Charlotte Hinger
Novelist and Kansas Historian
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The Healer's Daughter
Kansas Notable Book Award
Finalist for the High Plains Book Award
Will Rogers Silver Medallion
Charlotte Hinger was inducted into Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame
Hinger, a Western Kansas historian (“Lottie Albright” mysteries; Come Spring), here fictionalizes the town of Nicodemus, the first all-black settlement in Kansas. It seems a natural follow-up to her meticulously researched nonfiction work, Nicodemus: Post-Reconstruction Politics and Racial Justice in Western Kansas. Bethany Herbert—young, newly freed, and very skilled at healing—joins a group of other freed slaves who have been promised a veritable paradise in Kansas. There is, of course, no paradise awaiting them, but through their own hard work, they wrestle a community out of the harsh, unforgiving prairie. In this starkly realistic story, the townspeople struggle against outside threats and internal conflict to survive, giving new voice to those whose history the author recounted in her earlier work. VERDICT Somewhat reminiscent of Jane Kirkpatrick’s A Light in the Wilderness, this is far grittier. Readers who appreciate historical accuracy in their fiction will find this a powerful read. The impressive degree of realism and Hinger’s skillful weaving of personalities and story lines make it a real page-turner.
The Lottie Albright Series
Book Four--Fractured Families was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award.
Is there is a killer who can outsmart the Albright twins?
Editorial Reviews:
PW-- "The diary of a severely handicapped child proves both riveting and pivotal."
Kirkus-- "Hinger does a wonderful job connecting a young boy’s grim life with a horrific crime spree and the knotty problem of for-profit prisons."
Library Journal-- "VERDICT Featuring a crime spree and a murderer, both as cold as the Midwestern winter setting, this whodunit will burn like frostbite."
Barnes & Noble-- "As she follows the heartbreaking words penned by a desperate, shunned child of stunning inner beauty and strength, his observations provide the key—at a terrible cost."
It's definite change of setting for historian-turned-undersheriff Lottie Albright. She tries to cope with a deadly Kansas winter while launching the Northwest Kansas Regional Crime Center. Bizarre murders pile up, and her twin sister Josie's authority is challenged by a rogue psychologist determined to dominate the investigation. She has unexpected assistance from her husband Keith's aunt Dorothy Mercer, a best-selling mystery writer who is thrilled to be included in the investigation.
Click on the Books tab to discover more mysteries and to learn about Charlotte's historical publications.