The Boy in the Burning House: A NovelAn Edgar Award Winner Two years after his father's mysterious disappearance, Jim Hawkins is coping -- barely. Underneath, he's frozen in uncertainty and grief. What did happen to his father? Is he dead or just gone? Then Jim meets Ruth Rose. Moody, provocative, she's the bad-girl stepdaughter of Father Fisher, Jim's father's childhood friend and the town pastor, and she shocks Jim out of his stupor when she tells him her stepfather is a murderer. "Don't you want to know who he murdered?" she asks. Jim doesn't. Ruth Rose is clearly crazy -- a sixteen-year-old misfit. Yet something about her fierce conviction pierces Jim's shell. He begins to burn with a desire for the truth, until it becomes clear that it may be more unsettling than he can bear. What is the real meaning of the strange prayers Father Fisher intones behind the door of his private sanctuary? Why does Ruth Rose suddenly disappear? And what really happened thirty years ago when a boy died in a burning house? |
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arms asked beaver Billy Bones breath Brockville called church Colin Dexter crazy crockpot door Everett face Father Fisher FedEx feet fire floor Francis Tufts front Gladys glanced going gone grabbed guess hair hands hard hate hear Hub's inside Iris Hawkins Jim Hawkins Jim heard Jim knew Jim looked Jim nodded Jim placed Jim saw Jim thought Jim's eyes Jimbo kind kiss the wall kitchen Ladybank laughed Laverne leaned light lip balm listen mother Mount Tabor Nancy never night okay pastor Poochie praying primer paint pulled Rose's Ruth Rose looked scarecrow shaking shook his head shoulder shouted smile Snoot sound split-rail fence Stanley stared started stepped stood stopped suddenly sure Tabor talk tell thing Three Musketeers told took tracks tree Tuffy turned voice wait walked wall watched Wilf window woods yard