Elsewhen and Elsewhere

This second volume of stories of the private detective Wilmott Watkyns recounts a number of cases taking place far distant from her native Cincinnati; several of them feature Wilmott's unique psychic abilities in probing matters of the remote past. "Vanished" tells of a young woman who appears to have gone back in time to marry a lonely ancestor. A series of connected stories probe anomalies surrounding the life and work of the poet John Greenleaf Whittier. The lengthy narrative "God's Providence" takes us to Rhode Island, where a 17th-century colonist appears to have extended his life for centuries, right up to the present day. The novella "A Royal Priesthood" finds Wilmott in Africa, pursuing an obscure religious cult that may have kidnapped a young couple that it believes will be a new Adam and Eve. In all these adventures, Wilmott uses not only her skills at detection but her affinity for the supernatural to crack the cases. And along the way, she finds herself in intimate relationships with both men and women who cannot help finding her appealing.