Stone Maidens

David Claremont is the mirror twin of Donald Holmquist and a major suspect in the serial murders investigated by Christine Prusik. Claremont is 22 years old when the novel begins and does not know that he is a twin. In the first half of the novel, Richards heavily implies Claremont to be the killer responsible for the deaths of Betsy Ryan, Missy Hooper, and Julie Heath, positioning him as a red herring for the true killer. Richards eventually reveals that the mirror twin connection between Claremont and Holmquist is causing Claremont to experience the murders as they happen. Throughout the novel, Claremont is depicted as helpless to stop the violence he sees.

The early chapters of the novel use Claremont’s repeated visions of the victims’ deaths to suggest that he is the killer Prusik is seeking. However, these chapters also indicate that he is horrified by his perceived actions: “increasingly he fear[s] that he [is] leading a double life” with no way to stop the violence (81). Claremont watches the murders take place with “no say in the matter with this raging maniac inside his head” (82). He describes the visions as a “demon taking charge” of and “consuming him” (83). He later repeats this idea to Dr. Walstein, describing a “demon inside that [is] devouring him, eating up the good Claremont and replacing him with a monster” (116). In these passages, the repeated use of the words “maniac,” “demon,” and “monster” suggest that Claremont understands his violent visions and impulses to be separate from himself rather than part of his personality.

Later, when Claremont realizes that Holmquist is responsible for the violence, he actively seeks to dispel the “damn killer trapped in my mind” (216). He resists Holmquist’s interventions at their first meeting, knowing the only “way to stop the visions from ever happening again” is to “find a way to stop the killing” (297). Claremont’s willingness to stop his brother ultimately saves Prusik’s life and the life of Maddy Heath, another potential victim. Both the parallels and distinctions the novel draws between Claremont and his mirror twin emphasize the novel’s thematic exploration of Nature Versus Nurture in Human Development.

Donald Holmquist, who sometimes uses the pseudonym “Jasper,” is the mirror twin of David Claremont and the primary antagonist of Stone Maidens. The novel attributes his violent murders to the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his mother Bruna. As a child, Holmquist’s mother publicly shamed him and punished him for repeatedly wetting the bed. Her usual form of punishment was forcing Holmquist to swallow “lumpy pieces of gravel she’d collected from the back lot” behind their apartment (197). The novel explicitly connects this punishment to his later ritual of placing stones in the throats of his victims. At the sight of ritual stone amulets at the Chicago Museum of Natural History, “those hard lumps of back lot gravel she’d made him scrape down his own throat finally made sense: stones were meant to be placed inside people after killing them” (198). The fact that Holmquist’s violence mirrors the violence he experienced as a child underscores The Lasting Effects of Traumatic Events from Holmquist’s upbringing on his adult life.

Joe McFaron is the Weaversville County Sheriff and the primary love interest for Christine Prusik, the novel’s protagonist. The couple meet while investigating the murder of Julie Heath. Like Prusik, McFaron is 35 years old, “six foot two and handsome as a cowboy” with “a chest size that was still several inches larger than his waist” and a “full head of wavy dark hair” (68). Prusik is especially attracted to his “strong-looking hands” (182). Richards evokes this image of a traditional, strong, and silent Western hero to position McFaron as a man of integrity and character—a reliable public servant with past wounds that prevent him from forming emotional connections. When Prusik first meets McFaron at the Heath crime scene, she’s immediately drawn to him because, unlike the other men she works with, “he ha[s] a nice manner [and] he [is] considerate” of her feelings (163). She grows more attracted to him when she realizes that he is a “long-standing member of the community and widely respected” (165). McFaron’s professionalism distinguishes him from men like Bruce Howard.

Despite his popularity in his community, McFaron struggles to form emotional connections with women. McFaron’s “awkwardness” around women “ha[s] turned the few dates he’[s] had in recent years into complete disasters” (158). The novel attributes his awkward nature to the “emotional numbness” that set in after his father’s death (179). McFaron is consumed with a feeling of “emptiness” that worsens in the evening: “with the coming of night…McFaron’s struggle [begins] anew, and the void within him  [blackens]” (179). Although McFaron worries that “sooner or later […] the pain [will] win,” the novel ends with McFaron and Prusik deciding to pursue a relationship, suggesting that their romantic connection is beginning to heal his emotional wounds.

Roger Thorne is Christine Prusik’s supervisor at the FBI and a former love interest. He has a “piercing gaze” with “mustard-brown eyes” and “undeniable good looks” (26). Like Bruce Howard, Thorne acts primarily as an obstacle for Prusik to overcome. The novel suggests that his short-lived affair with Prusik has made it impossible for him to treat her fairly. When Prusik and Thorne interact, his tone is “studied, formal” and “blasé,” implying that he is unable to be fully honest with her despite their former intimacy. The fact that, after their affair ended, “Throne had wasted no time in retreating to a marriage that he had intimated to her was at most a comfortable truce” positions him as an emotional coward (27). In addition to his struggles with intimacy, Thorne has a tendency to prioritize appearances over skill and hard work. Although Thorne “ha[s] a discerning mind […] he [does] sometimes buy into the Washington bullshit,” such as when he promotes Howard over Prusik despite the fact that she’s the lead investigator on the case (27).