Lea Wait Shadows at the Spring Show

Shadows at the Spring Show

Lea Wait

Scribner, Aug 2005, $24.00, 256 pp.

ISBN: 0743249518

Thirty-eight years old American History Professor and antiques print dealer Maggie Summers arranges for Somerset College to host an antiques show to obtain funds for Our World Our Children, an adoption agency that helps kids while they wait for parents. Maggie is thinking of adopting though her significant other feels strongly that he would not be a good father.

With the event a week away, OWOC director Carole Drummond informs Maggie that they have received hate mail that threatens the show. Carole, who along with her husband has adopted biracial children, explains there are people who object to OWOC's policy of placing children in a good home regardless of race or religion; some people object to destroying the heritage of the adoptee, preferring kids not be adopted. When active member Holly Sloane, who has adopted eleven, hard to place teens, is shot, Carole believes the show must go on and Maggie concludes she must stop a zealot by discovering who he is and exposing this dangerous fanatic.

SHADOWS AT THE SPRING SHOW provides a wonderful amateur sleuth tale, but the heart of Maggie's fourth investigation is the inside looks at adoptions especially of hard to place children. Interestingly some "purists" would rather see a child have no nurturing adult outside of an institution in order to keep the purity of the heritage, which is more critical than the well being of a youngster. The storyline is well written with Maggie at her best, but the tale belongs to the caring support characters like Carole and Holly who put their money, time and love into action not hypocritical words.

Harriet Klausner