Haunted by her family’s unsolved murder sixteen years ago, Leonora Spencer is familiar with death. As an assistant in her elderly uncle’s London morgue, she uses her photographic memory to catalogue details for his coroner reports. She also isn’t opposed to helping during postmortems, when his skilled hands begin to shake. After a thief breaks into the morgue and steals a locket from a corpse, Leo is determined to understand why, even if it means going against Detective Inspector Jasper Reid’s express orders to keep her nose out of it.
A closely guarded past
Born and bred in the East End slums, Jasper Reid’s recent promotion to the detective’s branch at Scotland Yard is a long step up from his murky past…a past he can’t afford to reveal to anyone. The last thing he needs is a muddled case connecting to the criminals he once associated with—and to the well-known eccentric Leo Spencer. Her stubborn resolve to undermine Jasper’s investigation tests his patience and the complicated history they share.
A murderer closing in
When the missing locket and a handful of suspicious deaths point to a mysterious buried object, Jasper grudgingly accepts Leo’s help to locate it. But someone is watching, and the more they uncover about a deadly blackmail plot, the closer Leo and Jasper get to becoming the killer’s next targets.
SHADOW AT THE MORGUE (Spencer & Reid Mysteries Book #1) by Cara Devlin is an exciting start to a new historical mystery series set in Victorian London in the 1880’s and featuring a young woman who does not conform to society’s rules and a newly promoted Detective Inspector. This is a story that starts off strong and continually kept me turning the pages with each new clue and twist in the case.
Fifteen years ago, Leonora ‘Leo’ Spenser was the sole surviving member of her family who were all brutally murdered. Now living with her uncle and aunt, she is an unofficial assistant to her uncle in a London morgue. With her photographic memory and her curiosity, she catalogues details for his coroner’s reports. Her best friend is a young female matron in the women and children’s side of the city jail while all others find her work in the morgue strange and unladylike.
Leo’s uncle is called away one evening and a man with a knife threatens Leo and locks her in a back room and then leaves after stealing a dead man’s case. Detective Inspector Jasper Reid is called and discovers Leo in the back room. While Jasper is wondering what was so important in the case, with Leo’s memory she knows nothing important was in it, but a dead woman in the morgue is missing a locket.
As Leo and Jasper follow the clues, more dead bodies are discovered and tied to the case. Then they uncover a blackmail plot that ties all the missing pieces together, but it also places them in the killer’s path and makes them disposable.
This is a great introduction to these new protagonists, and the mystery plot was full of red herrings and twists that continually surprised me. I love intelligent characters like Leo who buck convention and are ahead of the times they live in, but she also has a mystery in her past that can play out in future books. Jasper also has a past that was only touched on and I am sure will play into future stories. The dialogue between the two is snappy and while it can seem as if they are fighting like siblings, their feelings are a little more involved than that. The emotional ties between Leo and Jasper will be interesting to follow and see how they progress in future books. The author does an excellent job with her descriptions of atmosphere and historical depictions of London.
I highly recommend this new historical mystery and am looking forward to reading many more in this series!
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About the Author
Cara is an author, reader, and history lover. She reads and writes across genres, but her heart is reserved for romantic historical fiction and mystery. Her Bow Street Duchess books are fast-paced historical mysteries featuring a slow-burn romance taking place in Regency London. The series begins with Murder at the Seven Dials. Cara lives in rural New England with her family, where she is at work on her next series, the Spencer & Reid Mysteries.
Summer 1904.Katharine and her best friend from Oberlin College, Margaret Goodwin Meacham, are thrilled to attend the St. Louis Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, for the centennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Not only is it a grand, international event, it’s also the first time the young women have seen each other in quite a while, and they are giddy with excitement—despite warnings from Katharine’s old family friend, poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, to be careful of the fair’s less seemly side.
Undaunted, the girls have a lovely time—until the exposition turns from a girls’ trip to a misadventure when Katharine stumbles upon a woman in distress. It’s obvious that she has been attacked. Katharine does her best to save her, but tragically, before help can arrive, the woman dies. Yet just before her last breath, she utters the words aeronautics competition. . . . Katharine’s brothers Wilbur and Orville were asked to enter the competition with their successful 1903 flyer but declined. Katharine wonders how this young woman could be connected to such a prestigious event.
Now, unable to get the woman’s face out of her mind, Katharine convinces Margaret to join her investigation—and it’s soon clear that the race to be declared the first in flight might just be the deadliest competition of them all.
NOT THEY WHO SOAR (Katherine Wright Mystery Book #2) by Amanda Flower is the cozy historical amateur mystery I have been waiting for and is the second book in this smart series. Katharine Wright, the youngest sibling of the legendary Wright Brothers, is back and once again places herself in the middle of a murder investigation. This book is easily read as a standalone mystery, but the first book, To Slip the Bonds of Earth, is also an excellent read.
It is the summer of 1904, and Katharine has taken the train to meet her best friend from college, Margaret, to attend the St. Louis Exposition. While her brothers turned down the opportunity to share their flying machine at this event, she is still interested in seeing the aeronautics competition which has a hundred-thousand-dollar first prize. As they check out the hangers for the flying machines, Katharine stumbles upon a woman who has been fatally stabbed.
Even as Katharine and Margaret take in the many sights of the World Fair, Katharine cannot stop wondering who the young woman was who was killed and why. Katharine discovers the young woman was a mechanic interested in flight and everything seems ties back to the aeronautics competition. Can Katharine sort through all the evidence and suspects before she becomes a victim also?
I am very excited to see this series is going to continue. Katharine is an intelligent, inquisitive protagonist who while she may seem over-shadowed by her brothers’ notoriety, she is not intimidated by it and is a woman ahead of her time. This story took her out of Dayton and was full of interesting facts, both good and disturbing, regarding the 1904 World Fair in St. Louis which also hosted the Olympics at the same time. Ms. Flower’s descriptive writing of attractions at the fair demonstrated her extensive research for this story. Katharine’s intricately plotted mystery investigation is full of red herring, surprises, and multiple suspects which kept me guessing and turning the pages all the way to the end.
I highly recommend this cozy historical amateur mystery featuring Katharine Wright and am looking forward to many more in this series!
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About the Author
Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over thirty-five mystery novels. Her novels have received starred reviews from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Romantic Times, and she had been featured in USA Today, First for Women, and Woman’s World. She currently writes for Penguin-Random House (Berkley), Kensington, Hallmark Publishing, Crooked Lane Books, and Sourcebooks. In addition to being a writer, she was a librarian for fifteen years. Today, Flower and her husband own a farm and recording studio, and they live in Northeast Ohio with their two adorable cats.
A modern-day homicide detective is working as an undertaker’s assistant in Victorian Scotland when a serial poisoner attacks the men of Edinburgh and leaves their widows under suspicion. Edinburgh, 1869: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she’s not housemaid Catriona Mitchell—even though Mallory is in Catriona’s body—and Mallory is now officially an undertaker’s assistant. Dr. Duncan Gray moonlights as a medical examiner, and their latest case hits close to home. Men are dropping dead from a powerful poison, and all signs point to the grieving widows… the latest of which is Gray’s oldest sister.
Poison is said to be a woman’s weapon, though Mallory has to wonder if it’s as simple as that. But she must tread carefully. Every move the household makes is being watched, and who knows where the investigation will lead.
THE POISONER’S RING (A Rip in Time Book #2) by Kelley Armstrong is the second book in this historical mystery/time-travel romance mash-up featuring a modern-day female homicide detective who is sent back in time into the body of a Scottish Victorian house maid. These books, at least books one and two, I feel need to be read in order because the first book focuses more on all the character development, how they all interact, and the problems caused by the time-travel, while the second book is focused more on a historical murder mystery.
Mallory is still carrying out the role of house maid for Dr. Duncan Gray and his sister, Isla, while she really wants to be more of an assistant to Duncan who is an undertaker, who also moonlights as a medical examiner. Duncan becomes involved with a case of a supposed poisoning ring which soon includes his older sister when she is accused of poisoning her husband. Mallory, Isla, and Duncan all work together to investigate the murders to exonerate Duncan and Isla’s sister to save her from the hangman’s rope.
I enjoyed the first book, but I liked this one even more because the characters are more settled in their belief in Mallory’s time-travel and the focus was more on a very well-paced and plotted Victorian murder mystery. It kept me guessing until almost the end and was a satisfying solution. The characters make me keep coming back for more. While they follow the rules for their time in Scottish Victorian history, they are also educated and open minded not only to Mallery’s story, but also for their time. Ms. Armstrong brings in serious topics such as racism, varied sexual orientations, and extreme poverty and handles each with not only comparisons between Duncan’s Victorian feelings and beliefs, but also Mallory’s more modern understanding. The chemistry and dialogue between Duncan and Mallory lead to not only serious discussions, but also humorous moments. I am looking forward to following their partnership and relationship in future books.
I highly recommend this mash-up series with memorable characters and intriguing historical mysteries.
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About the Author
Kelley Armstrong believes experience is the best teacher, though she’s been told this shouldn’t apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert coffee drinker and a true connoisseur of chocolate-chip cookies.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE IRISH DAUGHTER (Emerald Isles Book #4) by Daisy O’Shea on this Bookoututre Books-On-Tour blog tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Standing on the cliff above the wild Irish sea, Hannah wipes a tear from her eye and thinks about the man she called ‘Da’. She was never his daughter. Hannah has been lied to her whole life by everyone she loved. Will she ever find where she truly belongs?
When warm-hearted Hannah Barry’s father passes away, her life is turned upside down when she discovers he wasn’t her biological father, and the only family she’s ever known are not related to her at all. Now their tiny farmhouse overlooking Roone Bay feels unfamiliar and cold. So when a handsome, dark-haired stranger turns up on her doorstep, his kind eyes and shy smile are a welcome escape.
Justin Sanders is searching for clues about his long-lost grandfather, whose last letter home came addressed from the area. Justin is certain Hannah’s own grandfather is connected to the story somehow, and that the men knew each other years ago. Hannah can’t help but be drawn to Justin and his mystery – they both have a painful past to solve. Will helping Justin lead to the answers about her real family that she desperately longs for?
But Hannah is shocked when nobody in the village will speak of Justin’s grandad. What secret could be so terrible that a whole community turns their back?
Justin’s caring nature makes Hannah feel so safe, and she can’t ignore the way he makes her stomach flip. But when they discover the truth about the events of a tragic evening decades ago, it threatens to tear them apart for good… Can Hannah and Justin find a way to forgive and move forward together? Or will Hannah lose the only real love she’s ever known for good?
THE IRISH DAUGHTER (Emerald Isles Book #4) by Daisy O’Shea is an emotional dual timeline mash-up of romance, mystery, and history that pulled me into the story and kept me turning the pages. This book is easily read as a standalone with a few carryover secondary characters, but the real connection between the stories is that they are all set in Roone Bay, Ireland on the southern coast.
Hannah Barry has dutifully taken care of her alcoholic and dismissive father until his death as she promised her mam on her death bed believing she would inherit their hard-scrabble farm. While the home and farm are not worth much it has been her home since she returned from the hospital at three years of age after recovering from polio. Then her brother returns from America with a will to claim it all.
Justin Sanders is an English doctor who has come to Roone Bay to find where his granddad, Jack, who was stationed there as a Black and Tan in 1920, was buried during the Troubles. Hannah is surprised that no one is willing to talk, so she offers to help.
They work together as both have family secrets and history to be uncovered.
This is an enchanting story of family, love, forgiveness, and discovery. The tissues came out at a time or two. Hannah was such a strong protagonist and Justin was the perfect hero for her. The historical dual timeline tells Jack, Justin’s granddad’s story, in 1920 while he was in Roone Bay and the present-day timeline with Hannah and Justin is set in their present day, but our late 1960’s. The author’s story telling and descriptions made me feel as if I was experiencing each timeline right along with each character.
I have read all the Emerald Isles books, and they are all moving and engrossing. I highly recommend this one, also!
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Author Bio
Sue Lewando was a teacher for several years before migrating to the office environment, where she was PA to the Treasurer of Clarks Shoes, a multi-national company, then, briefly, PA to Susan George, the actress best known for Straw Dogs. Sue had many genre books published (M&B and Virgin), under pseudonyms, and self-publishes her crime thrillers. She was on the committee of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in England, for whom she assessed typescripts. She has been a fiction tutor for the London School of Journalism for twenty years. She has two grown-up children, a happy second marriage, and a bundle of cats and dogs. She moved to West Cork with her husband to undertake a farmhouse refurbishment project, foster their joint passion for playing Irish traditional music, and to invest time in their individual academic projects. She recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing at UCC, taking the opportunity to explore diverse writing genres. She works with the Jeremy Murphy Literary Consultancy in the capacity of typescript analyst, ghostwriter, editor, and online publishing advisor. She loves good commercial fiction, and is a devotee of the Oxford comma.
As an undercover operative for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, Evelyn Bishop routinely embarked on deadly missions. By contrast, civilian life should be simple. Yet Evelyn, now back in Los Angeles, struggles with the responsibility of being the new president of Bishop Aeronautics, when people see her as nothing more than a beautiful socialite.
With Nick Gallagher, at least, Evelyn can be entirely herself. Once a fellow spy, now her fiancé, Nick works as a private investigator. But the mission that first brought them together is not over. Evelyn receives a call from her former commanding officer, who is overseeing the Berlin Airlift. He is concerned that the Soviets are trying to recruit Kurt Vogel, a scientist Evelyn and Nick smuggled out of Nazi Germany. After six long years, there’s word his wife and daughter may have survived the war. Is this a chance for a long-promised reunion, or a Russian ploy to lure Vogel to their side?
Past and present collide again when a routine case offers Nick a reunion with a childhood friend who runs a high-class “gentleman’s club.” The clientele includes everyone from Hollywood royalty to mobsters—to a hidden enemy who will draw both Evelyn and Nick into a web as twisted and treacherous as any they have ever faced .
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Elise’s Thoughts
An Unquiet Peace by Shaina Steinberg brings back the partners Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher, who are now engaged. Not only are readers treated to the cases Evelyn and Nick are working on but also see the role their wedding will play in the story.
The first book, Under the Paper Moon, shows how Nick and Evelyn fell in love during the war while working together as OSS partners, only to break up over a perceived betrayal. They were first drawn back together as they teamed up as private investigators to solve a murder. This second book has Evelyn and Nick engaged and planning their wedding. Unfortunately, they are not working together, as in the first story, but have separate cases. Nick is searching for a kidnapping victim who works for his long-lost childhood friend, and Evelyn is trying to track down the missing family of a German scientist.
Evelyn, now president of Bishop Aeronautics, is asked by her former boss General Henry Gibson to come back to Europe because Kurt Vogel, a scientist she and Nick spirited out of Germany during the war, has just received a postcard from the wife he thought was dead. The family had been split up, and two different teams were charged with extracting them from Germany, but Vogel’s Jewish wife and daughter never made it to safety. Now he is hoping Evelyn will find and reunite them as she travels back to Berlin during the Berlin Airlift.
Nick’s case reunites him with a childhood friend who runs a high-class “gentleman’s club” and is seeing her employees beaten with one kidnapped. The clientele includes everyone from Hollywood royalty to mobsters to a hidden enemy who is twisted and treacherous.
The supporting characters play an intricate role in the story. There is Hildy, a childhood friend of Nick’s who taught him how to survive on the streets and literally helped him lose his virginity. She now owns a “gentleman’s club,” where Julia, a bartender working for Hildy, has been kidnapped. Kurt, a German scientist, was brought to the allies by Evelyn and separated from his family. Taffy, Evelyn’s aunt, takes the place of her late mother and becomes the wedding planner.
The story has intrigue, plenty of twists, well-developed characters, and a fabulous mystery. The attention to historical detail immerses the reader in the era, making the story both engaging and informative.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for the story?
Shaina Steinberg: I was fascinated by the idea that Russia and the USA were allies during WWII, with a very grudging acceptance of each other and partnership. But after the war they showed how they disliked each other, exemplified with the Berlin Blockade. It was such a giant game of chicken and lasted almost a year. I wanted to write the story showing how the city was devasted, suffering, and many people were raped. Yet, a part of me did not feel sorry for the people there because of what the Nazis did. There were many who just stood by and were complacent about the Jews.
EC: I went to UCLA, so “Go Bruins”. Why choose that school?
SS: I chose UCLA for the college because it was one of the only schools that accepted women for undergraduate studies. I put in how one woman was going there studying for an engineering degree and another woman for an economics degree with my main character graduating from there. I also put in this quote about UCLA, “It was beautiful with wide green lawns and neoclassical buildings.”
EC: Through two of the characters, Hannah and Sophie, you show how the Germans were antisemitic not only during but also after the war?
SS: Hitler came in 1933 and announced what he was going to do. The concentration camps did happen because people were complacent, a real lesson for now. In my research I found a lot of Germans after the war denied being Nazis and there was still a lot of antisemitism with the prevalent sentiment that the Jews caused their problems on their own.
EC: What about the women’s issues in the story?
SS: There were women who tried to make it in a man’s world. My main character Evelyn says the true scandal is how “there were not more ways for women to earn a good living.” I talked about how a lot of women in the OSS were relegated to being secretaries. During the war a third of the men left, resulting in open jobs. Many women went to work and saw how they could make a difference and gain independence. After men came back from the war it was expected for women to give up their jobs and the freedom that came with it. Women had that moment of empowerment, but it was taken away.
EC: What about the main character, Evelyn?
SS: She was a CEO of a major company and a pilot. I made her raised by her father who told her anything your brother could do, you can do. He encouraged her to go to school and follow her interests in mathematics and engineering. Her father looked at her as the natural successor. She learned the ins and outs of an aeronautics company so it made sense she would learn how to fly and know her way around airplanes. I love the idea that Evelyn could have existed.
EC: You also speak to the Jewish culture a bit where they talk about wanting to continue the culture?
SS: One of the characters, Gabe, is Jewish and he came here because the European country he lived in became untenable. I think readers can see the different experiences but there are also similarities with people who come to this country. Hannah and Sophie were Germans who tried to hide but because they were Jewish, they were turned over to the Nazis. They thought they could be protected but that was not true.
EC: How would you describe Evelyn’s Aunt Taffy?
SS: She is a society woman who focuses on a very specific world where etiquette is very important. It is so easy to look at her and write her off. She was very disappointed she could not have her own children and never got over losing her beloved husband. She knows Evelyn needs her because her tight knit family has disappeared. She wants to make Evelyn feel that she is not alone and has a deep love for Evelyn. Taffy was like a second mom to her, outspoken, direct, and intimidating.
EC: How would you describe Hildy, Nick’s good friend?
SS: She is practical, humorous, friendly, outgoing, not trusting, and owner of a brothel. She is a good listener but is closed off about herself.
EC: How about another secondary character, Julia?
SS: Responsible, caring, tough, adventurous, organized, independent, and a love for family.
EC: How would you describe the scientist, Kurt?
SS: Bitter, smart, worried, and angry. He is good at placing blame for being displaced from his family. He has an incredible amount of guilt for deciding to leave his family behind.
EC: How would you describe the LAPD officer Brian Caruso?
SS: Corrupt, mean, uncaring, self-centered, and smug. His main thought is what is in it for me?
EC: What about the relationship between Nick and Evelyn?
SS: Nick is enthralled with her, sometimes feels like an outsider. She questions the role of marriage because she wants her independence. They complement each other and are true partners. They feel that each other is family to them. They are truly in love and do bring out the best in each other.
EC: Is Evelyn hesitant because a wife is expected to be a mother and housekeeper?
SS: She does not want that for her life and Nick understands. This is a time of no-fault divorce, where wives don’t have much choice. Evelyn’s friend, Lily, was trapped in a very abusive marriage. If Nick would have left her, she would feel a deep hole inside of herself. I think she would always have the hole if he left her, but she would be able to continue because Evelyn feels she is worthy of love. Nick on the other hand would have a harder time existing without her. He would see Evelyn’s leaving, as confirming he was not loveable. With this said, I have no plans for them to break up.
EC: Why was this book different with the case load than the first book?
SS: They are building a life together. Living and working together can be challenge. In the first book it was about them finding their way back to each other. They have been through so much together. I wanted readers to see how they do their own thing yet have the support from each other at the end of the day. They can talk to each other about their cases even if it is just to listen.
EC: Next book?
SS: I am currently working on it so there is no release date or title. Taffy and Julia will be in it. Evelyn is working on the factory expansion with things going wrong. In this book Nick’s case more closely ties in with her work.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
With a newborn and two children, Molly Murphy Sullivan is tackling motherhood. Her husband, Daniel, is off to work in Washington as Easter break begins in New York. Her dear friend and writer, Ryan O’Hara, is shooting a movie, one of the first to involve a real plot and actors. He invites Molly and the children to visit the set and watch the excitement. When one of the actresses is fired, Molly’s adopted daughter, Bridie, is called to replace her in the scene. Turns out she’s a natural and is asked to star in the rest of the film. Molly is skeptical about leaving Bridie alone on set, but her great friends, Sid and Gus, offer to chaperone her.
The movie industry is still experimenting with ways to get the best shot, like pretending to tie Bridie to real train tracks. But soon, their special effects start to malfunction. After a few mishaps where no one is hurt, the special effects turn deadly. With rumors of a feud between studios, Molly believes these malfunctions are sabotage. She is invited to go undercover on set to investigate the burgeoning film war. Once again, Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles deliver an engaging mystery full of vibrant historical details and thrilling escapades featuring one of mystery’s most beloved sleuths.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Silent as the Grave by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles is a suspenseful historical novel. The book opens with a bang where the prologue immediately draws readers in.
Molly is contending with raising her young son, a 5-month-old infant, and her 14-year-old adopted daughter, Bridie. Her good friend Ryan O’Hara invites Molly and the children to watch the film he is making. After one of the actresses is fired, Molly’s adopted daughter, Bridie, is called to replace her in the scene. Turns out she’s a natural and is asked to star in the rest of the film. Molly is skeptical about leaving Bridie alone on set, but her great friends, Sid and Gus, offer to chaperone her.
There are mishaps on the set, including a fire in the editing room and Bridie’s near escape with death while filming a difficult stunt. Molly believes that the mishaps are not just coincidences, but sabotage. She accepts the invitation to find out what happened, especially since Bridie almost died.
This is an engaging mystery with a bonus that readers learn more about the budding movie industry.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The idea for Hollywood like filmmaking?
Rhys Bowen: This is a non-Hollywood movie because all the movies were made in New York in the beginning. The character Molly lives just off 6th Avenue and Greenwich Avenue, close to the Biograph Studios.
Clare Broyles: I had read some articles that the actual father of film disappeared suspiciously when he got on a train and never got off. He had been in an argument with Edison before that happened. There was an interesting intersection between the family of the father of film and Edison that included lawsuits and studio ownership.
EC: Do you agree Edison was not the nicest of people?
RB: He was a bully who used thugs, blackmail, and intimidation against his rivals.
CB: He did steal inventions from other people. He was good in getting patents in his own name. There is proof that there was another movie, a film made of children, before Edison supposedly invented a movie camera. This makes more of the backdrop for an interesting mystery.
EC: Was the scene with the body on the train tracks real?
RB: Clare is the brilliant researcher. In the early movies there were no stunt doubles, and the actors took enormous risks to get the perfect shot. When the Keystone Cops went around the bend in the moving truck as it swings around the corner, it was real. The train operator was never told there was a body on the tracks. People really did die.
EC: Why did you have Mary Pickford and DW Griffith in the story?
CB: She started in vaudeville, which is how we would locate the time frame. We started in April 1909 when she came to Biograph Studios, because that is when she started out in pictures. It also fit because of the practicality picture. Molly was a sleuth with a baby, and we wanted the baby to be old enough to be left with a nanny, at 5 months of age.
EC: How would you describe the differences between the Biograph Studio owners, Arthur and Harry Martin?
CB: They are based on real brothers where one brother was the studio head and the other had a junior position. The character brothers were purely fictional, that they were twins, dressed alike, and looked alike. Arthur is more volatile while Harry is more of a ladies’ man and controls the power. There was a jostling of power.
RB: It came about because of something that happened in my youth. I was staying in this Italian hotel where the owners had a charming son. The next day he was incredibly rude. Turns out they were twins. We thought it would be fun to be put in the book.
EC: Can you speak of the character Alice Mann?
RB: She is based on a real person, a French woman, Alice Guy. She is listed as a secretary or assistant, but she is the one who came up with a lot of the innovations for cinematography. She invented the fade in/fade out by putting a cigar box over the lens of the camera and slowly opening it and closing it. Women did not get the accolades. Even today, how many female directors are there, not many? Look at the current Oscars regarding editing, directing, and producing it was all men.
EC: Did you intentionally want to make the mystery surrounding all the “accidents?”
CB: There was a lamp falling, a fire, and the train scene. We had to figure out a way to get Molly involved in the mystery when she has a five-month-old baby. The accidents are a way to get her fully invested because someone has threatened her adopted daughter, Bridie’s life. The accidents happened to pull Molly in to solve the murder mystery.
RB: We did the prologue intentionally to grab the readers. We needed to have a lot of set up before something dramatic. It is a signal that said danger is coming.
EC: Next book(s)?
CB: In the next Molly book, we are moving closer to her achieving her goal of opening her own detective agency. The arc of the series has gone from her having a detective agency not in her own name, pretending to be a man, to stepping out in her own right for a Molly Murphy Detective Agency.
RB: The next Molly book has a working title, Vanished in the Crowd, coming out this time next year. It will be about women suffrage and scientists. She will be hired to find a woman, a scientist, who has vanished and what happened to her. Daniel, her husband, is coming around to more and more appreciates her skills.
RB: My historical novel comes out in August, titled Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure. It is about a middle-aged woman in England, the perfect wife, until at the age of fifty, her husband decides to get a divorce. She steals his Bentley and with three other women drives to the South of France. They forge a new female bond. I will also talk about how WWII is coming to France. She becomes part of a group helping Jewish men escape.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
