The Mortician's Wife
by Maralee Lowder
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Pub Date Feb 04 2015 | Archive Date Aug 09 2018
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Description
When Horace Carpenter begins to court plain looking and painfully shy Ada Hawkins she can't believe her good fortune. He is handsome, charming, and owns his own thriving business - the town's mortuary. After the wedding she learns that he expects to gain even more respect by being the son-in-law of the richest and most respected man, Dr. Hawkins. But when the doctor is discovered performing illegal surgeries he looses everything - including his life.
Horace takes his anger out on Ada with abuse and inforced isolation.
When Ada discoveres that she is pregnant she hides it from her husband, fearing he might cause her to have a miscarriage. When the baby is born his first reaction is rage. But he quickly realizes that if he appears to be a wonderful father the townspeople will think even higher of him.
Horace tells Ada that they must celebrate their son's second birthday by having a huge birthday party. The party is great success. After the guests leave, Horace directs Ada to clean the kitchen while he takes care of the baby.
Ada hears her son scream, and she rushes to the stairwell where his voice had come from. When she get there she sees him lying at the bottom the stairs - he turns his head and looks up at his mother. Horace tells her to call the doctor. When she returns after making the call she sees that the baby is no longer looking up. His head is now in an awkward position. He is no longer moving.
Horace taunts his wife that he has killed the "bastard" and there's nothing she can do about it. If she calls him a murderer he will tell everyone that she has lost her mind, that it was her fault the child died. He then tells her he has murdered before and always got by with it.
Ada begins plotting how she can get revenge for the horible things he has done, and also keep him from killing others. It takes her many months to do it, but eventually she kills him in a way that is most painful to him, yet also undectable as a murder.
When Ada is an old woman reunites with Emily, a woman who she had befriended when Emily was a child. While Emily cares for her, Ada tells her the secrets of her life. She explains that she stayed living in the mortuary even after Horace died because his evil spirit still lingered there and that it was her duty to protect others from him.
After Ada dies Emily is shocked to learn that Ada left her the mortuary and all of her other assetts. In the will Ada stated that Emily would know what she must do with the old, haunted, building. Emily isn't so sure that she does.
The Mortician's Wife is available for purchase in both print and ebook formats.
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781502845665 |
| PRICE | |
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Featured Reviews
Sally M, Reviewer
I really enjoyed this book, when I first started it I actually thought I had downloaded the wrong book, as it didn’t start as the back cover suggested it would. But a great read I couldn’t put it down, my eyes closing on their own last night was the only reason I stopped reading. Now to wait/ find the next book.
Laura F, Reviewer
Wow! I am familiar with Maralee Lowder’s writing as I have r as several other books such as The Mortician’s revenge. While I would say that this would not normally be a book I would read just by looking at the cover, I am so glad that I did. Mrs. Lowder has a great ability to tell stories. Her imagination comes through and allows the reader to join her. I would say that ther ar a few things that are too hard to believe but those are few and far between and should not affect your ability to understand the story. You do not need to read any others in the series to be able to understand this one as the writer gives enough detail throughout the book so that you will be able to follow along.
Thank you to netgalley and the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my honest review.
5 stars ⭐️ Out of 5
Janis L, Reviewer
This story has all the elements of a goo, old-fashioned gothic novel. I wasn't sure about this story, but once into it, I found myself intrigued by Ada. Most towns have an eccentric person and we wonder why they are like that. The storytelling is very good and I enjoyed the relationship between the main characters. I'm looking forward to the next book to see how the story unfolds.
Irene C, Reviewer
The story begins when Emily is a little girl and gets her first glimpse of Ada on a long ago Halloween night. Emily is out trick or treating away from parental supervision for the first time. Everyone knows to stay away from the creepy old mortuary and the crazy old witch lady Ada, but lonely Emily finds a kinship with her and for a brief time they become friends. Years later they reconnect when Emily is a grown woman and Ada is now in her 90s with deteriorating health and needs someone to help her with her daily needs. Gradually, Ada tells Emily her life story and how she came to be living above the mortuary and why she refuses to leave. It is a heartbreaking tale that ends a bit abruptly since it is the first in a series.
Regina L, Reviewer
SPOILER ALERT*****
I received a review copy of this novel via NetGalley. I greatly enjoyed this novel. The novel was written primarily in first person, except for the sections where Ada tells her story. I found the first 70 pages or so a bit tedious, as they seemed to read like an essay instead of a novel. After that Ms. Lowder hit her stride, and the novel took off.
I don’t blame Ada for killing that evil b*****d of a “husband”. I put “husband” in quotes because Horace wasn’t one. He taunted, tortured, physically & mentally abused Ada all the years of their marriage. All of his friends, & all the townspeople thought he was such a wonderful man, but that face he put on to meet people was nothing but a sham. After Horace murdered his own son, that was the breaking point for Ada. She knew if she didn’t take care of Horace, he’d kill her next. He admitted that the murders of Jake & his son Joseph (he was just a baby!) weren’t his first murders. The reader is left wondering who & how many he’d murdered previously. As a reader, I was very happy when Ada killed the rotten psycho. She did society a great favor when she killed Horace. I’m glad she didn’t spend a minute of time in jail or was detained by authorities. She suffered enough already being married to that psycho freak!
I didn’t really get the full picture of Emily. She’s one of the main characters in the novel, but I don’t really have a sense of her. Hopefully, her character will emerge more fully in book 2.
Also, I had no idea of the time frame in the novel. I’m guessing the 60’s or 70’s. When Ada tells her story, she refers to her youth as being in the Victorian Era, which was circa the 1890’s. So if she was born in 1880 & she’s 91 years old in the novel, the time setting of the novel would be in the 1970’s. I just wish the author had made stronger references to the time setting.
At the end of my copy of this novel, Ms. Lowder inserted a short note stating she’d been told this novel ends too abruptly. Which it does, but books 2 & 3 are available. I’ll be buying both of these tonight!
All in all, this was a really good read.
Thanks, NetGalley!
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