Set in the mid-1980’s, Cynthia Bogard’s A HISTORY OF SILENCE, the first in her Heartland Trilogy, follows the lives of four women who are all have a connection in some way to the late–and mysteriously murdered Professor Johnny Wharton. His daughter, Jenny–somewhat of a rebel–is a student at the University of Wisconsin. She has made a point of traveling a long way from home in southern Texas to attend college there in an effort to distance herself from her past. Professor Madeline (Maddie) Haystead is a former colleague of Professor Wharton’s who’s in the unenviable position of witnessing an inappropriate relationship within the department, grappling with the situation as she tries not to let her own past cloud her perception. Jane Meyer, also part of the tight-knit college community, is a grad student working as the Professor’s research assistant, has also used distance to escape the lingering pain of a past relationship, only to fall into the exact type of relationship she seeks to escape. And finally there’s Professor Wharton’s wife, Liz, who would desperately like to repair her relationship with Jenny, her estranged daughter. In the wake of his death, the past of each woman is examined closely, as each has a plausible motive for wanting him dead.
Told in the first-person, the early chapters of A HISTORY OF SILENCE act as individual character studies of the four women. So much space is dedicated to understanding each that at times the plot can feel very parsed, despite knowing that the women each share clear ties to Professor Wharton. Bogard’s use of inner monologue is very effective, though, and provides a clear understanding of each women’s emotional life and feelings toward the late Professor. Flashbacks are also used to great advantage to pivot from story to story. Once each of the four backstories is colored in, the novel picks up quickly. This is especially true once Bogard starts to reveal not only how each woman knows the Professor, but how each, to a varying degree, is aware of how the others were present in his life and what role each played. There were several twists that surprise, most of all the killer’s motive.
The first in Cynthia Bogard’s Heartland Trilogy, A HISTORY OF SILENCE is an intriguing crime novel that takes a closer look at the complicated process of grieving through the experiences of four very different women who were connected in different ways to the victim of a murder.
~Elizabeth Barton for IndieReader