A Fatal Affair Cover Reveal (and the inspiration)

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Here’s the truth: Good book covers help to sell books. Not-so-good book covers don’t.

Of course, what constitutes a good or not-so-good book cover is largely dependent on the genre, and in the case of mystery, the sub-genre. With my upcoming release, A FATAL AFFAIR: THE MURDER OF HELEN GRIER, I was faced with more than one challenge: it was my first true crime book AND it was the first time I’d been a co-author. Which meant the decision was not entirely up to me.

Amanda Capper (my co-author) and I were lucky. The graphic artist recommended to us by another local author was Cassie Amond of Diamond Creative Studio. Cassie insisted that we spend some time on Amazon to familiarize ourselves with true crime book covers.

Helen Grier

I’ll admit I was resistant. I had a firm idea in my head. A photo of Helen Grier to the right side of the cover was a must and no amount of time spent looking at other authors’ book covers was about to change my mind.

Except it did. Turns out my “unique” cover art idea was as common in the true crime lane as a white picket fence and a floppy-eared dog is in the cozy mystery world. Who knew? (Well, Cassie, probably.)

Amanda didn’t do much better. Her vision had started with a leaf-covered trail in the woods leading up to a remote cabin. The problem was, the cabin where Helen Grier had been murdered in 1937, while still standing, now had a lovely green metal roof. And using another cabin, or worse, trying to photoshop the one in existence, just didn’t feel authentic.

We kept searching. And then I stumbled upon this cover of BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS by Mandy Matney. The moment I saw it, I was reminded of a vintage black and white photograph, shared by the current camp owner, taken from the other side of Long Lake sometime in the 1930s.

I ran the idea by Amanda, willing her to love it too.

She did. The question was this: Could Cassie Amond make it work?

Cassie immediately saw our vision. She asked for photos of trees that surrounded the camp (supplied) and got to work on the cover.

So (drumroll please): here are the covers!

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

On October 28, 1937, at a remote cabin in the Algoma District of Northern Ontario, the body of 28-year-old Helen Grier was discovered by her lover, Vernon Spencer. The cause of death was a bullet to the brain.

A married father of two, Spencer, 43, was held as a material witness for 71 days before being charged with Helen’s murder. A gruelling six-day trial in Sault Ste. Marie followed. Vernon Spencer was acquitted after a scant three hours of jury deliberation.

Was the jury wrong? Did Vernon Spencer, former professional baseball player and Michigan dairy farmer, get away with murder? Could it have been someone local who dropped in to visit and found the pretty young brunette alone and vulnerable? Or is it possible, as was suggested by Spencer’s defence team, that it was Helen Grier who fired the fatal bullet?

You be the judge.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

A lifelong resident of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Amanda Capper is the author of A Bother of Bodies (as A. J. Capper), the first in her Maybe Mystery series. The second, A Devotion of Dads, as well as the re-release of A Bother of Bodies, is in progress for upcoming publication.

A prolific writer of short fiction, Amanda’s work can be found in Every Day Fiction, The Algomian,Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers, and Crimeucopia presents Canadian Chronicles. Amanda is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and enjoys volunteering at The Royal Canadian Legion.

A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the founder and owner of Superior Shores Press, which she established in February 2018.

Judy is a member of International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she served on the Board of Directors, most recently as Chair. A native Torontonian, Judy now splits her time between Goulais River and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

A FATAL AFFAIR: THE MURDER OF HELEN GRIER will be published in trade paperback and e-book on October 28 2026, the 89th anniversary of Helen’s death. E-book pre-order available in select markets at www.books2read.com/afatalaffair. Print pre-order coming soon!

photo of donalee Moulton

Marie-Joseph Angélique – May you rest in peace

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by donalee Moulton

In June 1734, Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman, is found guilty of burning the lower town of Montreal to the ground. For this, it is determined, she must die.

Canada Post stamp of Marie Joseph AngeliqueConflagration! follows the trial, conviction, and execution of Angélique, now honored on a Canadian stamp. In an era when lawyers are banned from practicing in New France, Angélique is on her own. Philippe Archambeau holds court in this historical mystery, a clerk assigned specifically to document her case. He believes Angélique might just be telling the truth. Or not.

This is spectacle. Angélique is being wheeled through the streets of Montréal in a cart. In her hand, she holds a burning torch, an acknowledgement of her crime. Someone, as is tradition, has stripped her bare and placed a white chemise over her body.

This is humiliation. The hand cart that carries Angélique on her final journey is usually used to transport garbage. I look at the people who look at Angélique as she makes her way to the hanging post, and I wonder if this is what they see: garbage. If this somehow gives them a sense of justice. On Angélique’s white shirt is embroidered: incendiaire. A life has been reduced to a single word.

This is revenge. We have won. Justice has prevailed. Angélique stops at Notre-Dame, one last chance to make things right with God, the King, and the crowds who throng the streets. Her amende honorable. I do not know if Angélique believes in God, our god. I can hear my mother’s voice, “There is only one god.” Would the Negress slave agree?

This is power. We have decided Angélique is guilty. She most likely is. The evidence, such as it is, supports this conclusion. There are no other suspects. Does that give us the right to decide what happens to her soul?

On Monday, June 21, 1734, Marie-Joseph Angélique is hanged in front of the house she is said to have burned. Her body will be displayed on a gibbet for two hours. Then it will be placed on a pyre. Her ashes will be collected and scattered to the wind. It will be the final degradation.

cover of book Conflagration! by donalee Moulton

I Failed a Lie Detector Test

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I’ve confessed this to only a couple of people, but I’m now making it public: I failed a lie detector lie detector (polygraph) test.

This happened in the early ’80s, when I was young and naïve—long before I began writing crime fiction. Back then, I believed lie detector tests were infallible. When I failed, I didn’t just feel embarrassed—I questioned my own sanity. Was I a chronic liar and didn’t know it?

Years later, as a mystery writer, I know better.

It started when a friend asked me to bartend Sunday nights at a pricey hotel in downtown Austin. Someone had quit without notice, and he was in a bind. I’d bartended in college, so I agreed to help.

There was just one catch: new employees had to take a lie detector test.

No problem, I thought. It might even be interesting.

It was—but not in the way I expected.

I was sent to a private company across town. My internal alarms went off the moment I saw the man who would administer the test. “Creepy” is putting it mildly. He had greasy, dyed-black hair, dirt under his fingernails, and a stained dress shirt unbuttoned halfway down, exposing a thicket of chest hair. Cheap rings crowded his fingers.

At the time, I didn’t yet have the instincts of a crime writer—but I had enough sense to feel uneasy.

When he took my hand to attach the sensors, I shivered.

The questions began.

Had I ever stolen from an employer? No.
Had I ever been convicted of a crime? No.
Had I ever taken illegal drugs? No.

Then he lingered on the drug question, circling back again and again, rephrasing it each time. Today, I’d recognize that tactic immediately—pressure the subject, unsettle them, look for physiological spikes. But at the time, I was simply confused.

Finally, he asked if I was currently using drugs. I said I’d recently taken antibiotics and occasionally used Motrin.

He moved on, then returned to the same line of questioning.

If I were writing this scene today, I’d have my detective note the repetition, the shifting language, the way the examiner controlled the rhythm of the interrogation. I’d build tension there—because that’s where it lives.

But back then, I was just irritated—and certain of one thing: I had told the truth.

The following Sunday, as I was getting ready for work, my friend called.

I had failed the test.

If this were fiction, that would be the inciting incident—the moment everything tilts. The innocent protagonist accused. The system revealed as flawed. The first crack in what’s supposed to be objective truth.

My friend told me not to worry, said I could come to work anyway, maybe even retake it later.

I told him not to bother. I wasn’t coming back.

Years later, after writing crime novels and researching investigative techniques, I learned what I wish I’d known then: lie detector tests don’t always detect lies. They detect stress.

And stress can come from many places:

  • Anxiety
  • Fatigue or illness
  • Medication
  • Confusing or manipulative questioning
  • Even the examiner’s own bias

In other words, the very conditions designed to “find the truth” can distort it.

That realization changed the way I think about interrogation scenes. In fiction, a lie detector can be a powerful tool—but not because it reveals truth. Because it reveals vulnerability. Because it can be wrong.

And wrong can be dangerous.

I recently discovered that lie detector tests were actively used in courtrooms in the 1950s—the world of my Sydney Lockhart mysteries. Which raises a delicious possibility.

What happens when Sydney—sharp, observant, and far less naïve than I was—is strapped into that chair? When she knows the machine is flawed, but the people watching believe it isn’t?

That’s not just a test.

That’s a setup.

And in crime fiction, setups are where the real story begins. I can’t wait to put Sydney in this uncomfortable situation and then watch her wiggle out of it. She’d do a much better job than her creator.

Have you ever been falsely accused?

 

Dead, but Not Forgotten

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Galvez Hotel

Galvez Hotel

Dead, but Not Forgotten:

Murder at the Galvez

When asked whether I use real people as inspiration for my stories, I tell folks that there are so many imaginary characters in my head vying for my attention that I don’t need inspiration from a real person. Except—there’s always an exception—right?

When I started writing MURDER AT THE GALVEZ, the third mystery in my Sydney Lockhart series set in Galveston, Texas, I used a real person in the first paragraph merely to jump-start the story.

My husband is from Galveston, and his grandfather, PoPo, who was the doorman at the Tremont Hotel, always had a pack of teaberry gum in his pocket. I’d never met him, but I couldn’t help but wonder what life as a doorman at a fancy hotel would be like. (Note: before I chose the Galvez Hotel for the book, I’d planned to set the mystery in the Tremont Hotel until I learned it was temporarily closed during the time the story takes place.) Thus, I gave PoPo the name James Robert Lockhart, made him the doorman at the Galvez Hotel, and Sydney’s grandfather.

As in all my Sydney Lockhart mysteries, Sydney checks into a hotel, someone is murdered, and she’s the primary suspect. I needed a reason for Sydney to be at the hotel, and what better reason than to visit her grandfather? But wait, he’d already passed away, so to bring him into the story, I have Sydney reminisce about the last time she saw him, when she was eleven.

When I was little, I used to run up the hotel’s front steps, and PoPo would say, “Let me get the door for you, ma’am.” He’d bow and open the door with a flourish. As I passed, he’d say, “Welcome to the Galvez, Miss Lockhart. Enjoy your stay.” I would lift my chin like a queen. Then I’d reach into his coat pocket and pull out a pack of Teaberry chewing gum.—Sydney Lockhart

Having Sydney reminisce wasn’t enough, so I had to develop this character and give him more purpose, which led to Sydney’s last visit with him being a traumatic experience.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Galveston was a rough-and-tumble gambling town that earned the title “Sin City of the Southwest.” A few powerful crime families operated illegal casinos, speakeasies, and backroom bookie joints that attracted tourists and celebrities. A hotel doorman would surely have inside information and connections to these establishments and operations. With this in mind, James Robert Lockhart began to develop.

Whenever my family came to the island for a visit, I’d make a beeline to the Galvez Hotel and stand next to Popo while he greeted guests. People who saw us together knew instantly that I was his granddaughter. We were cut from the same mold: tall, thin, and redheaded. I was proud of that fact, for James Robert Lockhart was the most handsome man I’d ever seen. When I found him crumpled on the floor in the hotel foyer, his body riddled with bullet holes, I knew my life would never be the same. Now, as I stepped into the lobby eighteen years later, the memory of that day hit me square in the gut.—Sydney Lockhart

Sydney had no intention of ever setting foot in the hotel again, but when she was assigned to write a news story about a planning conference at the Galvez involving a controversial development project on the island, she had to suck it up and go. As always, someone was murdered, but what if this murder was connected to the murder of James Robert Lockhart? Now I was building him a backstory in which Sydney suspected her grandfather wasn’t who he seemed. Soon she realized that clearing herself of murder charges meant delving deeper into her grandfather’s history.

One thing led to another, and Lockhart skeletons began jumping out of closets too close to home. So, was James Robert Lockhart a notorious con artist or someone who always did the right thing, regardless of the consequences? Either way, Sydney had to find out, and so did I.

Since then, Sydney has shared with me a few survival skills she learned from her grandfather: how to hotwire a car, pick a lock with a bobby pin, and win at five-card draw. Dead, but not forgotten, Popo’s influence and teaching made Sydney who she is.

PoPo had an unquenchable fascination with the wonders of life and had steered me toward more practical directions. He taught me to appreciate the creatures that washed ashore after high tide, the majesty of constellations as they traveled across the sky, and flocks of birds that descended on the beach after fleeing an offshore storm. He even took me on my first Christmas bird count.—Sydney Lockhart/MURDER AT THE MENGER

I’m sure the real PoPo was the benevolent grandfather my husband remembered, and if PoPo is reading this from upstairs, I hope he’s smiling down on me.

Look for my seventh Sydney Lockhart mystery, where PoPo’s lessons save Sydney’s tush once again. It’s scheduled for release in spring 2026. The hotel, and hence the title, remains a secret until pre-lease. Check out my other Sydney mysteries: https://kathleenkaska.com/

Let’s Talk About Writing: Ngrams

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Ngrams home page

If I was the betting sort of writer, I’d place odds that most of our Stiletto Gang readers (and dare I say it, even the authors), don’t know what an Ngram is. If that’s the case with you, don’t feel bad. I’d never heard of them either until I listened to a webinar on writing historical fiction. One of the tips was, you guessed it: ngrams.

Here’s how it works (Tip: click on an image to view a larger version):

Replace the pre-filled text (Albert Einstein,Sherlock Holmes,Frankenstein) with the expression of your choice. For this blog, I’ve entered tag you’re it (no comma as it would recognize “tag” and “you’re it” as separate searches. Note: the search criteria for Ngrams is currently 1800 to 2022.

According to Ngrams:

“Tag you’re it” first appears in 1897, with varying degrees of popularity over the years, with a peak in 2012. Which means if you’re writing a novel set during the Civil War, “tag you’re it” isn’t going to be authentic to the period (even if you decide to break up the war action with some kids playing).

Ngrams results for Tag You’re It 1800-2022

If you want to drill down further, you can click on a time period to find examples of where the referenced text was found. Which means you may find yourself going deep into the weeds and down the rabbit hole. But hey, that’s what writers do.

Drill down to find references.

Especially when we’re looking for new ways to procrastinate.

The Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada and a former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the multiple award-winning author of seven bestselling mystery novels, two books on publishing, and several short stories. She is also the editor/publisher of five Superior Shores Anthologies, including the 2025 Derringer- and Silver Falchion- nominated Larceny & Last Chances. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com

Readers: Check it out and leave a comment with your Ngrams experience.

 

Guest Author M.E. Proctor Bops into Historical Fiction Waters

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Bopping in Historical Waters

By M.E. Proctor

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an archeologist. I had romantic notions about digging in the Valley of the Kings, excavating the ruins of Troy, or following Percy Fawcett in his search for the lost city of Z—David Grann’s book had not been published yet or I would have known that was a no-no … the critters … yikes.

Adventure books contributed to my vocabulary (quirky), grasp of world geography (off the beaten track), and crossword cracking (obscure). They also developed a long-lasting interest in history. To this day, these are the bookshop shelves I go to first. Logically, I should write historical fiction instead of contemporary crime.

I know why I don’t. The problem is twofold.

First, I’m an impatient obsessive. It’s not as contradictory as it sounds. A few months ago, I wrote a piece for an anthology. The story takes place in 1640 C.E. in Ireland. I spent two months hopping from one rabbit hole to the next, gathering documentation, deeper and deeper. All for what ended up being a 6,000 words story. That’s the obsessive in me. Imagine what would happen if I decided to write a book. My impatient self shivers at the thought. Forty months of research? Before writing the first line? The historical fiction writers reading this will probably say that it isn’t that bad, that once the material is assembled the sailing is smooth, or that I need to be more focused, more organized in the search.

That’s where my second problem kicks in. I’m curious. If something smells good in that rabbit hole, I’ll go for it. What happened in that place a hundred years before, or a hundred years later? What about this character? I don’t picture historical research as an academic pursuit. To me, it’s the most tempting of candy stores, a place of delights where I want to pitch my tent and stay. I might never put a line on paper.

And that’s why I will never write a historical fiction book.

Yet, Bop City Swing is out in the world.

I was tricked.

Russel Thayer contacted me last year and suggested we write a short story in collaboration. We had both published pieces set in California in the 1940s and 50s, classic crime, inspired by the ‘noir’ movies we both love. His recurrent character is gun-for-hire Vivian, nicknamed Gunselle, and I had stories with SFPD homicide detective, Tom Keegan. Let’s bring them together. We didn’t think it would turn into a book.

I didn’t consider 1951 ‘historical fiction’. It isn’t a hundred years old—the marker for antiques—and women’s skirts didn’t sweep the floor, a visual cue that says ‘costume drama’.

Russell and I talked about plot and locations, decided to build the story around a political assassination, didn’t know what would happen next, and started writing.

The need for research became obvious right away. We needed an election year in San Francisco. That set the date, 1951, when incumbent mayor Robinson ran for a second term. We also needed a realistic scene for the crime and chose the Palace Hotel, still standing downtown. A stroke of luck delivered period-accurate floor plans. We didn’t know it yet, but these plans would be critical for the plot. We also gathered city maps and photographs.

Compared to my excursion to the 17th century, none of the work done for Bop City Swing was time-consuming, and the rabbit holes were few. Because we let the plot and the characters dictate the story. When we bumped into an anachronism or a historical impossibility, we adjusted the narrative. Minor modifications: change of address, different music selection. Ironically, the trickier part was shedding some of the language flotsam movies left behind. In the final draft, period slang and hardboiled expressions that leaned too much into Chandlerian back alleys were cut. They’re period-correct, but 2025 readers might blink.

Bop City Swing is neither an homage nor a pastiche, its ambition is just to be a damn good crime story. Historical? Maybe.

Bop City Swing

San Francisco. 1951.

Jazz is alive. On radios and turntables. In the electrifying Fillmore clubs, where hepcats bring their bebop brilliance to attentive audiences. In the posh downtown venues where big bands swing in the marble ballrooms of luxury hotels.

There the story begins, with the assassination of a campaigning politician during a fundraiser.

Homicide detective, Tom Keegan, is first on the scene. He’s eager, impatient, hot on the heels of the gunman. Gunselle, killer for hire, flew the coop, swept away in the rush of panicked guests. They both want to crack the case. Tom, because he’s never seen a puzzle he didn’t want to solve, no matter what the rules say. Gunselle, because she was hired to take out the candidate and somebody beat her to it. It was a big paycheck. It hurts. In her professional pride and wallet.

Buy links

M.E. Proctor was born in Brussels and lives in Texas. The first book in her Declan Shaw PI series, Love You Till Tuesday, came out from Shotgun Honey, with the follow up, Catch Me on a Blue Day, scheduled for 2025. She’s the author of a short story collection, Family and Other Ailments, and the co-author of a retro-noir novella, Bop City Swing. Her fiction has appeared in Vautrin, Tough, Rock and a Hard Place, Bristol Noir, Mystery Tribune, Shotgun Honey, Reckon Review, and Black Cat Weekly among others. She’s a Derringer nominee.

Website: www.shawmystery.com

Substack: https://meproctor.substack.com

 

 

Russell Thayer’s work has appeared in Tough, Roi Fainéant Press, Mystery Tribune, Close to the Bone, Bristol Noir, Cowboy Jamboree Press, Shotgun Honey, Rock and a Hard Place Press, Revolution John, Punk Noir Magazine, Expat Press, The Yard Crime Blog, and Outcast Press. He received his BA in English from the University of Washington, worked for decades at large printing companies, and lives in Missoula, Montana.

What’s on Your Nightstand?

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By Lois Winston

I’m an extremely eclectic reader. There are a few genres I don’t read because they turn me off. My apologies to the vampire and werewolf fans out there, but I just don’t get the allure of falling for someone who wants to drain me of my blood or sup on my entire body.

I used to read a wide range of science fiction and fantasy, everything from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy to Arthur C. Clark’s Space Odyssey series to the Harry Potter books. At one point in my life, I devoured books by Leon Uris and James Mitchener, then Michael Crichton.

These days, though, besides reading books by other cozy authors, I find myself drawn to novels featuring historical people, women’s fiction, literary fiction, and books that cross genres. For my post today, I thought I’d tell you about some of my recent reads, all in different genres, and what I enjoyed about them.

The Unexpected Mrs. Polifax by Dorothy Gilman

I don’t know how I didn’t know about this series of books, but I’m so happy I stumbled upon them. Mrs. Polifax is a New Jersey widow who walks into the CIA one day and offers her services as a spy. Surprisingly, they take her up on it! And that’s the start of a very entertaining book featuring an extremely endearing character. The author wrote fourteen books in the Mrs. Polifax series before her death at the age of eighty-eight in 2012. I’ve already started the second one.

 

 

 

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

If a book doesn’t draw me in by the third chapter, I won’t waste any more time on it. There are too many books to read and not enough leisure hours in my day. Even so, there are books I finish but soon forget. Then there’s The Dutch House. I first picked this book up because it takes place in a town where I went to college and later lived for several decades. But I kept reading because the author is so adept at crafting both characters and plot.

 

 

 

11/22/63 by Stephen King

I bought this book several years ago but just got around to reading it this summer. At 880 pages, it’s quite intimidating and requires a huge commitment of time. Because I don’t care for horror stories, I’d never read anything by King other than his book on writing. However, I’m old enough to remember the day Kennedy was shot, and the concept about a man who goes back in time to prevent the assassination fascinated me. I flew through it, unable to put the book down until my eyelids grew heavy each night.

 

 

The Colony Club by Shelley Noble

Disclaimer: the author is a dear friend, and I was lucky enough to read this book prior to publication. Daisy Harriman, one of the main characters in the book, was a real person. When she requested a room for the night at the Waldorf Hotel, she was turned away because she wasn’t accompanied by her husband. Appalled by her treatment, she set out to change history, creating The Colony Club, the first woman’s club of its kind in not only New York but the world. The novel also incorporates other historical people of the Gilded Age, including Stanford White, who designed the building, and actress-turned-interior designer Elsie de Wolfe, who decorated the Colony Club’s rooms. The author is a meticulous historian who creates a richly accurate depiction of the times, especially in the treated of women, making the book extremely au courant for today’s readers.

What’s on your nightstand? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of any one of the first ten audiobooks in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

donalee Moulton

Let’s talk titles

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by donalee Moulton
 

crownLet’s talk titles – not king, queen and my personal favourite, goddess – but the titles that alert readers to what is about to unfold before their eyes.

I’d like to start by telling you a bit about myself – and my experience with titles. I am a freelance journalist and have written hundreds, actually thousands, of articles for print and online publications across North America and beyond.

One of the things you soon learn as a freelance reporter is that editors write the titles of articles. This is not always the case, but it is usually the case.  There are a number of reasons for this, and we’ll discuss those. In a minute.

First, I’d like to share with you the options article writers have when it comes to titles.

One, you can come up with a title that you think reflects the article, is clever or straightforward or funny – whatever attribute you think will appeal to readers. If the editor likes it, they may use it. If they don’t, they will write their own. More often than not, they will write their own.

Years ago, I did an article on a trademark dispute involving use of the Bluenose, Nova Scotia’s famous schooner. My title went something like this: Ship disturbing trademark battle erupts in Nova Scotia. I thought that was very clever. My editor did not. Well, she may have, but the title she used ultimately went something like this: Nova Scotia businesses barred from using Bluenose name.  On the other hand, I wrote an article on champagne and called it “Liquid Bling.” My editor wrote to say she loved the title, and she used it.

It never hurts to include a suggested title.

And no one usually knows the story as well as the writer. But good titles take time to craft, and on many occasions the articles I submitted did not have a title. They had a descriptor: Profile of Donald Duck, Article on the pros and cons of ducks vaping, Conference report from Ducks Unlimited. I was leaving the work to the editor.

What editors are looking for in an article title.

1. Something that grabs the reader’s attention.

2. Something that describes what the article is about.

3. Something that is not longer that the first paragraph of the article itself.

4. Something that makes them want to read the article or shows them why they should.

Are you likely to get all that in one title?

Probably not. But that is what is behind the words that introduce an article. Often those words are more dramatic or more urgent or more intense or more gripping than the article itself. Indeed, most of the time someone objected to an article I wrote it was the title that set them off.

And I didn’t write it.

History Speaks to Us

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I was not a big fan of history in my teens and twenties. No history class ever made the factoids we had to memorize feel real or relevant to the world I lived in.

The History Buff

Then I married a big fan of history, and through his eyes, his love for that old stuff began to come alive for me, too.

Mont-Saint-Michel

In 1999, we traveled to Normandy together. I’d spent my junior year in college in France, and I remembered Normandy mostly for the delicious crepes and hard apple cider the region is known for. And of course, for the wondrous sight of Mont-Saint-Michel rising from a sea of tidal sands.

But I had never toured the D-Day beaches there, where the tide of World War II began to turn. Of course, my history-buff husband very much wanted to see them.

No Hollywood Movie

Most people have experienced film versions of the war, including depictions of D-Day. But no matter how “real” the filmmakers tried to make the movie, nothing—neither the enormous scope of the effort, the danger involved, nor the bravery of thousands of young soldiers—nothing ever hit me in the gut, until I saw what those intrepid souls were up against on that day, and all the days after.

Already under fire from the German guns positioned atop the cliffs that loomed above the beach, they somehow mustered the fortitude to leap out of their landing boats, race for their lives across the vast beach past their dead and dying comrades, and scramble up the sheer, vertical cliffs. And if they succeeded, what then?

How did they do it?

Knowing that they faced more guns and possibly hand-to-hand combat if they were “lucky” enough to make it all the way up, how did they push on? It gives me chills to think about it.

As he does every year, last weekend my husband took a sealed jar of sand from the shelf and set it out on a table to commemorate those long-gone soldiers and their unimaginable courage. It’s the sand we had gathered from the beach in Normandy. It still looks as it did in 1999.

We enjoyed the whole of our trip to France that year. But the memory that lingers is of the site of that fateful day in 1944.  And I will never think of history the same again.

Has history ever come alive for you? How?

Please share your experience below.

Gay Yellen is the author of the multi-award-winning SamanthaNewman Mysteries include The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and The Body in the News!

Contact her at GayYellen.com

 

 

 

donalee Moulton

Justice in New France, 1734

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by donalee Moulton
 

My latest mystery book took me back in time and out of my comfort zone. Conflagration! is a historical mystery set in Montreal in 1734. It raises issues about slavery in Canada – and introduces us to a justice system that is distinctly different from 2024.

I posed 10 questions to the book’s main character Philippe Archambeau, a court clerk assigned specifically to document the case of Marie-Joseph Angélique almost three centuries ago. His answers are below. (Hint: You can also find them in the book.)

  1. ARE LAWYERS A CORNERSTONE OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN NEW FRANCE?
    Witnesses are a cornerstone of the French judicial system. We do this without lawyers. We do not allow lawyers to practice in New France. We are not English.
  2. IS EVIDENCE CRITICAL TO A CONVICTION?
    I turned to the Criminal Ordinance of 1670 and other legal documents for this question. It does not take me long to find what I am looking for. Rumor alone constitutes legal grounds for accusing, arresting, and convicting an individual.
  3. DOES THE ACCUSED GET TO FACE THEIR ACCUSERS?
    Confrontation is part of the judicial process. It enables the accused to deny accusations directly. It gives witnesses the opportunity to rethink, perhaps to revise, their earlier testimony.
  4. IS TORTURE AN ACCEPTABLE PUNISHMENT?
    The Criminal Ordinance permits torture for serious crimes. There are reasons for this. Torture can help extract a confession. This is important to get to the truth of a matter. There is also the issue of accomplices. Torture can help to draw out names that would otherwise die on an accused’s lips.
  5. WHAT ARE BRODEQUINS?
    The brodequins are very effective. Misleadingly and accurately called laced boots or tight boots, this particular form of torture involves packing a person’s legs between narrow boards tightly bound. Wooden wedges are then pounded between board and human flesh. Bone breaks. Boards do not.
  6. ARE INDIVIDUALS PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY?
    French law says all accused are presumed guilty. The accused must prove their innocence.
  7. WHAT IS THE PUNISHMENT FOR A CAPITAL CRIME LIKE ARSON?
    The punishment: death, torture, or banishment. Or some combination of those. Being found guilty will mean an end to the life someone knows regardless of the punishment.
  8. WHAT IS THE CODE NOIR?
    The Code Noir explicitly states how slaves are to be treated in New France. It discusses punishment and freedom of movement, or more accurately, lack of movement. The Code also requires all slaves convert to Catholicism. It is an owner’s responsibility to ensure this happens. Sooner rather than later.
  9. IS THERE AN APPEAL PROCESS?
    Mais oui! The appeal judgment would be rendered by the Conseil Supérieur in Québec. It is the foremost judicial body in New France. Their decision will be final.
  10. DOES MONTREAL HAVE ITS OWN PRISON? IS THERE A JAILER?
    There is a prison, of course. It is attached to the courthouse – and it is where the jailer lives.

About The Book

On a warm spring day in April 1734, a fire raged through the merchants’ quarter in Montréal. When the flames finally died, 46 buildings – including the Hôtel-Dieu convent and hospital – had been destroyed. Within hours, rumors ran rampant that Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman fighting for her freedom, had started the fire with her white lover. Less than a day later, Angélique sat in prison, her lover nowhere to be found. Though she denied the charges, witnesses claimed Angélique was the arsonist even though no one saw her set the fire.

Philippe Archambeau, a court clerk assigned specifically to document her case, believes Angelique might just be telling the truth. Or not. A reticent servant, a boisterous jailer, and three fire-scorched shingles prove indispensable in his quest to uncover what really happened.

Angélique’s time is running out as Archambeau searches for answers. Will the determined court clerk discover what really happened the night Montreal burned to the ground before it’s too late?

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