China isn't anxious to leave her herb shop in the Texas Hill Country for two whole weeks. But her friends and family are urging her to get some rest, and a historic Shaker village in Kentucky seems the ideal place for it. At Mount Zion, China can assist her friend Martha with some herbal workshops - while absorbing the beautiful surroundings and learning about the intriguing Shaker culture, which has dwindled to near nonexistence thanks in part to their policy of strict celibacy. The Shakers were famous for their furniture and their peaceful ways, but China is more compelled by their tradition of growing and gathering medicinal herbs that they sold widely to the doctors of the time. The image of the long-lost Shaker community seems, at first, like the Garden of Eden. An apt comparison perhaps, for the old journals of the Believers reveal plenty of disobedience. As it turns out, the restored modern version of the village, striving to become a popular tourist attraction, is plagued with misfortune and strife as well - some of it the likely result of sabotage. Martha, a member of Mount Zion's board and a relative of a Shaker who left the fold long ago, is hoping China can get to the bottom of it. However, much like Shaker history itself, the case appears simpler at first than it is. There is tension behind the serene exterior. And after a shocking death occurs during her stay, China will plunge into the archives of another time to connect the sins of the past with a modern-day murder. This seventeenth mystery in Albert’s series finds herbalist China Bayles leaving her comfort zone in Texas and traveling with her friend Martha on a two-week vacation to a restored Shaker village in Mount Zion, Kentucky. Martha will be giving a series of herbal workshops and wants China’s assistance both in the presentations and in solving the mystery of why Martha’s Aunt Charity abruptly left the Shaker fold back in 1912. China is intrigued with the chance to learn more about Shaker history and especially their tradition of gathering medicinal herbs. It turns out, inevitably, that besides Aunt Charity’s mystery, there is a present-day problem to solve. A series of unexplained tensions and acts of sabotage at the seemingly idyllic village suddenly escalate to a shocking death. Albert’s love of historic research comes shining through in this novel, which offers a fascinating portrait of the Shaker way of life. As usual, the author’s knowledge of herbs enlivens the text, as do the recipes that are scattered throughout. --Judy Coon Susan Wittig Albert grew up on a farm in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. A former professor of English and a university administrator and vice president, she is the author of the China Bayles Mysteries, the Darling Dahlias Mysteries, and the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter. Some of her recent titles include Widow’s Tears , Cat’s Claw , The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose , and The Tale of Castle Cottage . She and her husband, Bill, coauthor a series of Victorian-Edwardian mysteries under the name Robin Paige, which includes such titles as Death at Glamis Castle and Death at Whitechapel .