Category Archives: Historical mystery

Zeus and Dionysus in Crete

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The Cretan Zeus is not quite the same as the Classical Greek version of the God. For one thing, the Cretan Zeus is more of a harvest God who is born again each spring and dies in the Fall. Since Classical Greeks thought all Gods and Goddesses should be immortal, they changed the attribute of the God whose name they’d taken and declared all Cretans are liars. They kept, however, the story of his upbringing in a cave after his father, Cronus in Classical Greek mythology, swallowed all his children.  A prophesy declared one would be his killer. To prevent that, Cronus swallowed them. But Rhea, to protect her remaining child, dressed a stone in swaddling clothes so Cronus swallowed the rock instead.

In both versions, Zeus was nursed by a nanny goat – or one of several other animals such as a pig. Take your pick. I’ve now read several variations. Zeus’s crying was masked by the Kouretes, a group of armed men who clashed their weapons together to hide the cries.

So what does this have to do with Dionysus? Well, the Cretan Zeus is more like Dionysus. A mortal harvest God followed by ecstatic worshippers.

When I was in Greece at Delphi I asked our tour guide why Dionysus was so different from the Classical Greek Gods. They do not embody the Dionysian wildness and several represent rationality. She didn’t know but I have the answer now. Dionysus is a very old God. He is named in the linear B tablets. And in many, if not most, of the other Middle Eastern Bronze Age religions there are other Gods like him.

These early beliefs were concentrated on fertility – not just human fertility although in Bronze Age Crete the High Priestess, as an earthly representation of the Goddess, represented that fertility. Ritual intercourse was practiced not only in the Mediterranean but as far away as Norway. For these early farmers, fertility among the livestock and of course a good harvest meant the difference between life and death. According to Joseph Campbell, in very early times the king of the land, (or the consort to the Priestess) was sacrificed so that his blood would nourish the land and promote that fertility. This practice evolved to a ritual sacrifice, using animals or other rites that stood in for the death of the king.

That is why the High Priestess had such power. Although we are not entirely sure how much, I imagined her as THE power, with her consort controlling the administration of the state. Bulls and other animals were sacrificed, but other rituals were also employed. I suggest that the consort is required to reestablish his strength by facing a bull in the ring.

Of course, as the Priestess comes to the end of her fertile years, she would be replaced with a younger woman.

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Amy Patricia Meade is becoming one of my favorite authors. In this outing, she offers us Rosie the Riveter.

Rosie has taken on the job at the Brooklyn shipyards, along with several other women, because of the pay. The more ‘ladylike’ jobs do not pay as well and Rosie is supporting her widowed sister and baby. The male riveters don’t want the women there but Rosie is managing.

When her foreman makes a pass at her, promising a promotion, she clocks him in the head with the telephone. The next day his body is discovered in a nearby alley. Rosie is the prime suspect. She begins to investigate, finding a surprise ally in the police lieutenant investigating the case.

Roșie discovers several people wanted the foreman dead. The solution rests in a very nice twist. I would love to read the sequel but unfortunately it is unavailable.

Highly Recommended.

I also read Million Dollar Baby by Meade. Marjorie, an attractive mystery writer, catches the eye of wealthy British heir, Creighton Ashcroft. The house he is renovating is the site of a suicide, a mysterious death, and a missing diamond. When Ashcroft invites Marjorie to tour the house, they find a body.

A handsome policeman arrives to investigate – and Marjorie is immediately interested. Ashcroft is jealous and annoyed, but the three must work together to solve the mystery.

Another winner!

Small pox and the American Revolution

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With the USA’s 250th birthday coming up, there has been several books about the American Revolution.for example: The American Revolution: An Intimate History, by Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns and a new Burns’ documentary. I was particularly interested in the section on smallpox.

Like Covid-19, smallpox was a viral disease and greatly feared.The initial symptoms were similar to the flu, Covid-19 and many other viral diseases: fever, muscle pain, fatigue and headache. Before the distinctive rash erupted, small reddish spots appeared on mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue, and throat. 

The characteristic skin rash form within two days after the reddish spots on the mucous membranes. The rash was formed of pustules with a dot (that became filled with fluid) in the center. These spots scabbed over and then the scabs fell off, usually resulting in scarring. In Murder On Principle, Constable Rouge suffers a case of smallpox and becomes terribly scarred.

The origin of smallpox is unknown although the theory says the virus developed in certain African rodents 60,000 or so years ago. The earliest evidence of human illness dates to the third century BCE with Egyptian mummies It is a lethal disease with a fatality rate for the ordinary kind of about 30 percent. Higher among babies. The Malignant and Hemorrhagic forms are over ninety percent fatal. Occurring in outbreaks, it killed hundreds of thousands, including at least six monarchs in Europe. In the twentieth century it is estimated to have killed 300 million alone. As recently as 1967, 15 million cases occurred worldwide.

During our Revolution, General Washington realized that a. smallpox epidemic would kill many of his troops. Accordingly, he had his soldiers vaccinated against the disease. They used a live virus so the risk of contracting smallpox was a possibility although usually the disease was less severe and less fatal.

In 1796, Edward Jenner discovered that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox, a much less serious disease, did not come down with smallpox. He began a trial and proved that inoculation with cowpox prevented smallpox. The cowpox was safer than the live virus..

Later, the vaccine was made of the killed virus. In Great Britain, Russia, the United States vaccination was practiced. However. My father contracted small pox as a toddler and lived to tell the tale. When he volunteered for the Army during WWII, they tried to vaccinate him but of course it never took because he was already immune.

A concerted global effort a to eradicate smallpox succeeded with the last naturally occurring case in 1977. (The last death was in 1978. A researcher contracted the disease from a research sample.) WHO officially certified the eradication of smallpox in 1980.

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At Death’s Dough is the fifth in Mindy Quigley’s deep dish mysteries. Delilah runs an upscale pizza restaurant. But it is winter, and custom is slow. She is gearing up for Valentine’s Day, and hoping for a good turn out. Dominick Capone, Delilah’s boyfriend’s cousin, has a plan. But a few days later, his body is discovered frozen in the frozen lake outside.

Even more than who murdered him is the why. As Delilah pokes into it, she discovers his murder leads to a long ago death, and a treasure.

I did not even come close to identifying the killer. The characters are engaging and the recipes are good too. Recommended.

I read the Lace Widow on the recommendation of a friend. This is a historical mystery that takes place just after the American Revolution and involves the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.

Eliza Hamilton, Alexander’s widow, is almost prostate with grief at the death of her husband. But she is convinced her husband was murdered and is determined to bring Burr to justice for it. Her questions bring her into contact with a house of widows on Pearl Street, but also to the notice of a band of conspiracists. A brick with a warning note is hurled through her window. And her son, Alexander Junior, is targeted as the murderer of several other men, all friends of his father.

I found the details of early New York City fascinating. The Hamiltons lived in Harlem, which was the country then! Each trip back and forth takes hours. But I didn’t love the main character who, although she is praised for her strength, is always falling into tears, fainting, and sleeping. I would give this a mixed review. Parts are very good, others not so much.

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River of Fallen Angels is the latest in Rowland’s Victorian mystery series. It starts with a bang when Sarah, Hugh and Mick find human remains on the bank of the Thames. Not the whole body, mind, but a few pieces. The so-called Torso Killer is back.

Sarah and her posse jump into the investigation. But Sarah and her husband are almost immediately at odds in whom they suspect.And Inspector Reid, who believes the Torso killer and the Ripper are one and the same, takes another tack entirely.

While Barrett investigates suspects from the Ripper murders, Sarah’s sister Sally has the brilliant idea to search the personals. Doing so leads them to a woman who was once missing but now is in an insane asylum. Sarah begins to focus on a strange religion, the Haven of Love, and the charismatic leader who follows it.

Meanwhile, the bitter rivalry between Reid and Sarah intensifies, but results in a totally unimagined twist at the end. Highly Recommended.

Will Rees

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When we first meet Will Rees in A Simple Murder, he is pursuing his son to a nearby Shaker community. 

David has run away from his aunt’s rough treatment. When the boy was eight, his mother died. Rees drops his son on his sister and leaves, ostensibly to pick up weaving jobs. The truth is, though, that Rees, besides grieving the devastating loss of his wife, is also dealing with a huge amount of guilt. He is running away. And David views that as abandonment and it takes many years, and a lot of work, before the estrangement is resolved.

Through the series, we see Rees evolve from an indifferent father, at best, to an engaged and caring father. In Cradle to Grave, he and Lydia adopt several orphaned children, increasing the number of children to six.

By the Long Shadow of Murder, Rees and Lydia have a little girl of their own and she is pregnant with another child.

And Jerusha, the eldest of the adopted kids, is now in her late teens and hoping to attend The Litchfield Female Academy to become a teacher. Although Rees would never crush her dream, he hopes Jerusha will stay home. He wants to keep his children close.

In my head, I imagined Rees’s evolving – growing up if you will – from a fairly self-centered man to a husband and father whose core is his family.

Quite a journey.

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I thought I’d read all of the Holmes/Russell mysteries, only to discover this one; A Letter of Mary.

Mary Russell and her husband, retired detective Sherlock Holmes, receive an old friend and archaeologist at their Sussex estate. Dorothy Ruskin presents them with an old manuscript that she excavated in Palestine. It appears to be from Mary Magdalene and suggests she is one of Jesus’s apostles. The letter appears genuine but surely it couldn’t be. Could it?

Both Russell and Holmes are bored with their current lives and agree to look into the letter further. Then Dorothy Ruskin is murdered. Now the case suddenly achieves significant more importance. The game is afoot!

Although it is a bit of a stretch to imagine Sherlock Holmes married, these books work. I particularly enjoy the antiquated style Laurie King employs; it is so appropriate to the era. Besides, I love the archeological mysteries; Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody mysteries are still among my favorites.

This also has a clever mystery. Highly Recommended.

Traveling for a living

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Will Rees, the main character in my mystery The Long Shadow of Murder, is a traveling weaver, called factors. Like many professions then, weaving required an apprenticeship of about seven years. (This may explain the ‘Luddites”, many of them weavers who saw their professions disappearing.) About nine spinners were required to keep a weaver in business. And looms were big, heavy and expensive, hence the word heir-loom.

In colonial times, and stretching into the early USA, larger towns, like Williamsburg, had a resident professional weaver and cloth from overseas did come into the ports. Smaller towns might have a weaver who also farmed. The further away these towns were located, the less imported cloth the women had access to. In the beginning, this expensive cloth was expensive also although, as the Salem ships brought cloth from India, this cloth dropped in price. By 1802, when Long Shadow takes place, Rees is facing a huge drop in his business.

Besides the traveling weavers, other professions took to the roads. Some men made brooms. This was a craft the Shakers took on as well; they sold their wares which included brooms, whips, boxes and other items, from wagons. Tinkers, who not only sold pots and pans but mended them as well, were also a familiar sight.

In these agrarian times, the goal was to make enough money to buy a farm. Usually, once a man had a good farm, he settled, at least for most of the year. Although still a weaver, and a reluctant farmer, Rees has begun to focus more on the farm where he and Lydia and their children live.

Some of the accounts from the women married to such men speak poignantly of the loneliness and isolation, to say nothing of the struggles in keeping a farm going by themselves.

Indigo

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Indigo is probably the most familiar dye in the world and has a long history of use. The first identified use is from 4000 years ago in Peru. Our word indigo, however, comes from a Greek root word meaning Indian dye since it was from India that indigo traveled to Europe via the Silk Road. The use of the dye quickly spread. From the Tuaregs in the Sahara to Cameroon, clothing dyed with indigo signified wealth.

Prior to the arrival of indigo in Europe, woad was the tradition dye. It produces a lighter blue. (One of the theories is that blue previously meant a shade similar to cyan.) In the New World, enslaved people were put to work cultivating indigo which became a significant cash crop. There were large plantations in South Carolina. (See Death of a Dyer.)

During the time of Will Rees, all of the yarn he worked with would have been dyed with these natural dyes. Indigo, by the way, was very expensive.

Indigo is not water soluable and so has to be treated to make it useable. One of the pre-industrial processes  was  soaking it in stale urine. Many accounts do not mention this particular fact but the pungency of the process is regularly described. (I used indigo a library program and when it was ‘curing’, it smelled so terrible, we all left the room.) The result is known as indigo white. Fabric dyed in the indigo white turns blue with oxidation. Indigo is also toxic so there is plenty of opportunity for indigo workers to become sick. And despite the processing, indigo fades slowly over time. Just take a look at your jeans. Denim is dyed with indigo and fades.

I saw items dyes with indigo in the highlands of Peru. The hanks of wool were all different colors from a light royal blue to such a deep blue it was almost navy. Truly beautiful colors.

Synthetic dyes have now almost taken over for indigo and the other natural dyes.

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Murder in the Trembling Lands is the newest Benjamin January mystery by Barbara Hambly. It is Carnival time, and Ben is working asa musician at all the balls and fetes. He is therefore present when one man calls out another, accusing him of being an Octoroon instead of a white man. A duel ensues, and Ben is asked to attend as a physician.

One of the men, Corvallis, is shot. When Ben examines the body, he realizes the victim has been shot by a rifleman in the trees, not the other duelist. Moreover, the other man has recently had all his gambling debts paid off. So the murder of Corvallis was murder, and a carefully planned one as well.

Shortly thereafter, Ben is asked by his white stepbrother to search an old and abandoned plantation of something – papers or something else – by the daughter of a disgraced man who was accused of treason during the War of 1812. Ben, himself, fought in that war, primarily at the Chalmette Battlefield. In that battle, a large and professional army of British soldiers was defeated by Andrew Jackson’s hastily assembled army of volunteers, including the free blacks like Ben.

Now Ben has several tasks before the murder can be solved. He must discover what exactly happened during the War of 1812, and the battle at Chalmette. He has to help his step brother, and protect him from his foolishness. And, Ben has to accomplish all this while working, and trying to survive the men trying to kill him.

This is a rousing story with an intricate plot. But for me, the attraction is always the exotic culture of New Orleans during this time and the complication interpersonal relationships. The rules governing the whites, the free blacks, and the slaves are complicated to say the least. This is a society where the wealthy white planters choose placees, beautiful women of color, as their mistresses. Thus, it is common for the white children to have half-siblings from ‘the shady side of the street’. The white family demonstrate a variety of reactions to their darker family members, from complete acceptance to outright hatred. I certainly don’t blame the Americans, recent entries into this society, of being confused by the complex rules governing it.

Highly recommended.