Jed’s quiet life as caretaker of the San Francisco Columbarium is turned upside down when he comes upon a dead woman’s body and a crying baby just inside the gate. His search for answers thrusts him into a world of corruption, bigotry and drug trafficking and he becomes one of the principal suspects.
Jed’s quiet life as caretaker of the San Francisco Columbarium is turned upside down when he comes upon a dead woman’s body and a crying baby just inside the gate. His search for answers thrusts him into a world of corruption, bigotry and drug trafficking and he becomes one of the principal suspects.
Professional Reviews
Chico Enterprise-Record
The novels of Chico writer Emily Gallo (emilygallo.com) trace the interconnected lives of some unlikely friends. Her new tale focuses on San Francisco’s famous Columbarium, a real place on Lorraine Court “with the walls containing thousands of niches holding urns of every variety.”
Jed Gibbons, “a tall, sinewy African-American in his early sixties,” and a survivor of the Jonestown massacre in Guyana, has become the caretaker. His wife, Monica, is a social worker at Glide Church and HIV positive. One morning, as Jed opens the gate in front of the columbarium, he finds the body of a woman strangled to death with her own hijab. And more: A baby, alive, lying next to her.
“Murder At The Columbarium” ($13.95 in paperback from CreateSpace; also for Amazon Kindle) is by turns an engaging mystery (Jed plays detective and comes under suspicion himself) and a family drama (Jed wants to adopt the child but Monica is not so sure given their age and her condition). At least they can provide foster care for little Aja (the name they choose), but it’s clear Jed is smitten, even as he tries to find the child’s relatives and (perhaps) relinquish Aja.
San Francisco police and the FBI get involved, and some strange doings go down at the columbarium, from vandalism to a neo-Nazi, tattooed with “1488,” who buys a niche and installs an urn in the shape of a KKK hood. A couple of mobster-types visit the columbarium as well, and other unsavory characters seem to come and go. The solution to the case has international implications.
Eventually Jed is led to Garberville and a pot farm run by an old musician named Dutch Bogart. Jed’s friends help care for Aja, including Tony, who takes over as caretaker for a while, and Malcolm and Savali (a “third-gender” Samoan).
The novel’s inclusivity is never preachy but rather a kind of gentle force against those who would take another’s life.
My Bookish Bliss
Emily Gallo has a way with words in Murder at the Columbarium. She takes the most controversial topics of our time and makes them mundane. It is fantastic!
In Murder at the Columbarium, we open into Jed going to work at the Columbarium, just as he has every day for who knows how long. However, instead of a quiet day working his rounds, he sees a dead body and a live infant lying next to it. Unknown to Jed, his life will never be the same again.
I loved this novel. I love mysteries, and this one did not disappoint me in the slightest. The well put together story with perfect timing and excitement at just the right places is excellent. However, Gallo brings us topics such as HIV, transgender, and gay into the world in the most unexpected way.
Each time Gallo drops a bombshell into a sentence that just flows into the next sentence without taking a breath. It is the most refreshing thing I have ever seen.
I am tired of LGBTQIAP issues being “bombshells” when they don’t need to be. I want to live in Gallo’s San Francisco because these issues are not issues at all. The characters are neighbors, friends, loved ones, and so much more. They are just people, and I hate that I have to bring this up at all, and the only reason I am is so that readers and other authors could learn from this.
Now then, there is one thing that I didn’t quite understand. I never could figure out why Jed was a viable suspect in the murder, other than the fact that the woman was murdered within the locked gate. None of the additional evidence pointed at him, yet there is a lot of energy spent in the book trying to make it seem as if Jed were the number one suspect.
Of course, that small annoyance does not change my mind that everyone should read this book. The mystery is fantastic. A large part of the book takes place on a pot farm. Once again, just like it is the most normal thing in the world.
I am honored to award Murder at the Columbarium a full 5 out of 5 stars. I will be reading more of Gallo’s work, and I suggest you all do the same.
Jeyran Main
Murder at the Columbarium is a murder mystery. Jed witnesses a woman’s dead body and a baby that is crying. Things cannot get worse for him when he is also considered as a suspect. He spends his time finding answers not only for his own curious mind but to also clear his name.
The story has a blend of mentioning drug culture issues, racism, LGBTQ matters. With a combination of a few plot twists, action scenes, and adventurous thriller pursuits, the author manages to create a really intriguing murder story.
The literature was easy to follow and understand. The pace was steady and kept the reader’s interest going. There were times where you would wonder where the story was going, but that did not stir away from the remarkable book.
I particularly enjoyed how the author chose to use characters that were usually unseen – not worthy- or generally disregarded by the public. I think that made the story stand a chance of being different than other similar novels.
I would recommend this book to those who like to read murder mysteries and people who like to read on crime.
Jerry Lowenstein, an octogenarian and a nice guy, has written a fantastic mystery/ suspense novel that takes place just after WW2 on and near Bikini Atoll. He actually witnessed an atomic bomb test. Can you imagine that?
Jerry Lowenstein, an octogenarian and a nice guy, has written a fantastic mystery/ suspense novel that takes place just after WW2 on and near Bikini Atoll. He actually witnessed an atomic bomb test. Can you imagine that?
