In 1931, a widow from suburban Chicago, Asta Eicher, began to
correspond with a man she met through a lonely hearts club advertisement.
Deceived by his promises of marriage and financial security, she agreed to
accompany him on a trip to his farm in West Virginia. He later returned without
her to fetch her three children. None of them were seen again. But Asta was not
as alone as the other victims of this serial killer, Harry Powers. Friends and
neighbors became alarmed and alerted the police and press to their
disappearance. Emily Thornhill, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, traveled
to Quiet Dell in West Virginia, where the Eichers’ bodies had been found. A
woman in what was then considered a man’s profession, she used her
intelligence, skill, fortitude and intuition to track down Powers’ true
identity as well as report the story for her newspaper. Quiet Dell is
based on a true crime, one that author Jayne Anne Phillips heard about from her
mother who grew up in the Quiet Dell area. Despite its subject matter, this
book is neither a mystery nor thriller. It is rather an examination of the
human condition, of love, hate, fear, hope, greed, generosity and loneliness.
And as Phillips tells the story, some good comes out of unspeakable evil.
