Who Killed Snow White?: A Grim Tale

Word spread through the small village of Kleinstadt like a wildfire. Snow White was dead! Beautiful Snow White who lived in the castle on the hill but as a child often was brought down to play with their children in the village. The much beloved daughter of Baron White was dead? How could that be?The villagers needed answers. Gathering together as a group, they stormed up the steep road to the castle. Take the well known story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Mix in Hansel and Gretel, add plenty of Red Riding Hood and toss in a dollop of Jack in the Beanstalk. Whip it all together until it turns into a smooth adult blend. What you wind up with is a romance, tucked inside a mystery, wrapped in a fantasy. A sweet, well-crafted tale that effectively draws on childhood nostalgia. —Kirkus Reviews This fantasy novel sees fairy-tale characters in Germany facing the wrath of Snow White’s stepmother. White Manor, near the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, oversees the village of Kleinstadt. Baron Friedrich von White, a widower, decided to remarry when his daughter, Maria, better known as “Snow White,” was 8 years old. Now, the baron has died and his second wife, Lady Adora White, shares the manor with 12-year-old Snow White. As Adora prepares to host a dinner for royal guests, she learns that nobleman Sir Ludwig Brandstadt can’t attend. Propriety insists that his seat be filled, so Adora allows Snow White to rub elbows with the likes of dashing Prince Steffen von Shaffort, on whom the widow herself has designs. To Adora’s disgust, Snow White captivates Steffen and his brother, Mathias. A plan simmers in the woman’s mind for her stepdaughter to get, and stay, lost in the forest that she ordinarily loves to explore. Meanwhile, a stranger approaches Rupert Green, White Manor’s steward, for assistance in pilfering barrels of gold that the baron left behind. That stranger is Evard Wolff, a trickster who excels at “creating realities where none existed and unrealities where realities existed.” Rupert must also find a way to subvert Adora’s command that Snow White never return from the forest; perhaps the seven Dorf brothers can help. Schmeichel’s inventive remix of familiar fairy tales, which also include “Hansel and Gretel” and “Little Red Riding Hood,” will entertain audiences and show them that “throwing adulthood away for the moment” in order to have fun is essential. Several segments of the narrative illuminate characters’ backstories and inner lives; Adora, for instance, is shown to be the daughter of a brewer, and the Dorfs are short but loathe the nicknames that have been foisted upon them. Hansel the woodcarver is reveled to be a true, humble talent who believes that “he was simply allowing what was inside the wood to come out.” The interlocking portraits reveal not only the author’s love for fairy tales but also her fiery talent for layered storytelling. An epilogue explains that the players all “lived happily ever after. Or not.” —Kirkus Reviews

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