Morgan's Crossing - by Sharon M. Clarke

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In the sequel to Ms. Clarke’s first novel, Mourning Redemption, the reader finds himself once again in the delightfully small coal mining town of New Salem, Pennsylvania. Here, bitter Sean Hennessy wallows in his own misery while his abused wife, Cate, and her friend, Mari Evans, alleviate the tension by conversing over a hot cup of tea. Orphan Orville Evans at last finds a home and a family that loves him, while Mrs. Dickson is charmed by her new boarder, a handsome, yet mysterious man by the name of Bill.

Bill Jenkins drinks to distraction, hiding a dark and dangerous past. Little do the other boarders realize that a monster lurks in their midst, voraciously learning their tiniest secrets while formulating a terrible plan that will leave most of them dead.

Unexpectedly, Bill strikes up a friendship with a group of boys, Jimmy, Lucas and Morgan Evans and the lads are only too happy to accompany the big man to the sweet shop. The following Saturday, Bill treats them to a movie and Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Baghdad fills them with excitement. Now that the group is ripe for adventure, Bill Jenkins takes them on a little road trip to a magical place filled with huge green trees, massive boulders and a beautiful waterfall. Although the boys realize they’ve done something wrong in defying their parents to accompany Bill, their indiscretions are hidden in the wake of a deadly mining disaster.

As the town of New Salem rallies to dig the miners out of the coal mine, Cate’s terrible husband, Sean, mysteriously disappears and several folks at the boarding house are killed by poison. Bill Jenkins is emboldened by Cate’s apparently growing affection toward him, but when Cate discovers her husband’s body upside down in the privy, all of the pieces of the dangerous puzzle begin to fall into place. Can Cate find the courage to do what she must do?

Morgan’s Crossing is a genuine page turner. Ms. Clarke’s descriptions and characterizations are superbly crafted. Several times, I found myself wanting to shout out a warning to the boys accompanying Bill Jenkins as he beguiled them into his trust or to the boarders in the boarding house as the lunatic, Bill Jenkins, began to lay the foundations for his devilish work. How heartwarming it was when Dai and Rhodri Evans are found barely alive in the chilly darkness of the coal mine and the Evanses and Hennessys are at last one family, united in love. I wish this were a trilogy, for I am left hungering for more from this talented novelist.