleluia.’” “Dorothy … always delivers good fun for lovers of traditional mysteries,” wrote David Pitt in Booklist.
Shadows of Death takes Dorothy and Alan to the Orkney Islands, where discoveries in a recent Neolithic excavation lead to conflict among archaeologists, one of whom turns up dead. Publishers Weekly critic noted the “ample historical lore and gorgeous descriptions of scenery.” “Dams extends her list of pleasant British cozies … with another installment marked by her trademark local color and another solid mystery,” concluded a Kirkus Reviews critic.
Dorothy and her husband are serving together on the Crown Appointments Commission in Day of Vengeance; their task is to find the next bishop for Sherebury Cathedral. Of course, nothing in Dorothy’s world is ever that simple, and after she interviews the Reverend Andrew Stephen Owen Brading, he is murdered. Dorothy’s husband becomes one of the prime suspects, so Dorothy sets out to clear his name. She centers her investigation on the rest of the Sherebury bishop candidates. Along the way, she learns that the finances at the Reverend Geoffrey Lovelace’s church have been faked, revealing that there may be more crimes afoot than Dorothy thought. As John Forrester noted on the Crimescene Web site, “Martin and her fellow amateur sleuths, including her ex policeman husband don’t really start a proper investigation until the end of the book, which is when it really picks up.” Booklist correspondent Pitt was also impressed, asserting that “longtime fans will already be lining up … and first-time readers will almost certainly want to start playing catch-up.” Furthermore, a Publishers Weekly critic announced that “Anglophiles, especially those with an ecclesiastical bent, will find much to savor.”
Dorothy’s adventures in the next series installment, The Gentle Art of Murder, also fared well with critics. The story centers on a party at a nearby college. A dead body is found during the festivities, and Dorothy and her husband decide to investigate. The college campus and related party both mean that there is no shortage of suspects, and a Publishers Weekly contributor advised that “fans of warm and fuzzy traditional English mysteries will be satisfied.” Pitt, writing in Booklist, was also impressed, and she declared that the “‘Dorothy Martin’ books are always entertaining and satisfying.”
Dorothy and her husband again find themselves caught up in collegiate intrigue in Blood Will Tell, though this time they have traveled to Cambridge. Since Alan is a retired policeman, he has decided to head to a police conference to catch up with old friends and colleagues. Dorothy comes along for the trip and decides to tour the historic St. Stephen’s campus on her own. She ends up getting lost, wanders into a science lab, and finds herself in the middle of a murder scene; there is blood but no body. Dorothy runs for help, but by the time she returns, all traces of blood are gone. Dorothy’s husband even begins to question his wife’s sanity, but Dorothy is adamant, and she even convinces a another detective to look into it. The detective believes Dorothy encountered a student prank, and the blood was from a lab animal, but then Dorothy uncovers a scalpel with human blood, and the case truly begins to develop from there.
While most critics lauded the tale, a Kirkus Reviews contributor stated that “it’s an average mystery saved, especially for Anglophiles, by an atmospheric look at the famous university.” On the other hand, a Publishers Weekly columnist found that “Anglophiles will relish every aspect.” Booklist correspondent Pitt offered praise as well, remarking that “a new entry in this series is always welcome for fans of fictional amateur sleuths.”
Smile and Be a Villain, the eighteenth “Dorothy Martin” installment, met with praise as well, and a Booklist reviewer Karen Keefe Smile called it “another charming cozy featuring two very likable senior sleuths who show no signs of slowing down.” A Knitnread Web site correspondent simply called Smile and Be a Villain “a good British cozy.” Offering further applause in Publishers Weekly, a critic cited the novel’s vacation setting, noting that “Alderney’s scenic beauty contrasts nicely with the villain’s dark background and evil plans.”
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Death Comes to Durham, like many of the mysteries featuring Dorothy Martin, is built around a trip. In this case, Dorothy and husband Alan have come to Durham, England, where it seems to rain more often than not. They tour castles, wander the medieval city, and go to the cathedral, and they also meet their friend David and his elderly great-aunt Amanda, who has dementia and lives in an expensive nursing home. The mystery arrives when Amanda is accused of murdering a fellow resident by smothering him with a pillow. Amanda cannot remember anything and therefore cannot defend herself, so Dorothy takes up her case.
A writer in Kirkus Reviews particularly enjoyed this installment. They described it as “a travelogue, a complex mystery, and an empathetic look at the horrific nature of dementia.” A contributor in Publishers Weekly agreed. They wrote that “cozy fans and Anglophiles will be satisfied.”
After The Bath Conspiracy, the next book in the series was A Deadly Web. Alan’s great-niece Lucy has arrived for a university conference and wants to see Alan and Dorothy while she is there. The couple soon discover that something is not quite right about Lucy’s fiancé Iain, and they start investigating his background, but then he is killed in a hit-and-run. Dorothy wonders if it was an accident or murder. The deeper her investigation goes, the more complicated it becomes.
“Old-fashioned British mores take some very modern twists in this charming mystery,” wrote a contributor in Kirkus Reviews. David Pitt, in Booklist, agreed, calling it “as lively and satisfying as the earliest books in the series” and a “treat for fans.” He particularly enjoyed the larger role Alan plays in this installment, writing that “he and Dorothy make an effective team.”
Dorothy and Alan are off to the beautiful Lake District of England in Village Politics Can Be Murder. When a local politician turns up dead, it is not clear if he had a medical emergency or if one of his many enemies decided to do him in. In her investigation, Dorothy has to unlock the scandalous secret someone is trying to keep hidden.
A writer in Kirkus Reviews was particularly taken with this one, calling it “one of the best” of the series in how it combines travelogue and mystery. Emily Melton, writing in Booklist, described it as a “quintessential British cozy that will appeal” to fans of the genre.
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“Hilda Johansson” Series
The “Hilda Johansson” series takes place in South Bend, Indiana, in the early 1900s. “In a genre with no shortage of amateur sleuths in period costume, Hilda is one of the most memorable: a maid in the household of the fabulously wealthy Studebaker family, a Swedish girl still relatively new to the U.S. (and still fumbling with her English), a totally unlikely detective,” observed David Pitt in Booklist. Pitt found that the secret to Dams’s success with this series “is in the details: she plunks us firmly down in early-twentieth-century Indiana.”
Death in Lacquer Red is the first in Dams’s historical mystery series, in which Hilda discovers the body of a female missionary in her employer’s yard. “Hilda feels obligated to fight against narrow-minded police and typical social/cultural prejudice as she manages to unearth crucial clues,” explained Rex E. Klett in a review for Library Journal. Booklist contributor Pitt felt that the mystery is easy to solve but added: “The world as seen through Hilda’s eyes is a slightly unfamiliar place and readers will have a great time getting to know it.”
Dams’s next novel in the “Hilda Johansson” series, Red, White, and Blue Murder, was published in 2000. When President McKinley is assassinated, Hilda Johansson and others worry about the effect it will have on them as members of the working class. Having already solved one murder, Hilda investigates this one, a move that requires confronting anarchists.
“Jeanne M. Dams brilliantly weaves the class structure and its impact on behavior inside the who done it,” concluded Harriet Klausner on the Under the Covers Web site. In an interview published on the Writers Write Web site, Dams discussed the book’s inspiration: “I wanted to base the book on a real historic event and keep it in chronology, which would place it in 1901. The most important world event in 1901 was the assassination of President McKinley. Since he actually had some South Bend ties, it seemed logical to build the book around his death.” Klausner felt that the book “will appeal to fans of amateur sleuths mysteries as well as historical fiction buffs.”
In Green Grow the Victims, Hilda is asked by her family to help find her Uncle Dan, a flashy city council candidate who disappeared after talking to a political rival, who was later found dead. Hilda’s employer gives her a week off to investigate. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that Hilda’s sleuthing “methods are largely guesswork, the plot thin and improbable,” but also commented that “Dams’s prose moves smoothly along.” Writing in Booklist, Pitt found about the book worthy of praise. “This is the kind of book you don’t just read, you step into,” he concluded.
Pitt dubbed Silence Is Golden “a real corker.” This “Hilda Johansson” mystery takes place in 1903 when the circus has come to town. Fritz, a friend of Hilda’s younger brother Erik, decides to join the circus and become a trapeze artist. Things go awry when the real trapeze artists disappear. Fritz is found in a barn brutally beaten, but his injuries do not absolve him from suspicion. Later, when Erik also disappears, Hilda worries that she may have to tell her mother that she has lost her younger brother and that he may be the latest victim in a string of murders. Pitt felt the book has “great characters” and a “fascinating history,” and is a “compelling mystery.”
Dams continues Hilda’s story in Crimson Snow. In the winter of 1904, the servant of the Studebaker family is confronted with a family dilemma: her younger brother Erik’s teacher, Sophie Jacobs, has been found brutally murdered, and Erik wants Hilda to look into the woman’s death. Hilda finds out that Sophie is not the only woman to suffer a mysterious fate in recent South Bend history; research reveals that “other young women have gone missing,” stated a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “including Miss Jacobs’s best friend, Miss Lewis,” whom rumor says was pregnant when she left town. Hilda’s situation is complicated when her employer, Colonel George Studebaker, asks her to look into the situation—one of his close friends has been implicated in Sophie’s murder. “Erik’s bellhop pals pitch in to hunt for clues,” declared a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “while Hilda, adept at interviewing maids and millionaires, starts sleuthing.”
“The mystery of the death of the schoolteacher escalates,” wrote Mary Ann Smyth in her BookLoons Web site review of Crimson Snow, “as Hilda braves freezing weather and danger to bring the culprit to justice.” In addition, Hilda’s longtime boyfriend, fireman Patrick Cavanaugh, having just been made a partner in his uncle’s dry-goods store, has asked her to marry him. “The who-done-it is cleverly designed to keep readers guessing,” Harriet Klausner declared on the Books ‘n’ Bytes Web site, “while also fostering further insight into … the turn of the century.” “Readers who enjoy the author’s subtle observations,” stated David Pitt in a Booklist review, “will not be disappointed.” “Like many history/mystery authors,” concluded Brenda Weeaks in her MyShelf.com review, Dams “informs readers while testing the armchair detective in them.”
By the time Indigo Christmas begins at the end of 1904, Hilda’s life has changed forever. She has risen from being a servant in a wealthy family to being mistress of her own household, and she is having trouble adjusting to the changes her shift in status has forced on her. Estranged from her former working-class friends (in part because she now employs servants of her own), but not accepted into middle-class society, Hilda is alone as never before. Even her supposedly blissful marriage is riven by the cultural divide that separates her Swedish family from Patrick’s Irish one. In addition to cultural issues, there are religious problems: Hilda’s family is Lutheran and Patrick’s is Catholic. She becomes involved in a society plan to throw a Christmas party for poor boys—a party that has more to do with the wealthy class’s concern for its charitable reputation than it does for the needs of the boys involved. When Hilda’s only remaining friend, Norah O’Neill, becomes deeply upset when her husband, Sean, is arrested on murder and arson charges, Hilda is determined to prove his innocence. In order to do so, she enlists the aid of the “Baker Street Irregulars,” a group of poor and sometimes even homeless young boys, to investigate. “The boys are eager participants, asking questions of people and relaying the information to her,” reported a Mysterious Reviews Web site contributor, who added: “In exchange they are rewarded with chocolate or nickels. With what she learns, and from her own observations, [Hilda] manages to piece together a potential solution to the crime.”
“The novel has a suspenseful story,” wrote Pitt in Booklist, “but … the characters and setting … really capture our interest.” “Hilda is a strong character,” declared Mary Ann Smyth on the BookLoons Web site, “loved to distraction by her husband who realizes he can’t tame her and doesn’t try.” “Hilda continues to grow as a character, facing the changes in her life with fortitude and determination,” wrote P.J. Coldren on the Reviewing the Evidence Web site. “Series fans will be well satisfied,” stated a Publishers Weekly contributor. “ Indigo Christmas is another good read in Dams’ series,” Coldren concluded. “Would that there were more.”
Hilda is pregnant in the seventh installment of the “Hilda Johansson” mysteries, Murder in Burnt Orange. Confined to the house in the last weeks of her pregnancy, Hilda manages to do long-distance sleuthing, looking into a suspicious train wreck by commissioning family members to ask questions around town.
A contributor to the Historical Novel Society Web site noted of this work: “Although solidly researched and well-plotted, this moved a lot slower than other ‘Hilda Johansson’ mysteries.” Writing on the Genre Go Round Reviews Web site, Harriet Klausner felt, however, that this “whodunit is complex with several twists and theories,” and BookLoons Web site reviewer Smyth also had praise for the novel, noting that a “lovely surprise finishes the book.” Booklist contributor Pitt likewise termed this “another strong entry in this consistently fine series.”
"Oak Park Village" Series
In Murder in the Park, Dams introduced a new series (the “Oak Park Village” series) with a new setting, the wealthy Chicago suburb of Oak Park in the 1920s. The protagonist is a younger woman named Elizabeth who lost her husband in World War I and her first child through a miscarriage. She lives with her mother, who desperately wants Elizabeth to remarry, but Elizabeth struggles to find a purpose in life. Then her friend, a local store owner, is murdered, and Elizabeth is convinced that the primary suspect, one of her father’s best friends, is not the murderer. She and Fred Wilkins, who is in love with her, have to uncover the real killer.
Writing in Library Journal, Lesa Holstine enjoyed this series starter. She especially recommended it for mystery fans who “want a slow-paced, old-fashioned story.” A writer in Kirkus Reviews also liked this one. They found the time period “fascinating” and described Elizabeth as a “heroine with plenty of scope for changing her life.”
The next book in the series, Music and Murder, incorporates key elements of 1920s Chicago, including Al Capone and jazz great Louis Armstrong. Murder of a Recluse, the third in the series, also features Al Capone or at least people associated with the famous mob boss. By this point, Elizabeth is married to Fred, who is a lawyer, and one of his clients named Caroline is suspected of murdering her own aunt to get the inheritance. Elizabeth decides she wants to help clear Caroline’s name, and wisely or not she turns to associates of Capone for help. A writer in Kirkus Reviews described the book as an “enjoyable period mystery that highlights the bigotry and class differences that are still with us.”
Dams once told CA:
“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write. It has always been my way of expressing myself. I write when I have to make a decision, when I have emotions to deal with, when there is a problem that needs hard thought. So, when I was trying to escape a killer job, of course I approached the problem by writing down my assets. It finally dawned on me that writing was my primary skill! My love of England and the English mystery made that genre a natural.
“After the usual tough apprenticeship—rejection after rejection, revisions, doubts, fears—my first novel was published to gratifying acclaim. I can, I think, ascribe most of my success to the wonderful writers who influenced me so much: Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and more recently Patricia Moyes and the American Carolyn Hart. They’ve nurtured my love of words and taught me the basics of the classic mystery form. When I run dry, I can pick up one of their books, read a little, and come back to my own work refreshed.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 1996, Emily Melton, review of Trouble in the Town Hall, p. 482; September 15, 1997, John Rowen, review of Holy Terror in the Hebrides, p. 212; April 15, 1999, David Pitt, review of Death in Lacquer Red, p. 1470; August, 1999, Emily Melton, review of The Victim in Victoria Station, p. 2032; October 15, 2000, David Pitt, review of Killing Cassidy, p. 421; May 1, 2001, David Pitt, review of Green Grow the Victims, p. 1628; September 15, 2001, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of To Perish in Penzance, p. 198; April 1, 2002, review of The Victim in Victoria Station, p. 1348, review of Killing Cassidy, p. 1348; May 1, 2002, David Pitt, review of Silence Is Golden, p. 1475; December 15, 2002, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Sins out of School, p. 737; December 1, 2004, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Winter of Discontent, p. 639; August 1, 2005, David Pitt, review of Crimson Snow, p. 1998; August 1, 2008, David Pitt, review of Indigo Christmas, p. 43; May 1, 2011, Barbara Bibel, review of A Dark and Stormy Night, p. 30; September 1, 2011, David Pitt, review of Murder in Burnt Orange, p. 52; January 1, 2012, Barbara Bibel, review of The Evil That Men Do, p. 46; October 1, 2012, David Pitt, review of The Corpse of St James’s, p. 33; May 15, 2013, David Pitt, review of Murder at the Castle, p. 20; December 1, 2013, David Pitt, review of Shadows of Death, p. 30; August 1, 2014, David Pitt, review of Day of Vengeance; December 15, 2015, David Pitt, review of Blood Will Tell; November 1, 2022, David Pitt, review of A Deadly Web, p. 28; May 18, 2024, Emily Melton, review of Village Politics Can Be Murder, p. 19.
Christian Science Monitor, February 25, 1999, Yvonne Zipp, review of Malice in Miniature, p. 17.
Drood Review of Mystery, January, 2002, review of To Perish in Penzance, p. 7, and review of Green Grow the Victims, p. 7.
Internet Bookwatch, October 1, 2008, review of Indigo Christmas.
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1999, review of Death in Lacquer Red, p. 487; September 15, 1999, review of The Victim in Victoria Station, p. 1448; May 15, 2001, review of To Perish in Penzance, p. 1165; May 15, 2001, review of Green Grow the Victims, p. 707; August 15, 2001, review of To Perish in Penzance, p. 1165; May 15, 2002, review of Silence Is Golden, p. 706; November 1, 2002, review of Sins out of School, p. 1569; November 1, 2004, review of Winter of Discontent, p. 1029; June 1, 2005, review of Crimson Snow, p. 612; February 15, 2011, review of A Dark and Stormy Night; January 1, 2012, review of The Evil That Men Do; October 1, 2012, review of The Corpse of St James’s; June 15, 2013, review of Murder at the Castle; December 15, 2013, review of Shadows of Death; May 1, 2015, review of The Gentle Art of Murder; December 1, 2015, review of Blood Will Tell; October 15, 2016, Karen Keefe, review of Smile and Be a Villain; July 15, 2017, review of The Missing Masterpiece; April 1, 2018, review of Crisis at the Cathedral; April 1, 2019, review of A Dagger before Me; December 1, 2019, review of Death in the Garden City; May 1, 2020, review of Death Comes to Durham; April 15, 2021, review of The Bath Conspiracy; January 1, 2022, review of Murder in the Park; October 1 2022, review of A Deadly Web; August 1, 2023, review of Music and Murder; May 1, 2024, review of Village Politics Can Be Murder; February 1, 2025, review of Murder of a Recluse.
Kliatt, November, 1999, review of Malice in Miniature, p. 55; March, 2001, review of Death in Lacquer Red, p. 48; May, 2001, review of Red, White, and Blue Murder, p. 54.
Library Journal, May 1, 1999, Rex E. Klett, review of Death in Lacquer Red, p. 116; August, 1999, Rex E. Klett, review of The Victim in Victoria Station, p. 145; June 1, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of Red, White, and Blue Murder, p. 210; November 1, 2001, Rex E. Klett, review of To Perish in Penzance, p. 136; February, 2022, Lesa Holstine, review of Murder in the Park, p. 50.
New York Times Book Review, June 13, 1999, Marilyn Stasio, review of Death in Lacquer Red, p. 26.
Publishers Weekly, September 18, 1995, “The Body in the Transept,” p. 116; August 26, 1996, “Trouble in the Town Hall,” p. 80; October 6, 1997, “Holy Terror in the Hebrides,” p. 77; August 24, 1998, “Malice in Miniature,” p. 51; April 26, 1999, review of Death in Lacquer Red, p. 59; August 23, 1999, review of The Victim in Victoria Station, p. 51; October 9, 2000, review of Killing Cassidy, p. 77; April 16, 2001, review of Green Grow the Victims, p. 47; October 8, 2001, review of To Perish in Penzance, p. 47; November 1, 2004, review of Winter of Discontent, p. 47; June 27, 2005, review of Crimson Snow, p. 44; June 30, 2008, review of Indigo Christmas, p. 165; October 5, 2009, review of Foolproof, p. 35; February 21, 2011, review of A Dark and Stormy Night, p. 117; December 12, 2011, review of The Evil That Men Do, p. 45; September 3, 2012, review of The Corpse of St James’s, p. 49; May 13, 2013, review of Murder at the Castle, p. 47; November 18, 2013, review of Shadows of Death, p. 35; July 21, 2014, review of Day of Vengeance; April 27, 2015, review of The Gentle Art of Murder; August 15, 2016, review of Smile and Be a Villain; July 17, 2017, review of The Missing Masterpiece, p. 199; April 16, 2018, review of Crisis at the Cathedral, pp. 74+; April 8, 2019, review of A Dagger before Me, p. 54; December 9, 2019, review of Death in the Garden City, pp. 129+; May 25, 2020, review of Death Comes to Durham, p. 46; April 19, 2021, review of The Bath Conspiracy, p. 62; July 24, 2023, review of Music and Murder, pp. 52+.
Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), November 25, 2001, review of To Perish in Penzance, p. 2.
Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2001, review of Green Grow the Victims, p. 274; December, 2001, review of Death in Lacquer Red, p. 332.
ONLINE
BookLoons, http://www.bookloons.com/ (December 29, 2009), Mary Ann Smyth, reviews of Crimson Snow and Indigo Christmas; (April 28, 2012), Mary Ann Smyth, review of Murder in Burnt Orange.
Books ‘n’ Bytes, http://www.booksnbytes.com/ (December 29, 2009), Harriet Klausner, review of Crimson Snow.
Crimescene, http://1crimescene.blogspot.com/ (December 14, 2016), John Forrester, review of Day of Vengeance.
Genre Go Round Reviews, http://genregoroundreviews.blogspot.com/ (July 3, 2008), Harriet Klausner, review of Indigo Christmas; (July 7, 2011), Harriet Klausner, review of Murder in Burnt Orange.
Gen Review, http://thegenreview.com/ (September 24, 2011), Agnes Dee, review of Murder in Burnt Orange.
Historical Novel Society Web site, http://historicalnovelsociety.org/ (April 28, 2012), review of Murder in Burnt Orange.
Jeanne M. Dams website, http://www.jeannedams.com (August 21, 2025).
Knitnread, https://knitnread.wordpress.com/ (June 24, 2016), review of Smile and Be a Villain.
MyShelf.com, http://www.myshelf.com/ (December 29, 2009), Brenda Weeaks, review of Crimson Snow; (December 29, 2009), Barbara Buhrer, review of Indigo Christmas.
Mysterious Reviews, http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/ (December 29, 2009), review of Indigo Christmas.
Reviewing the Evidence, http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (December 29, 2009), P.J. Coldren, review of Indigo Christmas.
Under the Covers Web site, http://www.silcom.com/ (December 29, 2009), Harriet Klausner, review of Red, White, and Blue Murder.
Writers Write, http://www.writerswrite.com/ (December 29, 2009), Claire E. White, “A Conversation with Jeanne M. Dams.”*
Jeanne M Dams
(Jeanne Martin Dams)
USA flag (b.1941)
Jeanne M. Dams lives in South Bend, Indiana. The Body in the Transept, which introduced Dorothy Martin, won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Dams is also the author of Green Grow the Victims and other Hilda Johansson mysteries published by Walker & Company.
Awards: Agatha (1996) see all
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery
New and upcoming books
December 2025
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Terror on the Train
(Dorothy Martin, book 27)
Series
Dorothy Martin
1. The Body in the Transept (1995)
2. Trouble in the Town Hall (1996)
3. Holy Terror in the Hebrides (1997)
4. Malice in Miniature (1998)
5. The Victim in Victoria Station (1999)
6. Killing Cassidy (2000)
7. To Perish in Penzance (2001)
8. Sins Out of School (2003)
9. Winter of Discontent (2004)
10. A Dark and Stormy Night (2010)
11. The Evil That Men Do (2011)
12. The Corpse of St James's (2012)
13. Murder at The Castle (2013)
14. Shadows of Death (2013)
15. Day of Vengeance (2014)
16. The Gentle Art of Murder (2015)
17. Blood Will Tell (2015)
18. Smile and Be a Villain (2016)
19. The Missing Masterpiece (2017)
20. Crisis at the Cathedral (2018)
21. A Dagger Before Me (2019)
22. Death in the Garden City (2019)
23. Death Comes to Durham (2020)
24. The Bath Conspiracy (2021)
25. A Deadly Web (2022)
26. Village Politics Can Be Murder (2024)
27. Terror on the Train (2025)
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Hilda Johansson
1. Death in Lacquer Red (1999)
2. Red, White, and Blue Murder (2000)
3. Green Grow the Victims (2001)
4. Silence is Golden (2002)
5. Crimson Snow (2005)
6. Indigo Christmas (2008)
7. Murder in Burnt Orange (2011)
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Oak Park Village Mystery
1. Murder in the Park (2021)
2. Music and Murder (2023)
3. Murder of a Recluse (2025)
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Novels
Foolproof (2009) (with Barbara D'Amato and Mark Zubro)
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Books containing stories by Jeanne M Dams
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White House Pet Detectives (2002)
Tales of Crime and Mystery at the White House from a Pet's Eye View
edited by
Carole Nelson Douglasthumb
Murder They Wrote II (1998)
edited by
Elizabeth Foxwell and Martin H Greenberg
Awards
1996 Agatha Award for Best First Novel : The Body in the Transept
I was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana, and have lived here nearly all my life. I've read English mysteries since I was a teen-ager, though, and they bred in me a love of England that led to my first mystery series. I knew it was unlikely I could ever afford to live in a lovely little seventeenth-century cottage somewhere in Kent or Sussex, but if I created a character who did just that, I could live her life vicariously, and instead of costing me a fortune, that life would actually make me some money. Such a deal!
photo of Jeanne
Thus was born Dorothy Martin, who is essentially my alter-ago, though she's named after my favorite cousin. She appeared first in a short story I wrote many, many years ago. It has never been published, but Dorothy waited patiently in the wings, and when the idea for her first book came into my head, there she was, ready to take center stage.
That book, The Body in the Transept, won the Agatha award for Best First Novel of 1995, and Dorothy has gone on to many more adventures since. In 1998 I began to hanker after a new character, a new setting, and—I'll admit it—a little more income. So I came up with the series set in my home town, starring a strong-willed young Swedish housemaid. Housemaid? Yes, because that series is set about a hundred years ago, when the wealthy families in America still had servants.
Hilda Johansson works for one of the wealthiest families in South Bend, the Studebakers. You may know them as automobile manufacturers, some years back, but in Hilda's time their main products were wagons and carriages. I've enjoyed the research these books have required, but Hilda is still seeking a new publisher, so I'm not writing about her just now.
I've been pretty successful in reinventing myself in widowhood. I find there are advantages to living alone. For one thing, I can eat what I want, when I want. I don't cook as much as I used to, which is a pity in a way, since I always loved to cook. But cooking for one, and then cleaning up the kitchen, seems like an awful lot of trouble. I've learned to love Lean Cuisine!
Dams, Jeanne M. THE MISSING MASTERPIECE Severn House (Adult Fiction) $28.99 9, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8718-4
A sprightly travelogue with intermittent mysterious overtones.When retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt breaks his ankle, he insists that his wife, Dorothy Martin, set out alone on their planned trip to a gallery opening in Bayeux until he's recovered enough to travel. About to leave Normandy for Mont-Saint-Michel, Dorothy runs into her friend Penny Brannigan, who shares both a news report about a German woman who nearly drowned in the quicksand near the Mont and a tale going around the art world of forged or stolen medieval manuscripts. Upon her arrival, Dorothy tags along with a tour group guided by young Englishman Peter Cummings. During a stop for some first aid after she slips and falls, they get into a discussion of medieval monk Peter Abelard. The contemporary Peter, a graduate student in liturgical music and hymnody, dreams of making his career by finding some remnant of Abelard's musical manuscripts. Before Alan arrives, another unidentified person is found badly injured in the crypt at the Mont. Despite her limited language skills, Dorothy, with her nose for mysteries, senses a connection. Far too many people seem interested in Abelard and manuscripts, and some of them, like American A.T. Krider, who says he's writing a novel, seem to be lying about their interest. The German woman turns out to be not a woman at all but American college professor Sam Houston, who claims that someone tricked him into venturing out onto the dangerous sands and left him to die in the incoming tide. He too is interested in Abelard, and the overwhelmed local police ask Dorothy and the newly arrived Alan to keep watch on him and all those other potential liars. Dorothy and Alan are a clever pair whose adventures (Smile and Be a Villain, 2016, etc.) always charm even if their mysteries do not.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: THE MISSING MASTERPIECE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A498345262/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=feffefa3. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
The Missing Masterpiece: A Dorothy Martin Mystery
Jeanne M. Dams. Severn, $28.99 (224p)
ISBN 978-0-7278-8718-4
In Dams's entertaining 19th mystery featuring American expatriate Dorothy Martin (after 2016's Smile and Be a Villain), the former school teacher leaves her comfortable home in Sherebury, England, for a holiday in Normandy, where her English husband, retired chief constable Alan Nesbit, vows to join her shortly. A tumble down the steps of the abbey at Mont Saint-Michel lands Dorothy in the middle of a mystery involving a missing tourist, a person pulled from quicksand, and rumors of an undiscovered medieval manuscript that's drawing scholars and adventure hunters to the vicinity. Dorothy won't allow her two titanium knees and her need for naps and decent meals to slow her down. When Alan arrives on the scene, his fluent French and police contacts provide crucial information. No one dies until late in the book, but along the way readers learn a lot about such subjects as the D-Day landing at Omaha beach, the Bayeux tapestry, and the history of illuminated manuscripts. Armchair travelers will be pleased. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Agency. (Sept.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Missing Masterpiece: A Dorothy Martin Mystery." Publishers Weekly, vol. 264, no. 29, 17 July 2017, p. 199. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A498996924/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=699ddadd. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. CRISIS AT THE CATHEDRAL Severn House (Adult Fiction) $28.99 6, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8764-1
A sleuthing couple fights bigotry.
Returning from yet another round of travel abroad (The Missing Masterpiece, 2017, etc.) to the cathedral town of Sherebury, expatriate American Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, find trouble close to home. Their friend Margaret Allenby, the dean's wife, introduces them to the Ahmads, a wealthy, charming Iraqi couple who are interested in attending a service at the cathedral. Because she foresees that the current unpleasant political climate may find people unhappy at seeing Muslims in a Christian church, Margaret asks Dorothy and Alan to accompany them. The visit, including the Ahmads' children, Aya and Rahim, goes smoothly, but the couple's return visit to the cathedral the following week to hear an evening performance of Handel's "Messiah" does not. While the children are left at the Rose and Crown under the supervision of the inn's owner, Greta, the Ahmads vanish along with their car. Alan uses his clout to launch an immediate investigation into the volatile situation. Have the Ahmads been kidnapped? Even worse, are they involved in terrorism? While Dorothy uses her contacts to investigate home-grown crazies who may be targeting Muslims, Alan works with the police and MI5, who are scouring London for the missing pair. The search becomes even more frantic when the spare suitcase Greta remembers the couple having left in the attic turns out to be packed with cash. Though Dorothy and Alan can't believe the Ahmads are terrorists, they feel pressed to find them and learn what they're doing before any of the hate groups on every side discovers their whereabouts.
The slight mystery takes a back seat to a heartfelt exploration of religious animosity and bigotry.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: CRISIS AT THE CATHEDRAL." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A532700525/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=00902f29. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Crisis at the Cathedral: A Dorothy Martin Mystery
Jeanne M. Dams. Severn, $28.99 (224p)
ISBN 978-0-7278-8764-1
International terrorism intrudes into the cozy world of American Dorothy Martin, a former schoolteacher, and her English husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbit, in Dams's unlikely 20th outing for the endearing couple (after 2017's The Missing Masterpiece). Impressed by the friendly, cosmopolitan Mr. and Mrs. Ahmed, who have recently moved from Iraq to Sherebury, England, with their two beautifully behaved children, and finding that they share her interest in Western classical music, Dorothy suggests that they attend a performance of Handel's Messiah at the local cathedral. The concert is to be followed by a buffet laid on at the Rose and Crown, a nearby inn. When the Ahmeds fail to appear at the Rose and Crown, Dorothy begins to worry, especially since the couple have left their children at the inn. She thinks recent terrorist incidents in London and elsewhere in England could mean terrorists are behind their disappearance. Aided by MI5, elderly Dorothy and Alan investigate in between snacking, shopping at Tesco's, attending church services, washing the dog, and cataloguing their aches and pains. Those seeking a realistic picture of terrorism in modern-day Britain will have to look elsewhere. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Agency. (June)
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"Crisis at the Cathedral: A Dorothy Martin Mystery." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 16, 16 Apr. 2018, pp. 74+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A536532718/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8ea424a6. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. A DAGGER BEFORE ME Severn House (Adult Fiction) $28.99 6, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8870-9
A leisurely journey around England to take in some ancient ceremonies ends in a curious murder investigation.
When American expatriate Dorothy Martin is struck by spring fever, her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt (Crisis at the Cathedral, 2018, etc.), suggests they travel to see some of England's more exotic customs. Although Alan's connections get them into a few rituals not open to the public, their next murder case is provoked by a chance encounter with Sir Edwin Montcalm, whose uncle was a friend of Alan's. Alan even attended Edwin's christening back in the day, and Edwin now asks Alan to be godfather to his son since all his own relatives are dead. In another of those odd English traditions, the newborn son must be christened in the presence of a jeweled dagger long in the family's possession in order to inherit the entailed estate. Days before Christmas, Dorothy and Alan, arriving at Dunham Manor in Suffolk for the christening, are met by a frantic Edwin, who tells them that the dagger's vanished. Apart from anything to do with finances, Edwin tends to fall apart in family crises. Luckily, his stunning Canadian wife, Judith, is far stronger than him. Dorothy is taken with baby Joseph and his sisters, Cynthia and Ruth, and is pleased when Alan offers his expertise in finding the dagger. That expertise is required even more urgently when the discovery of a woman's body with a jeweled dagger in her back brings the police to Dunham Manor. The dagger is only a clumsy copy, but Alan realizes that Edwin's hiding something and finally gets him to admit that the victim, Angela Wilson, turned up on his doorstep claiming to be his birth mother. Naturally, the police are suspicious of Edwin. It's up to the sleuthing duo to find out who hates Edwin enough to frame him for murder.
An Anglophile's delight piled high with enchanting details of arcane rituals, all neatly wrapped around a nice little case of murder.
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: A DAGGER BEFORE ME." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A580520972/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f90a907e. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
A Dagger Before Me
Jeanne M. Dams. Severn, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8870-9
Dams gives fait warning in an author's note to her flimsy 21st Dorothy Mattin mystery (after 2018's Crisis at the Cathedral): "If you have no interest in eccentric English ceremonies, you can skip to chapter nine without missing too much of the plot." One April morning, American expat Dorothy awakes in her home in Sherebury with a raging case of spring fever. Her always obliging husband, retired police detective Alan Nesbit, plans a series of excursions around Britain to amuse her. These trips continue into December, when the mystery plot finally slips into first gear. Sir Edwin Montcalm has invited Dorothy and Alan to the christening of his son. The couple arrive at the estate to discover things in a tizzy: the jeweled dagger to be used in the christening ceremony is missing. Later, a woman is found dead in a local pub, with a jeweled dagger beside the body. Dorothy's actual detective work is negligible and is based mainly on her ability to decipher a small child's rambling monologue. This one's for diehard series fans and those fond of travelogues. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Agency. (June)
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"A Dagger Before Me." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 14, 8 Apr. 2019, p. 54. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A582562898/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6dcbceb5. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. DEATH IN THE GARDEN CITY Severn House (Adult Fiction) $28.99 2, 4 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8913-3
Combining travelogue with mystery, Dams (A Dagger Before Me, 2019, etc.) treats her England-based sleuths to a case in Canada.
American expatriate Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, enjoy traveling. So when their friend Judith Montcalm asks them to go to Victoria, British Columbia, all expenses paid, to help solve a perplexing case, they readily agree. Lady Montcalm's uncle, John McKenzie, is a retired Mountie who's concerned about a series of odd events and thinks an outsider's view may help. After staying with John while they're introduced to the area, they move to a condo normally occupied by the absent daughter of John's fiancee, Amy Hartford. They visit the stunning Butchart Gardens, from which a number of poisonous plants have been stolen, and take a trip to meet Silas Varner, whose hawks are housed in high style while he lives in a hovel, brooding over the neighbors who think his raptors are killing chickens. After Dorothy is almost kidnapped in broad daylight, she and Alan wonder who could be targeting them. When the sleuths get threatening phone calls and an unknown woman is killed, ostensibly by Varner's birds, the stakes are raised. An autopsy proves that the birds were framed; a knife was used to mimic the marks of talons. The murder was committed near a lovely tourist town that's also home to surviving members of the Cowichan tribe, an Indigenous people almost wiped out by Europeans and their diseases. A Cowichan woman tells Dorothy that the victim may be a tribe member who moved to Victoria for an IT job. All roads seem to lead to Paul Hartford, Amy's wealthy ex, who owns the IT firm, a man widely known for charitable giving and less widely known for his inability ever to forgive a slight.
Tension runs high until the surprise ending, the depravity tempered by lyrical descriptions of Victoria and environs.
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: DEATH IN THE GARDEN CITY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606964502/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=357276b6. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Death in the Garden City
Jeanne M. Dams. Severn, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8913-3
Dams's tedious 22nd outing for retired American schoolteacher Dorothy Martin (after 2019's A Dagger Before Me) takes Dorothy and her husband, retired police officer Alan Nesbitt, from England to Canada's Vancouver Island ro look into some nastiness that has come to the attention of retired Mountie John McKenzie. This includes the theft of poisonous plants from a botanical garden, fake letter bombs, the killing of kittens, and--once Dorothy and Alan arrive--the death of an ambitious computet programmer and her philanthropist boss, and the disappearance of the boss's sexy sweetheart. How does Dorothy resolve all the mysteries that are swirling around her? As she tells Alan, "I just go bumbling around asking questions and annoying people, and somehow the two of us usually get there in the end." Meanwhile, Dorothy complains about various old-age woes--recurrent backaches and the need for naps, reading glasses, and snacks to keep up her blood sugar level--and the rudeness of people in general. This one's strictly for series fans. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Agency. (Feb.)
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"Death in the Garden City." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 50, 9 Dec. 2019, pp. 129+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A609311022/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=46f8f429. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. DEATH COMES TO DURHAM Severn House (Fiction None) $28.99 5, 29 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8925-6
Sleuths with a highly developed sense of fairness fight prejudice.
During a visit to see their friend David Tregarth, a retired policeman in the ancient English city of Durham, American expatriate Dorothy Martin and her husband, former chief constable Alan Nesbit, are introduced to Tregarth’s great-aunt Amanda, who suffers from dementia and lives in the posh Milton Home, where she is lovingly cared for until she is accused of murdering Blake Armstrong, a semiretired geriatric doctor with a dodgy reputation. Amanda, who’s naturally upset, is the perfect scapegoat since she has no memory of smothering the doctor with a pillow and would never be prosecuted even if she had. While the sleuthing duo enjoy the historic beauties of Durham, they work to clear Amanda, who looks no guiltier than all the old ladies the doctor cared for and methodically bilked. The couple make friends with Timothy Hayes, an entertaining castle guide and theology student who must struggle to pay his tuition because his mother’s best friend changed her will favoring Timothy and left her estate to Dr. Armstrong. Then Timothy’s friend Eileen Walsh, who had reported a drowning in the nearby river, reveals that she saw Dr. Armstrong nearby. When a second patient is attacked and Amanda’s put on notice to find another home, Dorothy uses her ability to extract information to help the police find the truth.
A travelogue, a complex mystery, and an empathetic look at the horrific nature of dementia.
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: DEATH COMES TO DURHAM." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622503355/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f82cd538. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Death Comes to Durham
Jeanne M. Dams. Severn, $28.99 (224p)
ISBN 978-0-7278-8925-6
In Dams's intriguing 23rd Dorothy Martin mystery (after Death in the Garden City), murder spoils the visit of retired American schoolteacher Dorothy and her British husband, retired policeman Alan Nesbit, to Durham, England, the home of Alan's old police colleague, David Tregarth. David's elderly great-aunt, a resident with dementia at a nursing home outside the city, is the chief suspect in the killing of Blake Armstrong, a physician who was taking a few days rest at the nursing home. Dorothy, an experienced amateur sleuth, joins Alan and David in trying to find the real culprit, aided by a student guide from Durham University, where the couple are staying. They discover that Armstrong may have been hiding out at the home because he saw something he shouldn't have, and that tidbit leads to connections with the university as well as a wealthy dysfunctional family. The tension rises as another nursing home resident and Dorothy are attacked. Cozy fans and Anglophiles will be satisfied. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Assoc. July)
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"Death Comes to Durham." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 21, 25 May 2020, p. 46. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A626845820/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4fa1e0b8. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. THE BATH CONSPIRACY Severn House (Fiction None) $28.99 6, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-9250-8
A duo of doughty detectives visit Bath and find yet another mystery to solve.
As a birthday treat for American expat Dorothy Martin, her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, splurges on a trip from their home in Sherebury to Bath. The city offers a plethora of things to do, and they thoroughly enjoy themselves on a visit to nearby Stonehenge until they try to put some purchases in the boot of their car only to find it filled with boxes that aren’t theirs. A security guard notices a chunk of bluestone and immediately calls Inspector Cedric Roberts, who soon satisfies himself that the couple isn't trying to steal a hunk of Stonehenge. When the police go through the contents of the boxes, it turns out to be "the oddest assortment of riches and rubbish": mostly souvenirs from museum shops but a few more valuable things, including one of Jane Austen's gloves. Dorothy spends a lot of time on her trip indulging her penchant for museum gift shops, where she meets Sammy, a friendly young man with Down syndrome, who works part time at the Jane Austen Center and a number of other places, and she becomes concerned that he may be set up as a scapegoat by the real thief. It’s obvious to the police that something fishy is going on at the hotel’s valet parking lot but much less obvious who put the items in the boot or later tried to pry it open while attempting to retrieve them. Once the stakes are raised by more thefts and physical attacks, Dorothy and Alan team up with the inspector, but it’s Sammy who helps solve the crimes.
Another travelogue more notable for its charming protagonists and historical detail than any great mystery.
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: THE BATH CONSPIRACY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A658194706/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=61a03b1a. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
The Bath Conspiracy
Jeanne M. Dams. Severn, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-9250-8
Dams's pleasant 24th outing for retired American schoolteacher Dorothy Martin (after 2020's Death Comes to Durham) takes Dorothy and her British husband, Alan Nesbit, a retired police officer, from their home in Sherebury to Bath as part of her birthday celebration. The couple visit cathedrals, abbeys, museums, Stonehenge, and the Roman baths. At each stop, they hit the gift shop and inventory the geegaws and expensive reproductions of historic artifacts on display. This comes in handy when the police find a box in their car containing an odd assortment of items--from postcards to gold jewelry--stolen from the various gift shops. Fortunately, a friendly police inspector recognizes their innocence and welcomes their assistance in tracking down the real culprit. Dorothy, with her two artificial knees, is often in need of naps and long sit-downs, but is still able to ferret out clues. Readers should be prepared for a slight plot with minimal detection. Anglophiles, especially those like Dorothy and Alan "who are no longer young," will have fun. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Assoc. (June)
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"The Bath Conspiracy." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 16, 19 Apr. 2021, p. 62. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A662131858/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b97bb15c. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. MURDER IN THE PARK Severn House (Fiction None) $28.99 3, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-5045-4
This sea change from Dams' Dorothy Martin series introduces a new heroine with a lot to learn in 1920s Chicago.
Seven years after Elizabeth Fairchild lost her husband on the day before the First World War ended and her severe depression caused her to miscarry, she's living in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Oak Park with her snobbish mother, whose mission in life is getting her to remarry, and her schoolteacher father. They have a cook, housemaid, and gardener; Elizabeth can't even boil an egg. Despite her liberal bent and all the committees she serves on, it takes the murder of a man she liked and respected to give her life purpose. Mr. Anthony ran a delightful antiques shop where Elizabeth often bought gifts. The police take the easy path after learning that his name was really Enrico Antonelli, identifying him as a member of the despised Italian community. Their contempt is shared by the local chapter of the Walosas Club, the women's arm of the KKK. Soon after Elizabeth calls on Ernest Hemingway's mother to help prove the innocence of a music teacher accused of the crime, she earns the enmity of the Walosas. When her safety is threatened, she takes refuge with the aunt of lawyer Fred Wilkins, who's in love with her, and between the two of them and several other friends, she learns to solve crimes and boil eggs.
A heroine with plenty of scope for changing her life, which plays out against a fascinating time period.
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: MURDER IN THE PARK." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A688199756/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=539bab07. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. Murder in the Park. Severn House. (Oak Park Village Mystery, Bk. 1). Mar. 2022. 224p. ISBN 9780727850454. $28.99. M
Elizabeth Walker Fairchild was only married for six months when her husband was killed in World War I, and she subsequently lost her baby. Now, in 1925, she lives with her parents in Oak Park, IL. She has few friends, but counts an Italian American antiques dealer, Mr. Anthony, as one. As her mother frets over an upcoming party, Elizabeth escapes to his shop. She's shocked the next day when her father informs her that Mr. Anthony has been found stabbed to death outside his shop, and an Italian American music teacher is about to be arrested for the murder. Elizabeth may be naive, but it doesn't take long for her to realize that members of the Walosas, the local women's chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, are lying about the suspect. Outraged, she recruits support (including Ernest Hemingway's mother) in her quest for justice. VERDICT The Agatha Awardwinning author of the "Dorothy Martin" mysteries kicks off a historical series featuring a young woman who discovers her strength. Fans who want a slow-paced, old-fashioned story will find Dams's latest appealing.--Lesa Holstine
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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"Dams, Jeanne M. Murder in the Park." Library Journal, vol. 147, no. 2, Feb. 2022, p. 50. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A694559774/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0f90bf96. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. A DEADLY WEB Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 11, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-5046-1
Dorothy Martin, an American expatriate in the English countryside, and her husband, retired chief constable Alan Nesbitt, solve a murder and gain a relative.
Alan's unofficial great-niece Lucy Bowman, who was born in England but moved to the U.S. with her family as a young tween, plans to visit them while she's in Sherebury to head a conference at the university. Although Dorothy's a bit apprehensive, she's also a warm person who loves to entertain and can always count on her neighbor Jane Langland to pitch in. The delightful Lucy admits to being in love with Iain Campbell, a wealthy fundraiser whose marriage proposal has been sealed with a ring that's the spitting image of Princess Diana's. Naturally, Alan and Dorothy both sense something wrong with this picture of perfection. When Alan takes Lucy's uninsured ring to be appraised and learns that it's only a well-made copy, they both use their networks to find out more about Iain. In the meantime, their dog, Watson, brings home a tiny kitten who'll go on to play a crucial role in their investigation. As Iain makes his way to the U.K., they acknowledge that they've been unable to find out anything about him, almost as if he'd never existed. After Iain's killed in a hit-and-run in London carrying ID in the name of William Gray, the ensuing investigation reveals a tangled web of criminal schemes. Lucy, first devastated, then furious at having been taken in by a clever con man, resolves to help solve the crime.
Old-fashioned British mores take some very modern twists in this charming mystery.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: A DEADLY WEB." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A719983070/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ab04960c. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
A Deadly Web. By Jeanne M. Dams. Nov. 2022.224p. Severn, $29.99 (9780727850461); e-book (9781448307784)
Dorothy Martin is a retired American schoolteacher who now lives in England with her husband, retired policeman Alan Nesbitt. This is the twenty-fifth novel in the series, and if you're wondering whether Dorothy or her author are showing signs of slowing down, the answer is no. This book, which involves the mayhem that ensues when a sort-of relative of Alan's comes to town, is as lively and satisfying as the earliest books in the series. Dams, who also writes another series about amateur sleuth Hilda Johansson (the most recent appeared about a decade ago), doesn't go in for big, splashy plots and action-filled set pieces; her stories are smaller, more focused on the interplay between characters. Regular readers know what to expect, and Dams never lets them down. It's nice to see Alan playing a more substantial role in this story than he often does; he's an interesting guy and deserves to emerge from the background now and again. Above all, he and Dorothy make an effective team. A treat for fans.--David Pitt
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
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Pitt, David. "A Deadly Web." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 5-6, 1 Nov. 2022, p. 28. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A727772421/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a6efafcf. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Music and Murder
Jeanne M. Dams. Severn House, $31.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4483-1122-4
Dams's far-fetched second mystery featuring widowed sleuth Elizabeth Fairchild (after 2021 's Murder in the Park) goes off the rails early. It's been eight years since Elizabeth's husband, Will, was killed at the end of WWI and she miscarried their child back home in suburban Illinois. Finally ready to turn over a new leaf, Elizabeth allows herself to be pursued by the free-spirited Fred Wilkins, who invites her to a jazz club in Chicago. She enthusiastically agrees, but their evening is disrupted when a bomb goes off in the building--likely the work of a Ku Klux Klan campaign targeting Black spaces--and nearly kills both of them. Upset that anyone could "go around hurling bombs all over the place with no reprisals," and by the city government's laissez-faire attitude toward "the blatant crimes of the bootleggers and gangsters," Elizabeth is determined to bring the culprits to justice. Helping her out--thanks to a series of improbable contrivances--is none other than Al Capone. Dams fails to anchor the story in either a heightened fantasy world or the gritty real one, and uneasily mixes impassioned social politics with clumsy, coincidence-heavy plotting. Fans or Jazz Age mysteries have plenty of better options. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc. (Sept.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 PWxyz, LLC
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"Music and Murder." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 30, 24 July 2023, pp. 52+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A759974527/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a33f5365. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. MUSIC AND MURDER Severn House (Fiction None) $31.99 9, 5 ISBN: 9781448311224
In 1926 Chicago, a wealthy young woman battles the mob and the Klan in the second installment of this character-driven series.
Elizabeth Fairchild is a war widow with a large inheritance who lives with her parents in staid Oak Park, Illinois. Although she fears loving again, she falls for lawyer Fred Wilkins, who talks her into going to hear jazz at an illegal speak-easy in Chicago, where she's amazed by the talent of Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines. They leave the Sunset Café in a hurry when someone throws a bomb and are drawn into what might be a fight between local gangs and the Klan, which doesn't like white people listening to Black musicians. Fred's wise and steady Aunt Lucy is warned to tell him to "watch out" by an anonymous phone call they assume comes from the Klan, but Elizabeth comes up with a plan to disarm the Klan's suspicion and hatred by smothering the members of their ladies' auxiliary club with niceness and cookies. More practically, Fred suggests that Elizabeth, who's met gangsters before, call on Al Capone to ask him to deal with the Klan. Elizabeth, who's long deferred to her high-strung, unlovable mother, finally loses her temper and decides to move out. With Lucy's help, she looks at apartments but decides that a house will be more suitable for her needs. Before she manages to check out the houses, she's kidnapped by gangsters but manages to escape, an escapade that helps change her mind about marrying Fred. Unfortunately, the Frank Lloyd Wright house that most attracts her is occupied by mob members. A quick marriage and a get-out-of-town plan still leave the newlyweds exposed to danger.
An adventurous tale.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: MUSIC AND MURDER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A758849160/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=78ba51bc. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. VILLAGE POLITICS CAN BE MURDER Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 6, 4 ISBN: 9781448310975
A sleuthing couple continues to find murder in every corner of Great Britain.
In their latest outing, American expatriate Dorothy Martin and her husband, retired Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, visit another retired police officer in the Lake District, widely known as the beauty spot of the U.K. Christopher Prideaux is delighted to show them all the highlights of the area and throws them a cocktail party to meet the locals, some of whom are very interesting indeed. These include handsome Donald Atkinson and his browbeaten wife, Sarah. Donald intends to stand for Parliament, and Dorothy can't help wondering why, since almost everyone seems to dislike him. At an unusual and wildly popular sports day that Christopher insists his visitors attend, Atkinson enters a race but never arrives at the finish line. He's found dead at the edge of a pond, possibly the victim of a heart attack. But of course Alan and Dorothy have their suspicions. The overburdened local police are willing to accept some help from former police officers, and soon Alan and Dorothy are uncovering all sorts of potential motives for a very ingenious murder. While the police search for the weapon that killed Donald, Dorothy, who's adept at getting people to talk, uncovers a wealth of information about just how awful the victim really was.
One of the best of Dams' always enjoyable combinations of travelogue and mystery.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: VILLAGE POLITICS CAN BE MURDER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A791877060/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5ac74ee5. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Village Politics Can Be Murder. By Jeanne M. Dams. June 2024. 224p. Severn, $29.99 (9781448310975); e-book (9781448310982).
Dams hails from Indiana, but she's a fervid Anglophile and knows the quirks, customs, traditions, patois, and culture as well as most Brits. Dorothy Martin, originally from Indiana and now living in the UK with her husband, Alan, a retired policeman is back (after A Deadly Web, 2022). The two are invited by Alan's old friend, Christopher, to visit him in the Lake District. But what was intended as a relaxing getaway turns dark when local businessman and political candidate Donald Atkinson is found dead. Dorothy and Alan met Atkinson at a party, and both instinctively disliked him, especially given the cruel way he treated his wife. Since Atkinson's death is suspicious, and the local police are shorthanded, Alan--assisted by keen amateur sleuth Dorothy--volunteers to help with the investigation. With persistence and a bit of luck, they discover a long-ago tragedy coupled with a disturbing plan of revenge and blackmail, in addition to murder. A quintessential British cozy that will appeal to die-hard genre fans.--Emily Melton
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
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Melton, Emily. "Village Politics Can Be Murder." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 18, 18 May 2024, p. 19. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A804017427/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bd1b1681. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
Dams, Jeanne M. MURDER OF A RECLUSE Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 3, 4 ISBN: 9781448314775
The good old days weren't good for everyone.
Although she grew up with wealth, Elizabeth Wilkens needed her father and his loving servants to shield her from her cold mother. When her first husband was killed on the last day of World War I, the shock caused her to miscarry. In 1926, she's begun a new married life with attorney Fred Wilkins. While they await the completion of their new home in Oak Park, Illinois, Elizabeth enjoys the support of Fred's Aunt Lucy, whose broken arm doesn't prevent her from giving cooking lessons. Fred, meanwhile, is defending prickly Caroline Dobbs, who's suspected of murdering her own aunt, with whom she often quarreled. The gossipy neighbor who discovered Aunt Agatha near death is convinced that Caroline is guilty, but Fred's instincts tell him otherwise. Elizabeth, who hates injustice, is determined to help. Although her habit of keeping people at arm's length has left her with few friends, she decides to join the Nineteenth Century Woman's Club, whose members have power in the community. Agatha, who owned a valuable farm, was a miser living in deplorable conditions, and Elizabeth is appalled when she sees her home and Caroline's, which is even worse. Inheriting Agatha's property gives Caroline a strong motive, but Elizabeth, unsatisfied, keeps digging into her family's past with help from new friends, Al Capone's minions, and family servants whom she's dismayed to realize have to be careful, as "colored people," not to get too involved.
An enjoyable period mystery that highlights the bigotry and class differences that are still with us.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Dams, Jeanne M.: MURDER OF A RECLUSE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A825128418/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=04922d3a. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.