Strong protagonists, but prose flat in McConkey's 'The Widows of Braxton County'

Two women, separated by more than 100 years, are each suspected of stabbing their abusive husbands to death on the same Iowa farm. Is the farm and all who live there cursed?

That question underpins Jess McConkey's “The Widows of Braxton County” (William Morris, 358 pages, $14.99), but it's really just a hook for a fairly straightforward exploration of two women struggling to define themselves rather than to let society and their situations define them.

McConkey, an Iowa author who also writes supernatural mysteries (which this reviewer has not loved) under the name Shirley Damsgaard, does a fine job crafting her two female protagonists. Hannah, whose story takes place in the 1890s, is desperate to protect her son, both before and after her husband is killed. Kate, whose story is set in 2012, struggles in the face of gossip and hostile family members before and after her husband is murdered.

The author was inspired by Patricia Bryan and Thomas Wolf's “Midnight Assassin,” the story of an actual Iowa murder that occurred over a century ago. She uses her source material well, convincingly detailing how a wife who didn't adhere to her community's expectations might be suspected of killing her husband even if the evidence is sketchy. Kate's story also is fairly well told, though McConkey leans a little heavily on the potential curse as a plot device.

McConkey's prose is straightforward, edging toward flat, and her ancillary characters aren't always fully realized. Nevertheless, “The Widows of Braxton County” is likely to appeal to fans of authors like Sandra Dallas, and may be of particular interest to readers seeking historical or contemporary fiction set in Iowa.