The Glassmaker’s Wife: A Novel

In August of 1844, a man named Leonard Reed takes violently ill at his home near Heathsville, Illinois, & four days later he is dead. The cause? Arsenic poisoning.

The suspect? His wife, Betsey.

The chief witnesses against her? A hired girl, Eveline Deal, & the local apothecary, James Logan.

The evidence? Eveline claims she saw Betsey put a pinch of white powder in Leonard's coffee.

Betsey Reed, a woman who dabbles in herbal healing, is known about town as a witch. As the gossip & the circumstantial evidence mount, Betsey finds herself under the shadow of a trial—and a noose.

A historical crime inspired by the true story of Betsey Reed, for fans of The Trial of Lizzie Borden & The Good Sister, Lee Martin's latest weaves a tale of a pinch of white powder, a scorched paper, a community hungry for a villain, & a young girl's first taste of revenge—but above all, of the contradictions & imperfections of the human heart.