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In 1450 B. C. the volcanic island now called Santorini, blew up, spreading ash all over the Mediterranean and dealing a mortal blow to the so-called Minoan culture on Crete. The Acheans (early Greeks) were able to sweep in and conquer the island, adopting cultural elements and gods as they did so.

This mystery series takes place twenty-five to fifty years prior to this cataclysm.

Martis is a young woman of about sixteen. In In The Shadow of the Bull, she has only a few months before she must take her agoge, her initiation into adulthood with marriage and children following. Martis swears she does not want to marry but fears she may be forced to. Before that happens, she is determined to become a bull dancer, one of the young men and women who grasp the bull’s horns and somersault over his back. We know from frescos and other artwork (and from the Theseus myth) that this was genuinely a sport. It is theorized that bull dancing had important religious significance.

Martis’s world is changing. Acheans are making their way across the water from mainland Greece. Although the Cretans are dismissive of these barbarians, they, and others, are becoming familiar. Martis’ sister Arge falls in love with one of these men. But on her wedding day, she falls to the floor, dead by poison. Saurus, the groom, is instantly assumed to be guilty. Martis is not sure of his guilt; a visit from Arge’s spirit assures Martis Saurus is innocent. (This is a culture rooted in religion where the wall between the dead and the living, between the real world and the supernatural is thin.) Through the course of her investigation, Martis befriends Tetis, an Egyptian prostitute who works the docks and Tinos, the consort to the High Priestess.

 

 

           

                                                                      

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Upcoming Events

Murderous March – Panels, talks by well-known authors, and more. 

Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10. I am participating in the workshop: CreatingThe Reluctant Sleuth.

Suffolk Mystery Festival – Interview with Donna Andrews

Panels, meet and greet and more.

Saturday, March 16, 2024.

SATURDAY

MARCH 16, 2024

1:00 – 6:00pm

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My Path to Publication

Mally BeckerJacqueline BouldenChris KeeferRobert KnightlyEleanor KuhnsAmyPatricia Meade, and Lida Sideris.
Join us for an inside look at the many paths to publication.

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Business meeting for members only at 10:30 am Eastern.

Contests

Double header Contest for Free Books

First up: Death in the Great Dismal

https://gleam.io/HPSaM/eleanor-kuhns-november

About DEATH IN THE GREAT DISMAL AND MURDER ON PRINCIPLE

Finding themselves in a slave community hidden within the Great Dismal Swamp, Will Rees and his wife Lydia get caught up in a dangerous murder case where no one trusts them.

September 1800Maine. Will Rees is beseeched by Tobias, an old friend abducted by slave catchers years before, to travel south to Virginia to help transport his pregnant wife, Ruth, back north. Though he’s reluctant, Will’s wife Lydia convinces him to go . . . on the condition she accompanies them.

Upon arriving in a small community of absconded slaves hiding within the Great Dismal Swamp, Will and Lydia are met with distrust. Tensions are high and a fight breaks out between Tobias and Scipio, a philanderer with a bounty on his head known for conning men out of money. The following day Scipio is found dead – shot in the back.

Stuck within the hostile Great Dismal and with slave catchers on the prowl, Will and Lydia find themselves caught up in their most dangerous case yet.

In Murder on Principle, Rees faces a moral dilemma when the slaveholder from Virginia comes to Maine in search of the woman and child Rees helped escape. Gilbert is also infected with smallpox. After his death, the disease begins to travel through town. At the same time Rees is worried about his family catching the dreadful disease, he wrestles with a decision: should he let lawful justice go forward or should he allow the murderer, who most likely is one of people who escaped from servitude, go free? ll must make a choice . . .

To win a copy of Death in the Great Dismal and a copy of its sequel – Murder on Principle as well as a $25.00 gift card follow link https://gleam.io/HPSaM/eleanor-kuhns-november

Program (free and open to the public) begins at 11:15 am Eastern.
Bethlehem Library, 451 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY 12054

Released on April, 2024. Pre-order now.

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