This fascinating novel is third in Barbour’s multi-author series “True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime”. It is exciting, with characters defined through actions, conversations, and thoughts. It is based on actual crimes in general in the early 1800’s that anyone desperate for money to help a loved one, could fall into. It is written with skill and sensitivity.

Josephine awakens to find Dr. Chadwick, who she works for as an assistant, ready to plunge a knife into her. The fact that she was alive stuns him, and he tries to talk her into letting him finish the deed as she won’t survive the illness she has. She was dead for 24 hours and her father already grieves her. Chadwick is doing research he thought he could only accomplish by stealing bodies of people who had just died.

Alvin, her father’s hired hand, comes in and sees Josephine alive. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her and reminds Chadwick he knows where the empty graves are. Chadwick leaves her to the cellar to recover. Her father visited once and said that he and Alvin have a plan to get him out of a mess and she had to trust Alvin. He said he committed a terrible wrong, that murderers were after him and only Josephine could save him.

Mr. Bates, Sr. successfully owned and ran a factory in Gloughton, Massachusetts, to process cotton fibers from his plantation in Georgia. Mr. Bates became the legal guardian of Braham when his father died at the plantation where they were indentured. When Mr. Bates died, he left ownership of the mill and the plantation to his son, Gerald. Braham would manage the factory. Gerald has always hated Braham and continues to treat him as a servant.

Alvin brings Josephine, now called Josie, to this factory to get a job. Braham hired her, unaware that accidental deaths of women in the mill attracted the attention of grave robbers. That is what Alvin expects Josie to help with – when people die, she will hold the lantern for him as he digs up the grave, then refill it. As a healer using herbs as her mother taught her, the idea is abhorrent, yet she has to save her father. Despite the growing attraction between Braham and Josie, she tries to do her job and stay quiet. Until the first woman is injured in an accident and Josie treats the woman with herbs and salves, gaining Braham’s respect.

I like Josie/Josephine and her struggle with her faith even when thinking God wants nothing more to do with her. Braham is a good man, also a believer, yet he seems almost too emotional with regards to Josie. Her healing skills, her help with the late Mr. Bates’ sister who is dying, and what he sees as her goodness appeals to him even though people start to talk.

Along with challenges to their faith and their places in the world, there is a complex mystery. How injuries keep occurring, what is causing the severe illness of some of the women that Josie and the local apothecary are treating, and who is behind the growing grave robbing scheme make this a compelling read. I like the frequent, varied references to the lantern lights. The end holds more than one surprise, and all loose ends are tied up. I highly recommend it to Christian women who appreciate the underlying spiritual themes, mystery, history, and romance.

From a thankful heart: I received a copy of this from the publisher and CelebrateLit, and this is my honest review.

The Yellow Lantern by Angie Dicken is part of the True Colors series which are fictional stories based on true American crime. Having read the first couple books in the series, The White City and The Pink Bonnet, I was looking forward to reading The Yellow Lantern and was not disappointed. The author drew me in immediately as in the first few pages she describes the near-death experience of a young woman thought to be dead. Set in a small Massachusetts village during the early 1820s, the book tells the story of a woman caught in a dreadful and wicked web of deceit and grave-robbing. Death had led Josie and her father down a dark path into the hands of dangerous and ruthless individuals. Would the nightmare ever end and justice prevail? Would her passion for healing lead to her purpose in life or would evil thwart her destiny? The author brings an exciting edge-of-the-seat climax to this historical fiction account of the illegal practice of body-snatching. The characters are realistic and either likable, relatable, or despicable. Dialogue flowed seamlessly without sounding forced. I had a hard time putting the book down. The story pulls on the reader’s emotions, shock and horror, anger and revenge, sorrow and compassion. It is a book that kept my interest and I look forward to reading more from this author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via Barbour Publishing and CelebrateLit. A favorable review was not required and opinions are my own. This review is part of a CelebrateLit blog tour.

This has been a fantastic series of books.  I have loved every one of them.  This one is a bit spooky because who would go around stealing bodies.  I know in the long run that maybe some good came out of doing research on dead bodies but it was too bad that there was not a better way to accomplish this goal.  I really enjoyed the characters.  I loved that some were good and others could be down right nasty.  I received a copy of this book from Celebratelit and Barbour Publishing for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

"Fiction Based on Strange-But-True History" is a sure way to get my attention. In "The Yellow Lantern," Angie Dicken illuminates the morbid business of grave diggers stealing cadavers to advance medical science. I love fiction that preserves historical information most of us never learn in school. "The true crime of body snatching was more rampant than rare throughout history," Dicken writes in an afterword to the reader. "I was surprised to come across a case where several stolen bodies supplied an entire medical society, but more disturbing was the fact that some body snatchers would even murder for the chance of payment."

The truth really is stranger than fiction.

I can believe robbers would kill people to supply doctors with cadavers. I'd never have believed doctors would torture and kill humans for medical research, but there's Mengele and the Nazis. Ok, I accept the premise of Dicken's villain being a doctor who'd kill healthy young people for his research. 

Dicken also weaves in a cast of young women exploited as workers in a cotton mill, adding another layer of historical horror stories to this thriller/romance novel.  I love the descriptions of the  mill, e.g.,

*... a fine snow of cotton bits lingered in the air. She was in a sort of storm, one where the thunder banged from the machines, and the particles in the air floated without chill or wind.*

Dicken is good at plotting, pacing, tension, conflict, and suspense. Fans of the romance genre will love this story. I found the tropes of the genre distracting--e.g., handsome factory manager Braham Taylor frequently breathless in the presence of Josephine Clayton, aka Josie Clay, mysterious new cotton mill employee--but I kept reading. There are plenty of positives that allow me to recommend this novel.

The young women and girls working in the factory are well-drawn. Their plight is all too authentic. As Molly, a coworker, tells Josie, "We've got a lot of talent in these girls. Some come from poor families and others from families who demand their sons receive an education using their wages. We might not have the status to go off to prestigious schools and find glorious apprenticeships, but we are hard workers with the most important thing of all...Freedom."

How Josie ends up in a cotton mill is a plot twist I will not spoil for other readers. Her natural talent and her training as a healer come in handy when there are on-the-job injuries, but this also gets her in trouble because she abandons her work station to tend to employees in need of immediate medical attention. Ridiculous as that sounds, overbearing and punitive bosses like hers have real-life precedents. Fans of Claire in the "Outlander" series will find much to love about Josie and her knowledge of herbal remedies.

Josie's passion for healing also helps account for her part in helping a doctor acquire cadavers: 

*"Imagine the discoveries that might be made." Josie understood how important discoveries were--she'd longed for them when her mother was ill.* Her widowed father and his foolish debts are the main reason Josie gets caught up with body snatchers. I've always had trouble with the trope of protagonists allowing others to be harmed rather than see their own loved ones suffer, but, ok, it's a trope. Josie will sink into subterfuge and grave robbing all to protect her father. I don't buy the helpless victim excuse, but it does provide for the drama that comes straight from real life. E.g., 
women posing as mourners were hired to keep watch for the gravediggers, Dicken tells the reader, and many "factual tidbits are laced in Josephine's tale." In one scene, the gravedigger tells Josie, "Sometimes they'll lace the dirt with straw so it's more difficult for grave robbers to shovel. In Boston, they've even made cages to go on top of the dirt. Sawing through creates quite a ruckus for the snatchers." (Read the story, and you'll see how the yellow lantern of the title comes into play.) By 1815, body snatching was declared illegal. 

Most people avoid thinking about how med students learn and who might be on that table getting dissected, but in my early 20s, I donated my body to science. I have not un-done that despite the protests of my children. As a society, our squeamishness about dead bodies has also kept organ donation to a minimum, to the point that the sale of organs from live donors has led to illegal, unethical trafficking. Any novels and movies addressing this subject are high on my "must-read" list. 

Medical knowledge in the early 1800s wasn't what it is today, and doctors sometimes mistook the comatose for the dead. The stethoscope didn't exist until 1846, and it took some time for doctors everywhere to have one. Go online, and you can find endless nightmarish stories of people buried alive. In 1889, a Kentucky man exhumed the body of his wife, Octavia Smith Hatcher, when others in the community revived after being considered dead. The lining of her coffin had been shredded, her fingernails were bloody, and her face was frozen in a shriek of terror.

I've held back (believe it or not!) on saying negative things about the novel, but for me, the tropes of the romance genre add distractions rather than value to the story, and so does the prose style. Metaphor and idiom seem to escape Millennials, even those who are trained writers, and even editors. E.g., "His chin pushed up his lips into a deeply set frown." Huh? (At least Dicken and her editors know not to hyphenate after an -ly word.) Call me a crabby last-century English teaching major, but I wince at "fresh" prose that tries too hard, so to speak. This:

*Sorrow tiptoed beneath his starched white shirt.*

*Her eyes grew wide. Sapphire bobbles searched his face.*

(Proofreaders, note: Bauble, not bobble, is a small, showy trinket or decoration. Editors, blue eyes as baubles is a distraction. "Comradery" is spelled camaraderie.)

*She then tilted her face toward him, gave him a curt smile, and stared. His mouth went dry. A tremble seized his chest, foreign and unwelcome. He took in a jagged breath and stared back at her, searching beyond the light that washed her face and trying to determine his next words.*

*Fear laced the back of her neck.*

Ok, there was a lot of that kind of writing, but what really makes me wince and cringe is the sad history of medicine and the horrific casualties of workers in human industry.

Just an aside: I saw a TV show about the bodies in the basement of a house in London where Benjamin Franklin lived for twenty years returning to Pennsylvania to support the American Revolution. His friend and protege William Hewson studied medicine and anatomy in an era when society believed it a sin to disturb the bodies of the dead. Med students had to resort to grave digging or hiring grave robbers to unearth cadavers for illicit classrooms held in private residences. During recent repairs on Franklin’s old London residence, workers discovered human remains in a secret, windowless room beneath the garden. Forensic scientists concluded the bones of fifteen bodies, six of them children, dated back to Franklin’s time there.  [Why Were 15 Bodies Buried in Benjamin Franklin’s Basement?](https://commonplacefacts.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/why-were-15-bodies-buried-in-benjamin-franklins-basement/)

In all, the story of Josie Clay and Braham Taylor is not my kind of romance, but the real-life details that inform the narrative make this novel a must-read.

The series True colors: Historical Stories of American Crime has taught me areas of history that I knew nothing about. As is true in history, some things are harder to believe than others. So it is with the wicked web of the ‘resurrectionists’, people who snatched bodies from the grave for medical research. How is Josephine Clayton to extricate herself from this horror when she wakes up on the table, finding herself about to be autopsied? In an effort to save her father who has become entangled in this network, she promises to help replace her body. After all, everyone thinks she is dead!

This story holds a certain gruesomeness as you follow Josie and those who are coercing her help in their dreadful task. I appreciated the author’s note at the end of the book, explaining that this practice was widespread in the early 1800’s. As one who has benefited from medical experimentation, I can partly understand the need for this learning. However, I am grateful for those who donate their bodies to medical science, thus replacing the need for such nefarious activities!

I enjoyed learning a little more about the healing herbs that were cultivated by our young herbalist. Her reliance on prayer reminded me that the Lord is there even in the direst of circumstances.

I received a copy of this wonderful book through Barbour Publishing, NetGalley and CelebrateLit. The comments, impressions and opinions given are my own and were not solicited.

Told in a way that felt like a gothic novel from way back when with a slight Agatha Christi feel to it. The story draws you into the dark shadows to reveal a grave-robbing story, and the dark side of medical history. 

The more is read of this gothic tale, the more intense the story grew, the more I loved it. The story is well crafted and all the characters were so vivid and intriguing that it kept me turning the page to see what was going to happen.

I am really enjoying this series of books centered around true stories based on historical American crimes. While the characters in The Yellow Lantern are fictitious, the crime if bodysnatching was rampant at this time in history. While it is obvious that Ms. Dickens had researched the topic, at times the story felt forced. But that did not take away from the enjoyment of the story. 

I recommend The Yellow Lantern for those who enjoy a good story centered around a truly horrendous crime, a few plot twists and a sweet romance. The author also included a lot of interesting information about the cotton factories and a little bit about the healing practices of the time. 

I look forward to reading more books in this series.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I had heard of the term "graverobbers" before, but I guess I didn't realize it was a real practice in earlier times. This story dramatizes a situation where a family is blackmailed into participating in this shady scheme. There is a good deal of suspense in the story.
The author is a new one to me and I appreciated her handling of a disturbing topic.
I was given an electronic copy of this book by the publisher and asked to review it if I wanted to. I believe in supporting authors so am happy to share my thoughts on the book.

Reviewed on Amazon just now. I don't have a link yet. Will post to Goodreads as well.

I am loving this series by Barbour Books!  The Yellow Lantern is the third book in the series and WOW each of the three authors have written fantastic books.  If you haven't read the first two (which I think you should,) it's okay to start with this one because each is a stand-alone novel.

This story takes place in 1824, Massachusetts and from the first page I was a little freaked out to be perfectly honest but not in a creepy way but in an interested I must keep reading way!  Body snatching was an all too real thing that I didn't know that much about but thanks to the authors subject matter I discovered it was in fact quite real.  Luckily for our main character, Josie she was spared a horrible fate when she awakens and a deal is stuck where she is sent to work in a bobbin factory.

I really became caught up in the story once Josie is working and helping the mill workers with her herbs and catching the attention of the factory manager, Braham.  She seemed to flourish and that was one of the most heartwarming parts of the book.  I also loved, Liesel the young bobbin girl who was one of my favorite characters in this book.  This in a book that you have to take you time with because there are so many things happening throughout and you'll want to savor each and every moment.

So, if you're looking for a book that has parts that will have you on the edge of your seat, while learning things you may not have been fully aware of or just a well written, fascinating book then this is one you will definitely want to read.

I received a copy from the publisher through Netgalley and was under no obligation to write a review.  All opinions are my own.

True Colors is a series of books by various Christian authors based on historical crimes. This particular novel is based on the body snatching that took place during the 1800's as doctors tried to gain possession of cadavers in order to learn more about the body and how it worked as well as the variety of diseases that caused death. 

Angie Dicken is a new-to-me author. I enjoyed this story but the plot line did not pull me in with its suspense as well as the first two did. I also would have liked a little more historical background as to the whys and wherefores of the body snatching, and I would have liked to see a little bit stronger suspense element. I also felt as though the Christian thread was not as fully developed as it could have been. 

I did enjoy the characters of both Josie and Braham. Each of them was trying to overcome problems that arose from their past. For Josie, it forced her into making decisions she didn't really want to be part of. Whereas Braham had to push himself to stand up to Gerald and prove that he was not the person he appeared to be. I especially liked Alvin and the role he played as the repentant sinner. 

The historical detail on the cotton mill and its workers was quite interesting and obviously well researched. I felt horrible that these young girls and women put in such long hours (usually about 14 per day) under such poor circumstances. 

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions are mine alone. I was not compensated for this review.

3.5 Stars

In an effort to save her father, Josephine Clayton (Josie Clay) takes a position at a factory. Braham Taylor, the factory foreman, prides himself in gauging the characters of the people he hires. Yet, his newest employee is a mixture of challenge and mystery as well as strength and vulnerability.

As Josie (unsuccessfully) tries to blend in and play her part in a conspiracy, mysterious accidents are occurring within the factory walls.

I thoroughly enjoyed the romance in The Yellow Lantern. The slow build between Josie and Braham from distrust to admiration and the swinging pendulum between the two created some intense moments as well as some sweet ones. And the peek into the life of mill workers was interesting.

There were also a few challenges with this book. The number of characters is overwhelming at times and keeping track of who is who requires some brainpower. The sabotage of the factory equipment could have been fleshed out more, and the grave digging aspect was fairly disjointed throughout the book (at least until the end).

All that said, I know this is the first suspense Angie Dicken has written, so it’s a decent first attempt at the genre. Plus, I’m a fan of romantic suspense that’s heavy on the romance and definitely appreciated that aspect of this book.

Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

I found this book to be really interesting. I was almost afraid to read it, but I’m glad that I did. Angie Dicken did a great job writing a story about a dark subject. I really cared for Josephine and Braham. 


I received a complimentary copy from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

I had a hard time getting into this book. The similarity of the names Miss Clay and Miss Clyde confused me in the early part of the book. Grave robbing was an interesting concept for the story. I found the working and living conditions of the mill girls shocking. Josie Clay was an excellent female protagonist who a doctor attempted to kill so he could use her body for experiments and as she lived in a boarding house for factory workers. I admired her dedication to her father.  The factory manager, Braham Terrance, is a kind man who is attracted to Josie.  The Yellow Lantern is based on strange-but-true history. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and NetGalley and was under no obligation to post a review.

I thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. This author was new to me and I was not let down. It was a great story and very well written. The characters were easy to relate to and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend this to everyone!!

The "Yellow Lantern" by Angie Sicken was amazing and as good as the other books books in the "True Crime" series. 

The story was a page turner from the very beginning. The story is set in 1824 Massachusetts where bodies are stolen from grave for shady medical reasons. I had heard about "body snatcher, but in the back of my mind I  thought no way.. What would you do if you wake up and you are informed that you were pronounced dead or you realize that a family members body was stolen  in the name of medical experiments.  The main character Jessie Clayton was very likable! She spend her time trying to figure out what is happening and how to get out of the mess her life was put in.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery and suspense book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from netgalley and publishing company for a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

This series of books is incredible!  Each author has given us a well written mystery/ thriller, yet they are non-fiction.  It is sometimes hard to believe that people could treat each other this way, yet this is what the news is made of every night.  Angie Dicken took an old, old story of murder and blackmail and made it exciting and interesting in today's climate of mass shootings and crimes against each other.  Read this book...read the series.  You won't be sorry.

The Yellow Lantern by Angie Dicken

The Yellow Lantern is based on a true story

I found this book confusing and could not follow the story very well. There were too many characters, some with very similar names which I found confusing. 

I would like to thank Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in these series and it's not my favorite.I have heard of grave robbing,body snatchers and the horrors of the mills so I enjoy that aspect despite its macabre nature.I never connected with the characters and the middle slowed down and I had to force my self to read through it.

True crime has always fascinated me although I don't get a chance to read it as much as I used to.
This series of books Barbour has out, True Colors: Historical Stories of American Crime fascinates me and each story in the series is based off of a truth.
This story really fascinated me in the sense it's different than most stories I read in it's topic coverage. It deals with grave robbers, how's that for putting it out there?
I love historical stories, they are my favorite but I do love reading topics that are not widely covered and this is right up my alley.
I am hoping to read more nonfiction books soon to better my understanding of this.
I look forward to reading more books by this author soon!
Published August 1st 2019 by Barbour Books.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

I just finished “The Yellow Lantern” by Angie Dicken.  This book is written about grave robbers around the time of 1824 as told in the first chapter.  Although I had always heard of such things, I had no idea that the dead were exhumed to be used for medical experimentation.  I thought that they robbed the corpses of any jewelry or things of value they were buried with.

I was not at all comfortable reading this book.  In fact, it really freaked me out.  I ended up speed-reading the novel just to get it done so that I could review it.  I’m sorry, but this was just not my type of reading, nor my type of historical fiction.  The author was a good writer and obviously did her homework about the subject, but I think someone else could review this book with more objectivity.