This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Award-winning author Terri Karsten discovered the power, and the joy, of the written word in elementary school, and has been spinning tales ever since. Born and raised in California, Terri discovered the Midwest in her college days and settled in a hundred-year-old house in Winona, Minnesota in1981. Here she learned to deal with snow, ice, and frigid temperatures and embraced the philosophy: Any experience that doesn’t kill you is great fuel for a writer’s work.
Terri writes for readers of all ages. She has published dozens of short pieces, both fiction and non-fiction, in print and online, in publications ranging from Highlights for Children to An Encyclopedia of Women’s History to Killer Nashville. She has also published nine books, ranging from adult historical fiction (including A Necessary Death 2025 and A Player’s Exit 2026)) to non-fiction (Ireland: You Can’t Miss it, 2022). Terri recently completed research for a grant awarded by the Minnesota Historical Society.
In the spirit of “I want to do it myself, Terri started Wagonbridge Publishing, an independent publishing company offering editing and formatting services. After teaching high school English for over twenty years, Terri continues her passion for educating and encouraging writers through classes, coaching, and critique groups.
When she is not writing, researching, or editing, Terri enjoys kayaking, hiking, and cooking up delicious dishes from 300 year old recipes.
Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
A Necessary Death by Terri Karsten takes readers on a journey back to pre-revolutionary America as the new country was beginning to discover its identity. Penelope Corbitt and her two children are traveling from Philadelphia to Boston with her brother-in-law, where they will all enter into some form of service. With Penelope’s husband seemingly long gone and Penelope required to pay off his gambling debts, she has little choice but to accept her curmudgeonly brother-in-law’s offer of assistance. An accident leaves the carriage with a broken axle and an unexpected delay at a small, run-down tavern whilst the carriage is being repaired. The surprise discovery of a dead body in the tavern’s outhouse leads Penelope and the local constable, also the tavern owner, on a search for just who might have killed the town’s parson.
A Necessary Death is a well-written and carefully plotted historical “whodunit” that will appeal to lovers of mysteries, historical fiction, and crime novels. Author Terri Karsten has created a delightful character in Penelope Corbitt, a woman who has faced her fair share of troubles from her wastrel husband, yet remains determined to create a better life for her children. Not only was she prepared to stand up to the men around her, an uncommon trait for women of her time, but she also had a high degree of intelligence and common sense. The treatment of and attitudes of the European settlers toward their Native American compatriots, as well as their black slaves, were fascinating. Although the story is set in the North, where attitudes toward slavery were less harsh than in the turbulent South, it was still clear that for many inhabitants, the Native Americans and blacks were considered to be a lower class of humanity. I was surprised to discover that the common name for an outhouse in the 1760s was, in fact, a 'necessary,' which gives new meaning to the title. This is a short, fun, cleverly constructed read that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.
