Jess Montgomery Books In Order

Publication Order of Kinship Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Jess Montgomery is a published author of fiction. She is known for her book, The Widows.

Jess also works as a columnist for the newspaper where she focuses her writing on authors and things regarding the literary life as well as things that go on in Dayton, Ohio. She is native to Dayton and writes for the local publication there, their Daily News.

Jess first came into print with her series all about a female sheriff working in Appalachia during the early twenties of America. The book garnered a number of positive reviews and even awards before it was published. The Ohio Arts Council awarded the author with the Individual Excellence Award in 2016 in the field of Literary Arts.

She also received an Artist Opportunity Grant in 2018 from Ohio’s Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District. Montgomery has also had the distinct honor of being able to be the writer in residence in Columbus, Ohio at Thurber House in 2014.

Jess Montgomery is the creator as well as the author of a series of novels. The first book in the Kinship Historical Mystery came out in 2019 and is titled The Widows. The second book in the series is titled The Hollows. If you love intriguing, historically-inspired mystery series that take you back in time to another place, then this might be the series to check out!

If you are looking for a great new fictional novel to check out, then make it The Widows by talented author Jess Montgomery. Definitely check out this story if you are interested in plots that are set in different times and places in the past!

This story starts out in the year 1924. That is when Lily Ross is the recipient of some terrible news. It appears that her husband is dead. He was the sheriff of Kinship and now he has passed away, killed in the line of duty while doing his job and transporting a prisoner.

It was all so unexpected, and now Lily has to deal with the fact that she is a widow and that she has lost her partner and her spouse without ever really expecting it. She goes to the funeral and hours later is surprised when a stranger shows up on her door step.

It is a woman that she does not know, and the woman does not know that Daniel Ross has been killed. Her name is Marvena Whitcomb, and she is the widow of a coal miner. It appears that this woman actually knew Lily’s husband. In fact, she knew him for years. There is a lot that Lily does not know about her husband and now she has to contend with Marvena showing up.

The widow wants to speak with Daniel, thinking that he is still alive. She wants to talk with him regarding her daughter, who is missing. She is just as shocked to receive the news that Daniel has passed away and takes the loss hard. The two of them have come from different worlds that are miles away, but their lives have intersected now.

The two women begin to realize that Dan perhaps was not just the person that they thought he was. It’s funny how things can change so quickly when you aren’t expecting them. Take Marvena, who never thought that John Rutherford would be taken from her. But he was one of many that died when the disaster happened and changed a lot of things for many people in Kinship, Ohio that day.

John and others were taken as the result of a cave-in. The cause was methane gas, which had been stealthily building up without detection until it was set off by lighting and ignited. The miners were trapped in the Widowmaker and life in that mining town in the Appalachian area would never be the same.

Lily’s father also died during that time in an attempt to get the miners that were trapped out. Now she finds that she has not only lost her father but her husband too. Lily often worked helping her husband as she was the jail mistress. She kept the records of the prisoners and would help her sheriff husband out with whatever he needed.

Now Daniel is dead and the death is starting to seem increasingly suspicious. There are any number of suspects that could be responsible. Luther was the half brother of Daniel and was the owner and manager of Ross Mining. The company employed miners who lived in the provided company housing. they were given scrip instead of money that they could use to buy things in the store (also owned by the company).

It was not the best policy but those that had complaints about it often found themselves invited to leave the housing units. Luther was up to some strange practices, and he is suspected of hiring enforcer thugs known as Pinkertons. It was a Pinkerton that sent the sheriff that day to get a prisoner and bring them to jail, and he never came back. The message to his wife was that he had been murdered by the prisoner, on his way to escaping.

In the absence of her husband, Lily is now the acting Sheriff of the town. She has joined a unique club along with Marvena, that of both being widows. The one thing that the two of them can agree on is that the death of Daniel was more complex than perhaps they are being told. What is the truth about his death and who really wanted to see him killed?

Until the election happens, Lily is the head woman in charge. Based on a true story of the first sheriff to be a female in Ohio, this is the quest of two woman to take on some local corruption and try to get to the truth on their journey for justice.

She has all the resources she needs to investigate this death. Will she be able to find the answers that she needs? Is Luther involved? Can Marvena resume what her spouse started in organizing the workers? Read this historical fiction novel in order to find out!