Tag Archives: Will Rees murder mysteries

More about the Tarot

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Why did I include the Tarot in A Circle of Dead Girls? The short answer is I wanted to be able to comment on the action and on Rees’s investigation in an oblique way. Although Bambola is the character who believes in the cards, she also does not listen to what they are saying to her. And Rees, although he is skeptical of anything that is not concrete, is surprised by the accuracy of some of the readings.

Do I believe? Well, I have friends who do. The readings they have done for me have sometimes been surprisingly accurate. So how does one align something that purports to foretell the future with the practicalities of the here and now?

I believe that some people are unusually intuitive. We all use non-verbal clues to understand another person’s distress, anger or joy. Some of us are amazingly good at that. I suspect that the cards allow this intuitive reader to focus and, in doing so, really hone in on the person sitting on the other side of the table and understand far more about them than they might consciously.

One further note about the tarot my mystery. Bambola associates justice with Rees. I would postulate that most of the protagonists in mystery novels have that passion. They don’t give up even when threatened with death. And a good thing for those of us who love reading mystery novels.

Death in the Great Dismal

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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.

Upcoming events

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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

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    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.

    The orange surface is the dropped needles. All the small trunks are cypress knees.
    I found these knees totally creepy. There are hundreds and hundreds of them and to me it looks like an alien life form (the pod people or something) taking over.

    Pub day for A Circle of Dead Girls

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    But the publication day last Friday was in Great Britain. Publication of the new Will Rees in the United States does not occur until the beginning of March.

    The circus is coming to town. Although primitive by our standards – the circus would not even have had a canvas big top – in 1800 where entertainment options were few, the circus would have been huge. No trapeze artists, but there would be a high wire act, a clown, maybe a magician and also animal acts. Not lions or even elephants, but the more common animals such as horses, dogs, and pigs.

    Who could blame the children from being excited – even the children living with the Shakers. Sadly, only the boys would be allowed inside, and the men, as women were not permitted to view such frivolity.

    Circuses also provided a haven for refugees. This was only 7 years after the French Revolution and Napoleon was marching across Europe with his armies.

    The swamp –

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    When the escaped slaves fled to the swamp, they bedded down first under the pines. They grow only on the drier islands.

    Most of the swamp resembles an impassible green curtain.

    Now the swamp is passable via boardwalks. This one leads to a memorial honoring the maroons.

    A Circle of Dead Girls

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    I am very happy to announce that A Circle of Dead Girls, Will Rees number 8, will be released March 3, 2020.

    The Circus has come to town. Rees arrives for the performance but the sight of his old nemesis, Magistrate Hanson, sends him home again. On his way, he meets a party of Shaker Brothers searching for a young girl. Her body is found in a nearby field.

    Who killed Leah? The circus trick rider? The strong man? One of the Shaker Brothers? Maybe even the Magistrate.

    A Circle of Dead Girls Cover v3

    Coffee

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    While on our vacation to Costa Rica, we went to a coffee plantation. As anyone who has read my books knows, Rees is a big coffee drinker. Then coffee was even more of a luxury good.

    Coffee us reputed to have been discovered by a shepherd who noticed his sheep and goats were more energetic once they ate these beans. From Africa, coffee went to the Arabs who discovered roasting and made a drink from them. They went to Italy and France, to the rest of Europe, and then to Central America in the 1700s. In Costa Rica coffee is known as the gold grain because it became such a huge part of their economy.

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    Two seedlings are planted per hole to maximize yield.

    flowers

    Pretty white flowers bloom on the bushes before the berries form.

    Picking coffee has to be done by hand since a coffee bush will have both green and red berries on it. A basket is attached to the picker’s waist and they walk around picking.

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    The the coffee has to be dried and roasted before blending into the drink most of us have every morning.