Tomorrow, March 26, I will be on blogtalktadio.com. This is maybe the third time and we always have a great discussion among the guests. I will be appearing with three other women. With so many of us caught at home, this is a great time to join us.
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The Tarot – and Will Rees
In A Circle of Dead Girls, Will Rees meets a character who uses tarot cards for divination.
I’ve gotten a couple of questions about whether Tarot cards were even around then. Weren’t they all the rage in the sixties?
The cards were actually popularized (for the first time!) in the 1400s and were used as, well, playing cards. There were four suits. The ‘trump’ cards were added later. It is thought that tarot cards came from Egypt.
By the mid-eighteenth century, the tarot cards were being used for divination. The first deck specifically created for divination was produced in 1789. There have been successive waves of interest since then and yes, the late sixties saw saw a surge.
So it is perfectly possible that Rees would have seen a deck of tarot cards, especially from someone of Italian extraction.
Why did I choose to use the tarot and the more occult use of tarot? Will Rees, after all, is a character with his feet firmly rooted in the practical. Did I include a supernatural element to this mystery? After all, Rees is astonished by the accuracy of some of Bambola’s readings. Although I left the door open for that interpretation, I chose that mechanism to show something of Bambola’s character. She believes in the readings but ignores what they say to her.
Murderous March 2020
The Mavens of Mayhem, a chapter of Sisters in Crime (we are the Upper Hudson chapter) are presenting our third annual mystery conference. Very proud to be involved with this group.
Death in the Great Dismal
Very excited to reveal the cover for my next Will Rees mystery: Death in the Great Dismal. It will be released early fall. In this book, Will and Lydia travel to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia to rescue a free black woman, taken from Maine and enslaved, who has fled to the swamp. One of the other maroons is murdered – but Will and Lydia are on the case.
I have had many wonderful covers but this one is exceptional.
Goodreads Giveaway – A Circle of Dead Girls
Although I planned to schedule the giveaway to hit just before the release date – March 3 – the book is available now!
So sign up for you copy on Goodreads.
The circus has come to town. Rees drives in to see a performance but sees his old nemesis, Magistrate Hanson, instead. Returning home, Rees meets up with a group of Shakers who are searching for a missing girl. Rees agrees to help search – and they find the girl’s murdered body in a field.
Talk at East Fishkill Library and More
I had a great time speaking at East Fishkill Public Library. I wish I had taken pictures.
My event at the Goshen Public Library has been rescheduled for May 9.
My talk at the Turning Page has been arranged for March 7. Looking forward to both.
Upcoming events
So excited to announce several events.
On Sunday, January 12, I will be speaking at the East Fishkill Public Library at 1:30.
In February, February 8 to be exact, I will be speaking at Goshen Public Library.
Also, in preparation for the release of the next Will Rees: A Circle of Dead Girls,
I will be holding a Giveaway for Simply Dead throughout January on Goodreads.
In February, look for a giveaway for A Circle of Dead Girls.
Another
Bald Cypress
The bald cypress used to be one of the most common trees in the swamp but from logging and other causes the numbers diminished tone replaced by red maple and other deciduous trees.
Bald cypress is itself deciduous and drops its leaves/needles in the fall. They are a beautiful and vivid orange with a hint of purple. A concerted effort to re-establish the bald cypress in the swamp was begun. One of the most interesting and, for me, creepiest feature of the bald cypress is something called cypress knees. No one knows why they exist but the theory is that they help bring oxygen to the roots.
Of tightrope walkers and more
One of the main characters in A Circle of Dead Girls is a tightrope walker, Called rope dancers, the tightrope walkers have been a feature of the circuses for centuries. The Romans called them funambulists.
My rope dancer is nicknamed Bambola, a name that I borrowed from a famous Italian tightrope walker. These aerialists have always been popular acts. I imagine the excitement in a small farming community at seeing this act would have been high.
Many of the rope dancers were women but not all. In fact, as the circuses traveled around, dynasties that were known for aerial acts formed and became famous in their own right.
Will Rees and others in the audience of that time would not have seen an act that became arguably the most popular of all: the trapeze artists. The trapeze was developed from the tightrope; more accurately from a slack rope that the artist then hung from. The first tricks were done from a static trapeze; a rope that hung without moving. The flying trapeze was not invented until the mid-1800s by a young aerialist: Jules Leotard. He invented it by practicing over his father’s swimming pool.
For many decades, the flying trapeze was one of these most popular acts ever.
Animals in the Circus
When we think of circuses, we usually think of exotic animals: lions and tigers and elephants.
But the first animals that were used in the early circus in the United States were not those exotics (especially then). The first elephant l did not come to this country until 1794. One elephant was brought from the Orient (which covered India, China, Japan and more then) by the Salem merchants.
No, most of the animals that would have been used in a circus were more homey. Dogs, pigs ( like the pig used by Billy the clown in A Circle of Dead Girls), and maybe bears. Horses were the stars for many years since the circus begun by Astley in England had begun as an equestrian show.
Some of the primary sources I read quoted farm boys who went home after the circus and tried to train their farm horses to circus tricks.