About the Book

Book: The Green Dress
Author: Liz Tolsma
Genre: Christian Historical Suspense
Release Date: June 2020

Death Seems to Follow Harriet’s New Friend

Book 6 in the True Colors series—Fiction Based on Strange-But True History

When Harriet Peters came to Boston in 1882, the Robinson family took her in like one of their own, and Harriet became closer to Lizzie Robinson than her own siblings. Now, four years later, Lizzie is deathly sick, failing quickly just like several others in her family have done over the past few years. How can so many in one family die from the same mysterious illness? Harriet doesn’t have answers, but she is determined to help the family, bringing in a new-to-the-neighborhood doctor, Michael Wheaton.

As Harriet and Michael close in on the answer, putting their own lives at risk, can the cause be found before anyone else dies?

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My Review

As usual, the True Colors historical crime series by various authors never fails to amaze! Harriet is perplexed and grieved by all the deaths in the family of her friends- good Christian people who continue to have horrific and unexplained deaths one by one. When Harriet's closest friend dies, she is determined to help take care of her remaining family and yet, family members continue to get sick. It is not long before foul play is suspected, and Harriet recruits Micheal, the kindly new doctor, who both have to put their own lives at risk to unravel the mystery. The book is based off of real history, and man does the mystery keep your skin crawling! At first reading the book, I was a little disoriented trying to grasp what was going on, but slowly the author starts making connections and dropping clues to lead us to the final answer. Micheal and Harriet were both deeply complex each on their own faith journey, and each drawing closer to each other. The book doesn't shy away from the reality of the cruel deaths each person suffered. The conclusion reached is based on real, terrifying history and certainly is a shock. Don't miss this book, and better yet this series!

I received a complimentary copy of this book, and all opinions given are entirely my own.

About the Author

Liz Tolsma is a popular speaker and an editor and the owner of the Write Direction Editing. An almost-native Wisconsinite, she resides in a quiet corner of the state with her husband and is the mother of three. Her son proudly serves as a U.S. Marine. They adopted all of their children internationally, and one has special needs. When she gets a few spare minutes, she enjoys reading, relaxing on the front porch, walking, working in her large perennial garden, and camping with her family.

More from Liz

We’ve all been there—started a letter or an email or even a list, didn’t like what we had, crossed it out or hit the delete button, and tried again. Now imagine that happening when you’re writing a novel.

That’s what occurred with The Green Dress. Finding the perfect place to start a novel can be tricky, but when you’re trying to balance fact with fiction, it’s even harder. I needed the fictional heroine, Harriet Peters, to have a good reason to come into contact with and become close to the factual Robinson family. And I needed for the hero, Michael Wheaton, to meet Harriet early on. So I dove into the story. Five chapters later, the hero and heroine hadn’t yet met. The book wasn’t working.

I scrapped those chapters and started at a different point. At first, it seemed to be going better. I was happy. Until I got to the fifth chapter, when I realized again that the book wasn’t working. Frankly, it was boring. So those ended up in the virtual trash bin. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking on my deadline. I was desperate to find the right starting point, at a place with high tension. Finally, I had an “aha” moment, and the story flowed from there. That’s how the first five chapters (and the rest of The Green Dress) came to be.

—Liz Tolsma