Kathleen Ernst Books In Order

Old World Murder

Trying to leave painful memories behind her, Chloe Ellefson is making a fresh start. She’s the new collections curator at Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor ethnic museum showcasing 1870s settlement life. On her first day, Chloe meets with an elderly woman who begs her to find a priceless eighteenth century Norwegian ale bowl that had been donated to the museum years ago. But before Chloe can find the heirloom and return it to her, the woman dies in a suspicious car crash. Digging up the history and whereabouts of the rare artifact quickly turns dangerous. Chloe discovers that someone is desperately trying to cover up all traces of the bowl’s existence by any means necessary. Assisting Chloe is police officer Roelke McKenna, whose own haunting past compels him to protect her. To catch the covetous killer, Chloe must solve a decades old puzzle…
before she becomes a part of history herself. Praise: ‘Character driven with mystery aplenty, Old World Murder is a sensational read.’ Julia Spencer Fleming, Anthony and Agatha Award winning author of I Shall Not Want ‘In curator Chloe Ellefson, Ernst has created a captivating character with humor, grit, and a tangled history of her own that needs unraveling. Enchanting!’ Sandi Ault, author of the WILD Mystery series and recipient of the Mary Higgins Clark Award

The Night Riders of Harpers Ferry

This is a memorable tale of loyalty and adventure as Solomon Hargreave learns how tangled politics and family relationships can be in a troubled border state proceeding the Battle of Antietam Creek, 1862.

The Bravest Girl in Sharpsburg

Learn how the Civil War divided friends and tested courage from the experiences of real teenage girls whose hometown lay at the center of conflict in September 1862.

Retreat from Gettysburg

Winner of the 2001 Arthur Tofte Award for Juvenile Fiction! Young Chigger O’Malley is glad when the battered Rebel Army is trapped by floodwaters while retreating from the battlefield at Gettysburg. His father and three older brothers have all been killed while serving in the famed Irish Brigade, and Chigger hopes the Union Army will attack and end the war. But when he and his mother are forced to care for a wounded Rebel officer, the questions of right and wrong of friend and enemy become much more difficult to answer.

Ghosts of Vicksburg

Jamie Carswell, a young soldier with the 14th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, is haunted by the civilian suffering he witnesses while campaigning in Mississippi. His favorite cousin, Althea, is already tormented by a past mistake when she finds herself trapped inside Vicksburg during the Union army’s sieges in 1863. Ghosts of Vicksburg is the compelling story of two young people struggling to find their way during one of the most dramatic campaigns of the Civil War.

Danger at the Zoo

Kit Kittredge is back, in a mystery that takes place in the Cincinnati Zoo! Kit lands a summer job writing a children’s column for her local newspaper and looks for story ideas at the Cincinnati Zoo, where her friend Stirling works as a guide and her old friend Will, the hobo, has a job cleaning cages. As Kit noses around, she stumbles into some strange activities in the monkey house. Meanwhile, Kit begins to notice small things missing at home too. It s not long before Will looks like the logical suspect in both places. Can Kit clear her friend and get a good story in the bargain? Fireworks fly as Kit s mystery is solved at the zoo s grand Fourth of July spectacular. Includes a full color Looking Back historical essay.

Secrets in the Hills

Josefina has heard tales and legends all her life: rumors of gold and silver buried in the hills, and even stories about the ghostly Weeping Woman who haunts the countryside. But she never imagined that such stories might be true until the day a mysterious stranger arrives at her rancho. This suspenseful tale is set in New Mexico in 1826 and includes an illustrated ‘Looking Back’ essay and a glossary of Spanish words used in the story.

Midnight in Lonesome Hollow

Kit is visiting Aunt Millie in Mountain Hollow, Kentucky, in 1934. When a professor arrives to study Kentucky mountain traditions, Kit is thrilled to help with her research until it becomes clear that somebody doesn’t want ‘outsiders’ nosing around. Kit decides to find out who’s making trouble, even if it means venturing into Lonesome Hollow in the dark of night. Girls will enjoy solving the mystery right along with Kit. This latest book from Kathleen Ernst, previously nominated for both the Edgar and the Agatha Award, also includes an illustrated ‘Looking Back’ section to provide historical context.

The Runaway Friend

Kirsten Larson has been living on the Minnesota frontier for only a few weeks when her neighbor and friend, Erik Sandahl, disappears. Erik had promised to help the Larsons at harvest time, and he owes Uncle Olav money. Everyone believes Erik has run out on his promises except Kirsten. Can she figure out what’s happened to her friend?

Written by Kathleen Ernst, a four time nominee for the Agatha and Edgar Awards, this is the first mystery featuring the American Girl historical character Kirsten Larson. Includes a glossary of Swedish words and an illustrated ‘Looking Back’ essay.

Clues in the Shadows

Molly still does her her patriotic duty to help America win World War Two, but in the spring of 1945 she’s weary and troubled. Dad is home safe…
but he seems different now. Her favorite Red Cross leader abruptly quits. Her archrival, Ronnie Vanko, is driving her crazy. And now someone is sneaking into the backyard shed and messing with the scrap she’s collecting for the latest wartime drive. Who is the intruder: Ronnie, her own brother Ricky or a prowler she spied in the night?

Felicity Learns a Lesson: A School Story (By:)

Felicity is sent to Miss Manderly’s house to learn to be a polite gentlewoman. She practices stitchery, dancing, penmanship, and the proper way to serve tea. Two sisters from England join the lessons, and one of them, Elizabeth, becomes Felicity’s best friend. Learning to serve tea is great fun, until Felicity’s father decides that the king’s tax on tea is unfair. He refuses to sell tea in his store or to drink it at home. How can Felicity continue the tea lessons she loves and still be loyal to her father?

Felicity’s Surprise (By:)

Felicity is invited to a dancing lesson at the Governor’s Palace, the most wonderful honor she can imagine. Mother promises to make a beautiful new gown for her. As the splendid event draws near, Mother becomes dreadfully ill. Felicity spends all her days caring for her, sadly accepting that there will be no new gown and no chance to go to the Palace. No chance, that is, until a glorious surprise reminds her that Christmastide is a time when hopes and dreams do come true.

Felicity Saves the Day: A Summer Story (By:)

Felicity loves summertime on Grand father’s plantation. She can be outside all day riding horses, playing with Nan and William, and exploring the woods. One day Felicity finds a secret note. It is from Ben, her father’s apprentice, and it asks for her help. Ben has broken his apprenticeship agreement and is running away to join George Washington’s army. Felicity begins a dangerous adventure when she goes to help Ben. She must use all her strength, courage, and wisdom to try to save the day.

Changes for Felicity: A Winter Story (By:)

For Felicity, 1776 starts off with good news. Her beloved horse, Penny, is going to have a foal! Felicity has one worry Jiggy Nye. He has been cruel to Penny in the past. Will he be cruel to her again? Soon Felicity has more worries. Her family believes in independence for the colonies. But the family of Elizabeth, Felicity’s best friend, believes in loyalty to the king. Suddenly, Elizabeth’s father is jailed for being a Loyalist. Will Felicity and Elizabeth’s friendship survive the many changes that both girls face?

Very Funny, Elizabeth (By:)

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. This companion book to the Felicity stories focuses on Felicity’s best friend Elizabeth, an English girl from a prominent Loyalist family.

Trouble at Fort Lapointe

A 2001 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominee for Best Children’s Mystery! Suzette Choudoir has spent each of her twelve summers at La Pointe Island on Lake Superior, where Ojibwe people camp by the French fur trade fort. It is 1732 and if her papa wins the trappers’ competition, the prize will let him stay with his Ojibwe family year round instead of wintering in far off Montr al with the other French voyageurs. But a troublemaker sabotages the competition, and Papa. Only someone who’s both Ojibwe and French can figure out what’s going on someone like Suzette.

Shadows in the Glasshouse (By:Megan McDonald)

While working as an indentured servant for a Jamestown glassmaker in 1621, twelve year old Merry uncovers a case of sabotage.

Whistler in the Dark

It’s 1867. Twelve year old Emma Henderson is mortified when Mother takes to wearing a Reform Dress hideous bloomers! Worse, Mother has accepted a newspaper job in wild, far off Colorado Territory. But even Emma can’t imagine just how badly things will go in Twin Pines. From the moment she and Mother step off the stagecoach, it’s clear that someone doesn’t want them there.

Highland Fling

A year ago, Tanya Zeshonski was living in Wisconsin, interning at the public television station, and eating Polish food on the holidays. Then her mother divorced her father, reclaimed her maiden name of MacDonald, and moved to North Carolina to submerge them all in their Scottish heritage. So now, at 15, Tanya is the oldest beginning student at the Flora MacDonald School of Highland Dance. Instead of pursuing her dream of being a filmmaker, she’s learning the Highland Fling, one of the national dances of Scotland. Learning it means a lot to her mother, though, so Tanya resigns herself to practicing for the biggest event of the summer, the Cross Creek Highland Games. At the games, Tanya must face not only the intricacies of the dance, but the complications brought on by a handsome bagpiper named Miguel, a ghostly ancestor, and the arrival of her father. Tanya s sharp, funny voice rings true as she describes the delicate steps of the dance and the beginning of her new life.

Hearts of Stone

When her father goes off to join the Yankee troops, fourteen year old Hannah fears her family will be torn apart by the Civil War. But nothing prepares her for her mother’s sudden death. Hannah now finds herself responsible for keeping the young family together in a world where even her best friend, Ben, sympathizes with the Confederacy. On a long and dangerous journey from Cumberland Mountain to Nashville, Tennessee, in search of their only living relative, Hannah and her brother and sisters come to realize the true meaning of family and hope. This is a beautifully crafted novel about the tragedy of war and the power of love even in the toughest of times.

Too Afraid to Cry

40 b/w illustrations,6 x 9 First study of the Antietam campaign from civilians’ perspectives Many never before published accounts of the Battle of Antietam Sharpsburg ‘Through careful and thorough research coupled with spirited writing, Too Afraid to Cry lifts the veil on an untold story of the Maryland campaign of 1862. Readers will not likely think of the effects of the Civil War on civilians the same way again. David J. Eicher, author of The Civil War in Books and Robert E. Lee: A Life Portrait. The battle at Antietam Creek, the bloodiest day in American history, left more than 23,000 men dead, wounded, or missing. Facing the aftermath were the children, women, and men living in the village of Sharpsburg and on surrounding farms. In Too Afraid to Cry, the author recounts the dramatic experiences of these Maryland citizens, stories that have never been told, and also examines the complex political web holding together Unionists and Secessionists, many of whom lived under the same roofs in this divided countryside. Kathleen Ernst is an education specialist with the Wisconsin Communications Board. She has published several articles in magazines such as Americas Civil War and Civil War Times Illustrated, and is the author of two books of juvenile historical fiction.