BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH

Emily Dickinson uses the power of her family name to help solve a murder.

After Willa Noble lands the position of maid of all work at the Amherst, Massachusetts, home of the Dickinsons, her life changes in many ways. When her younger brother is killed by a horse, stable owner Elmer Johnson blames him, but Willa is skeptical, since Henry had an affinity for horses, and on a recent visit to her he claimed to have a plan that would make them rich. Sensing Willa’s doubts, Emily supports her maid when the police question her, encouraging her to investigate her brother's death. Emily doesn’t attend church, spends much of her time writing, and often seems lost in the clouds. But her intellect is formidable, and she uses her father’s position as a congressman to push the limits of respectable female behavior. Together with Emily’s dog, Carlo, the two women visit the stables where Henry died and learn that the horse that killed him has been deliberately burned. Jeremiah York, a young Black man who was a friend to Henry, was absent the night he died and refuses to say where he was. The women hope to find clues in the diary Henry left or in an anonymous threatening letter. Their investigations suggest a link between Henry and the Underground Railroad during a time when slave catches are coming north, igniting controversy. Emily insists that Willa accompany her family on a trip to Washington, D.C., where they learn a great deal, but not until they’re back in Amherst do they finally put the clues together.

Historical context adds excitement to the twin mysteries of murder and the poet's hidden life.