Tag Archive for: Desolation Row mystery

Writing by the Bechdel Rule—and Not Even Knowing it

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by Kay Kendall

Even though the Bechdel Rule has been around for
three decades, I never heard about it until seven years ago when it first popped
up in film reviews in the New York Times.
Now, I love movies and try hard to keep abreast of trends, so I looked it up
pretty quick. I don’t like feeling behind the times.
Also known as the Bechdel Test, it judges
movies by three criteria: (1) it has to have at least two
women in it, who (2) talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. Cartoon
illustrator Alison Bechdel popularized her pal Liz Wallace’s concept in the
comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in
1985. There are now 8,151 movies listed at bechdeltest.com that pass the test.  
When I first read
the test’s definition, I was astonished. Movies I watch and books I read
routinely pass this test, even before I knew it existed. The first mystery I
was in the midst of writing, Desolation
Row, passed as do the two books that followed.
I believe I was
born a feminist so it’s no wonder this rule was one I lived by. There are
fictional female characters to whom I give credit for prodding me along my way.
They include the mighty Jane Eyre, the extremely curious Nancy Drew, and even
the tragic Anna Karenina. After all, the Russian woman came to a very bad end indeed
by living only for the love of a man and nothing else.  
I
recently returned to my treasured copy of Jane
Eyre to see if it held up to my current feelings about living one’s life as
a female. Again I was astonished because the proto feminism of the novel was
laid out on almost every page. For example, look at this passage, written in
complete contrast to the fate of poor Anna Karenina: “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being
     with an independent will.”
While that is the second most quoted
passage from Jane Eyre, here is
another one, a real doozy, given the era it was written in, the 1850s in
Victorian England:
“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women
feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for
their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a
restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is
narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought
to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on
the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at
them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced
necessary for their sex.”


And yet Jane Eyre is also a magnificent love story because of the heroine’s
passion for Mr. Rochester. Proving that she could be not only independent but
in love too, she most famously stated, “Reader, I married him.”

Second wave feminism peaked in the
1970s and declined thereafter. Feminism was attacked as being anti-male. I
always thought that was utter bosh, complete nonsense. I am delighted that has
changed of late. We women can stand up for ourselves without trashing all men,
for certainly all men do not deserve that, only the ones who seek to hold women
down, to keep us, as the Rolling Stones gleefully sing, “Under My Thumb.”
In my second mystery, Rainy Day Women, I quote that awful
title from the Stones, and in my third mystery, After You’ve Gone, I have my heroine quote Jane Eyre, “I am no
bird; and no net ensnares me.”
So books that pass the Bechdel Test
with flying colors snared me as a young reader, and they do so today as well.
And, dear reader, now I write them too.
~~~~~~~

 

 Author Kay
Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries.     She lives in Texas with
her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Her second book Rainy Day Women won the Silver Falchion for best mystery at Killer Nashville.

Visit Kay at
her website http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

 
 

Introducing Wallie MacGregor in AFTER YOU’VE GONE

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By
Kay Kendall

Last week my third mystery
launched. My book’s birthday plus my own made it a stellar week. I can’t
give you a piece of birthday cake, so here’s a song for you.
Fiona Apple sings “After You’ve
Gone.”
 
The song was
penned in 1918, remaining popular throughout the next several decades—especially
during the 1920s, which is what I was looking for. Even in the last 30 years
many singers have covered it. Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Edie Gourmet, and
many more. In truth, the song is fantastic. Singing styles change, but the song holds up. For comparison, here’s a performance fro 1927 by a star of that era, Ruth Etting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjgBara7N88
All my mysteries take their titles
from popular songs. My first two are Desolation Row and Rainy Day
Women. But because this new book takes place in 1923, I can hardly use another Bob
Dylan song, can I?
Copyright laws don’t cover song titles,
but lyrics are. While Dylan’s are still protected, “After You’ve Gone” is
no longer under copyright. These words from the chorus fit the storyline of my new mystery.
 
 
After you’ve gone and left me crying
After you’ve gone there’s no denying,
You’ll feel blue, you’ll feel sad,
You’ll miss the bestest pal you’ve ever
had.
There’ll come a time, now don’t forget
it,
There’ll come a time, when you’ll
regret it.
Oh! Babe, think what you’re doing.
You know my love for you will drive me
to ruin,
After you’ve gone,
After you’ve gone away, away. 

After You’ve Gone (1918)
Music by Turner Layton and lyrics by Henry
Creamer 

When you read my new mystery, you’ll
see how many characters must carry on after someone has gone—someone
very near and dear to them. The biggest loss of all kicks off the mystery, of course.
But there are others—oh so many others. Just count them all up. You’ll see.

Author Kay
Kendall is passionate about historical mysteries.  She lives in Texas with
her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Visit Kay at her website
 http://www.austinstarr.com/  
or on
Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor 

 

Skipping Woodstock, But Finding Women’s Lib—and Murder

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By
Kay Kendall

 In
my Austin Starr mystery series I try not just to entertain but also to portray
what an historical era is like. My first two books are set in the tumultuous 1960s:
Desolation
Row and Rainy Day Women. Due
out next February is a prequel, After You’ve Gone. It features
Austin Starr’s grandmother as a young woman in small town Texas during
Prohibition. Although the historical setting is different (bootleg gin,
flappers, gangsters), many of the issues the two women face are similar. What
place should women have in society? What do women owe to their family, their
husbands—and to themselves? What the grandmother grapples with in 1923 is
related—almost distressingly so—to choices her granddaughter will face in 1969.
To prepare you to read the prequel, here is a rundown on my previous mystery.

Rainy
Day Women takes place in August 1969. Headlines across
the continent shriek about the sensational murders in Los Angeles of a pregnant
starlet and her friends—though Charles Manson and gang haven’t been caught yet.
Apollo 12 astronauts Armstrong (he walked on the moon), Aldrin, and Collins have
just arrived back on Earth. Rock music fans look forward to a big outdoor
concert—posters call it the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.

But
my amateur sleuth Austin Starr scarcely knows any of this. With a
three-month-old baby, she is sleep-deprived and still adjusting to her new life’s
heavy demands. Then a phone call sends her (and baby Wyatt) flying across North
America to help find a killer. Why? Because her dear friend Larissa is
suspected of murdering women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Then Austin’s former CIA trainer warns
that someone has contracted a hit on her. Her anxious husband demands that she
give up her quest and fly back to him. Austin must decide how much to risk when
she realizes that tracking the killer puts her and her baby’s lives in danger. 

I set my mystery
against the backdrop of women’s liberation almost fifty years ago because second-wave feminism (as it’s
now called) changed lives, and yet the rightful place of women in society still remains a
point of contention. My character Austin Starr discovers the movement when she questions
members of the dead women’s groups and is fascinated with the new ideas she
hears.

 Even though Austin’s young husband is an
anti-war activist, she herself is not a radical. I wanted her story to be
accessible to anyone today, of whatever political persuasion, and so I explore what life was like for a typical
young woman—not a headline maker, not a Hanoi Jane or Angela Davis, but a
moderate who nonetheless gets swept up by history’s tides during the turbulent
sixties. All that turmoil lends itself to drama, intrigue, and murder.

I
don’t think this is a true spoiler when I divulge that the very day Austin
discovers the murderer is the same day it rained hardest at the Woodstock
festival. Later she decides she has no regrets at missing the famous event,
saying, “I never liked mud very much anyway.” In the coming prequel we see how much of her intrepid spirit she inherited from her grandmother—she who faced off against a thug sent to Texas by none other than Al Capone. Set among true-to-life details like that, I’ve composed another young woman’s tale about finding her balance in a world ruled by men.
*******
Meet the author

 
Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical novels and now writes mysteries that capture the spirit and turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff.  In 2015 Rainy Day Women won two Silver Falchion Awards at Killer Nashville. Visit Kay at her website  http://www.austinstarr.com/>   or on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor 

 

Before the Wishlist. The Beatles! and Tales of Yesteryear

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By Kay Kendall

Ah, the ease of the online wish list. I battled against
the concept for years. But I finally succumbed. 
What I GAINED: several hours of my precious time. What I LOST: the joy
of watching loved ones delighted by their surprise gifts. If you are a boomer (as I am), then you recall when gift-giving
before the wish list hit the scene. You tried to surprise the gift recipient—to
surprise and delight. My joy of gift giving and wrapping came from my maternal
grandmother who reveled in every aspect of gifting. 

In my boomer youth, I watched her decorate packages imaginatively.
She could have hired on for Neiman Marcus—a store back in the day that did
elegant and fanciful wrapping. (Their efforts today are a sad, pale imitation,
fie!) What my grandmother could not do—not to save her very soul—was to keep
her gifts a secret. She got so excited that she just had to give you
hints–hints so major you could easily figure out what your gifts would turn
out to be. I took such pleasure in her enjoyment that I didn’t mind.

Maybe telling Santa what you wanted for
Christmas grew into the concept of wish lists. Yet today’s wish list has
more power. Woe to you if you give someone under-forty a present not on his or her wish list. I fought against wish lists until a dear friend said she gave up trying to surprise her offspring
with delightful gifts. Finally she switched to the dreaded wish list or gave
gift cards. Otherwise her grandchildren and children were chagrined. That’s how I discovered my offspring was participating in a societal
shift. A generational difference, clear and simple. And so . . . I threw in
the towel. But I remember a different time. I recall a December when
I was a graduating high school senior. I wanted Beatle albums and 45s. When asked
what I wanted for Christmas, “Beatles please” was my instant answer. My ONLY
answer.

Meantime my mother and grandmother were in the
kitchen making cranberry loaves, fudge, and mounds of cookies…all the while
talking about the Christmases of their youths. My mother said she’d been
pleased with mandarin oranges and pecans in the toe of her Christmas
stocking, back in the 1930s. My grandmother recalled helping her mother go into
the farmyard in Ohio and select a goose for neck twisting, in the first decade
of the twentieth century–the holiday meal to be! I loved their quaint tales of
the good old days. (Probably these stories helped grow my lust for history.)

When the morning of December twenty-fifth dawned. I went
into the living room with my parents (I, an only child, admittedly a tiny bit
or more spoiled). I had expected to call this my very own Beatles Christmas.
But no. Arrayed beside the brightly lit tree was a set of three luggage pieces.

“You’re going off to college next year,” Delight shone in
Mother’s eyes. “We knew you needed nice suitcases.” I tried to murmur sincere
thanks while eyeing other presents. Where were the telltale signs of even one
33-long-play album? But John, Paul, George, and Ringo were nowhere to be found.
All was not lost however. My paternal grandparents sent a
check that I promptly cashed and turned into two longed-for Beatles albums.
But, oh, I still recall the rush of emotion, the dramatic
upheaval.

Things are so different now in the high season of gift
giving. Well something’s lost but something’s gained in living every day.
That’s the way the song goes, Joni Mitchell’s beloved “Both Sides Now.”

So then, what’s your opinion of the wish list phenomenon?
What do you remember about gift giving and receiving in the “good old days?”
What’s the routine at your house? I’d sure love to know.

*******
 
 

Meet the author

Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical novels and now writes mysteries that capture the spirit and turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff. In 2015 Rainy Day Women won two Silver Falchion Awards at Killer Nashville. Visit Kay at her website < http://www.austinstarr.com/>or on Facebook < https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>



 

Red Stilettos? Not with MY Feet!

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By Kay Kendall

Darned good thing I’m not required to wear stilettos to be part
of this magnificent gang of writers. I’m tall, two inches shy of six feet, and
have no need whatsoever for sky-high heels. And to boot (hee hee) I don’t wear red
shoes—or any other bright color. Nature gifted me with rather large feet (ahmm)
in order to balance my height.

Nancy, my pal since kindergarten, always teases me about my
foot size. I reply I’d tip over if they were small, or average, in
length. That’s a sensible view—all of me should be in proportion. But
recently I saw actress Brooke Shields interviewed on TV when she
divulged an odd factoid. Though she’s six feet tall, her shoe size is a seven. She concluded, “Therefore I often fall over.” I raced to phone Nancy to tell her that my opinion had been validated. (Inquiring minds might like to know my own size rhymes with the number seven.)

Despite my flippant answer, I’m not fond of my feet. They
often don’t even seem to belong to me, lurking at such a far distance from my eyes.
My feet seem almost alien. This probably relates to the fact that I once had
difficulty finding shoes to fit me, back when larger sizes for women were
uncommon and I would end up buying ill-fitting footwear. Consequently my feet
always hurt.

Style wise I also took what I could get. My shoes were never
stylish and always in somber colors. In my first job after grad school, my
employer was hosting a fancy dinner. One of my coworkers wanted to know what I
was wearing—answer: blue—and then what color shoes I would wear. When she heard I
could choose either black or brown shoes, she was stunned, insisting I had to do better than that. She set to work on me, getting me to upgrade to fancier footwear. My fascination with
more interesting shoes dates from that point in time—30 years ago.

 These days the range of sizes for female feet has grown—and my feet have not, hallelujah! Now my shoes spread all over my closet and
creep into my husband’s space. The colors range more widely—showing a
partiality to gold and blue. Nevertheless, you still won’t find a heel higher
than two inches, or a pair that is red. Some things never change.

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meet the author


Kay
Kendall is a long-time fan of historical novels and now writes mysteries
that capture the spirit and turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive
who won international awards for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her
Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to
her bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan
buff. In 2015 Rainy Day Women won two
Silver Falchion Awards at Killer Nashville. Visit Kay at her website < http://www.austinstarr.com/>or on Facebook < https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>

 

WHY READING IS LIKE CHOCOLATE

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by Kay Kendall

 

Reading is
similar to chocolate. It tastes luscious to most people, but not to all. These
days, however, we know through research that chocolate is a healthy thing to
eat.

Scientific
researchers have likewise come up with reasons why we should read. Here

is a curated list of reasons scientists say
reading should be done—not only for our enjoyment and increased knowledge, but
for our mental and physical well-being.

So next time you feel remorse when
you’ve spent all day reading a favorite new book, just remember these reasons.
Then POOF! Your guilt should vanish. Getting swept away by a compelling story
line or character in a wonderful book is not only entertaining but also is good for you.


Which of these reasons resonate most
with you? I’ve picked two faves. I’ll tell you mine if you’ll tell me yours!
How about it?

1.
Reading is an effective way to overcome stress.
Researchers at the University of Sussex found that reading relaxed the heart
rate and muscle tension faster than other activities often said to be
de-stressors—for example taking a walk, listening to music, and drinking tea.
Note that the research was done in England, a bastion of tea drinkers, so this is
really saying something shocking.

 2. Reading exercises our
brains. As our bodies need movement to be strong, our brains need a
work out too. Reading is a more complex activity than watching television and
actually helps establish new neural pathways.

 3.
Reading helps maintain our brains’ sharpness. Neurologists
who studied brains of those who died around age 89 saw signs of a third less
decline among those who stayed mentally active with reading, writing, and other
modes of mental stimulation like puzzles, as compared to those who did little
or none of those activities.

 4. Reading may even ward off Alzheimer’s disease. Adults who pursue activities like reading or puzzles that involve the brain
are less likely to have Alzheimer’s disease. Intellectual activity not only
grows our brain power but also strengthens brain against disease.

5. Reading may help us sleep better. Reading before bed is a good
de-stressing habit, unlike watching flashing electronic devices or television
that cue the brain to wake up.

6. Reading self-help books can ease
depression. Reading
books that encourage people to take charge of their own lives can promote the
idea that positive change is possible. A control group that had “bibliotherapy”
combined with talk therapy was less depressed than another group that did not
read self-help literature.

7. Reading helps people become more empathetic.
Spending time exploring an author’s imagination helps people understand other
people’s points of view and problems. Researchers in the Netherlands performed
experiments showing that people who were “emotionally transported” by
a work of fiction experienced boosts in empathy.

8.
Reading can develop and improve a good self-image. Poor readers or non-readers often have
low opinions of themselves and their abilities. Reading helps people understand
their own strength and abilities, hence growing better self-images.

So, here’s to your hours and hours ahead of guilt-free reading! Enjoy!
 ~~~~~~~

Meet the author —
Kay
Kendall is a long-time fan of historical novels and now writes mysteries
that capture the spirit and turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive
who won international awards for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her
Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. 
Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan
buff. Her second mystery, Rainy Day Women, won two
Silver Falchion Awards at Killer Nashville in 2015.

Visit Kay at her website
< http://www.austinstarr.com/>

or on Facebook
< https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>

May the Force Be with Me!

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by Kay Kendall


Right now I need all the help I can get. So today I called down The
Force to help amp up my super powers. In my case, The Force is Bob Dylan.

 Let me explain.

My second mystery published almost three years ago. Like the first one, it
took its name from a Bob Dylan song title. I use Dylan to evoke the late 1960s when the
stories take place. In 2013 came my first mystery in the Austin Starr series,
DESOLATION ROW (see concert shirt at right). In 2015 came RAINY DAY WOMEN. And
then came a lengthy hiatus.

 Now, at long, long last my marvelous editor and I are getting my third
mystery ready for publication. Maybe you think I’ve been lazing around the
house and doing nothing. Nope. Not exactly. Chez Kendall got hit by three
major illnesses in a row. First my husband fought cancer. Then I did, and then
I developed a rare bone disease from a botched dental procedure.

My third book got written along the way, but it took a super long time. As I
contemplate the work still to be done, my supply of oomph feels drained. The
revision I face on this continuation of the Austin Starr mystery saga seems
taxing. That’s why I call on Mr. Dylan to lend me some of his special sauce—just
a pinch of his enormous creativity, pretty please—to prepare me for the arduous
journey ahead.

Heck, I may need to wear this Dylan tee shirt every day for the next month.
Well, if so, it will be worth it. I look forward to bringing my third
mystery, AFTER YOU’VE GONE, to its publication date, later this year.

This third mystery is a prequel featuring Austin Starr’s Texas grandmother.
And wouldn’t you know it, she too loves to solve puzzles. In 1923, inspired by
her emersion in the Sherlock Holmes stories of her era, she chases down the
murderer of a relative when everyone else believes a peculiarly awful death was
merely an accident. She runs into rumrunners, bootleggers, gangsters, and
genuine flappers—even floozies. Headquarters for this activity in Texas during Prohibition
was the wild city of Galveston on the gulf coast. Al Capone even sent his goons
down from Chicago to try to muscle in on the action. Suffice it to say, Austin’s
grandmother has many eye-opening experiences.

Of course, Dylan wasn’t writing songs 100 years ago so I use another
song title instead, one that stands the test of time. Popular in the Roaring
Twenties when this prequel is set, the song “After You’ve Gone” has
been covered by many famous singers every decade since. I especially recommend
the versions by Ella Fitzgerald and Fiona Apple. Find them on YouTube.
  

And then, some months from now when Stairway Press publishes my new mystery,
I hope you will read it—and then conclude that some things are worth waiting
for. Just please do wish me luck in the meantime.

==============

Meet the author

Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of
historical novels and now writes mysteries that capture the spirit and
turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards
for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house
rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them
anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff. In 2015 Rainy Day
Women won two Silver Falchion Awards at Killer Nashville.
Visit Kay at her website < http://www.austinstarr.com/>

or on Facebook < https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>

FUTURE TENSE

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By Kay Kendall

These days whenever I
cast my thoughts into the future, I become tense. This is a new phenomenon for me. Previously I was more hopeful. That is to say, to some degree.

I estimated that the
world had until, say, about the year 2050 until conditions became unbearable. That
was when I figured all the usual horrors of modern life that seem to threaten
our collective future would hit and hit hard: climate change and its many
evils, the threat of nuclear war, plagues that could decimate humanity,
overwhelming pollution of land, sea, and air. And so on. I feel as if I missed
something awful in that list, but I think you can get my drift.
But here lately I am no
longer able to push the crisis date out as far as 2050. Instead I expect the
decade of the 2020s to be grim. There are two main things that led me to this
conclusion. One is general, gleaned from news reports that I follow daily. The
other is personal.
On the general level, I
observe that the issues besetting my nation and my world are not being handled
well. While pollution and climate change and saber rattling escalate—sometimes it
feels as if they do so daily—I do not see a collective will of rational people
and their leaders to sit down and reason together, to combine their wisdom and
seek answers to problems that threaten to engulf us all. Everyone is mad about
something. Everyone shouts at each other. The few I notice who are working
quietly and rationally seem to be crying into the wilderness. The bullies rule
the mass media and whip up discontent.
On a personal level, I just
experienced my two grandchildren and experienced their world close up
during spring break. They are in grade school, and what a
difference a year has made. While last year electronics occupied some of their time, this year the amount of time and attention they
covered was enormous. While both children used to be avid readers and still have many
books in each of their rooms, they now just occasionally read stories. Instead
they often turn to video games for their fun, even though their parents still
take them to library often to check out books. The boy can reel off the history of video games and personal computers and wants a
DIY laptop for his birthday. He loves to lose himself in YouTube videos about technology.
Anyone who is either a
millennial or younger is living in a world overwhelmed by technology. What’s
being lost? The ability to sit quietly and collect one’s thoughts, to watch a
sunset without snapping a picture, to listen to waves hit a beach, to just
chill and BE. I fear these quiet pursuits are getting lost in the blur of activity that
is our new world.
And then when I
consider what I read about artificial intelligence and how the super brainiacs
among us are worried about the changes that are coming from AI . . . well, is
it any wonder that I have developed an advanced stage of future tense-itis?
Humanity is being
drained by lack of interaction among individuals. I want coming generations to continue
to read books, paint pictures, converse well with friends, work out disagreements
in a reasonable way—and to see the value in those things, rather than seeing
them as hopelessly old-fashioned. These are all human-based necessities and
joys that are being inundated by our tech world. I hope I am merely
being a Debbie Downer, but still, I must admit, I worry. I want literature to
continue to be written—and avidly read—that speaks to the humanity of us all. 

  

Meet the author

Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical
novels and now writes  mysteries that capture the spirit and
turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards
for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house
rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them
anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff. In 2015 Rainy Day Women won two Silver Falchion Awards at
Killer Nashville.
Visit Kay at her website < http://www.austinstarr.com/>
or on
Facebook < https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>

My Mysteries’ Deepest Theme—Female Friendship

/in /by

by Kay Kendall 

According to most literary criticism
I’ve read, authors typically have an underlying theme that they grapple with.
In the first book or two, the theme may not be obvious. In fact, the author
herself may not be conscious of it. Over the course of more books, however, a consistent thread shows up.  

This concept intrigues me, but I
only recently discovered my own deep theme. And it is not what I had thought it
might be. Here it is—put most simply:  
 

The importance of friendship
with—and support from—other women is key to a woman’s well-being. Or, to
paraphrase words the inimitable Ringo Starr sang way back in 1967, “She gets by
with a little help from her friends.”  

I am a relatively new author. My
first mystery came out in 2013 and my second two years later. Now my third is
nearing completion. I had thought I knew the themes in my murder mysteries, but
now realize I was wrong. After three outings, I see something else is at work.
Oh sure, the substance of my stories hasn’t changed, but another theme unwittingly crept into all three manuscripts. Close and sustaining friendships
among women appear in each book, and none of these had been part of my plan. A
quick tour through my books will show you what I mean. (No spoilers here.) 

In DESOLATION ROW, a young Texas
bride named Austin Starr follows her husband to a foreign country only to find
herself alone and in peril when he is jailed for murder. Certain of his
innocence, alone with no friends or relatives close by, Austin cannot even call
home to talk to relatives for support. The time is 1968, and long distance
calls are exorbitant. Then, in the nick of time, another young woman—Larissa,
the daughter of Austin’s professor—befriends her, and together they hunt down
the real murderer.  

My second book, RAINY DAY WOMEN,
begins one year later. Austin is a new mother, and Larissa travels across the
country to take a summer job. One day Larissa phones Austin in the middle of
the afternoon. This shocking act tells Austin immediately that her friend is in
big trouble. As luck would have it, Larissa herself now stands accused of
murdering a coworker at her temporary workplace. Because their ties are now
strong, Austin with infant in tow flies across the country to support her dear
friend—with Larissa’s dad footing the bill.  

In both these books, there are also
older women who provide sage advice and comfort to Austin. In DESOLATION ROW a
middle-aged church secretary takes Austin under her wing and is so kind that
her sympathy brings tears to Austin’s eyes. In RAINY DAY WOMEN Larissa’s aunt
is so dauntless and dogged in her pursuit of justice for her niece that she
threatens to run away with the plot.   

Of course there are male characters
too—both good ones and evil—but what became clear to me as I began writing my third
mystery is how the females keep insinuating themselves into my stories. In my prequel
about Austin’s grandmother set in small town Texas during the Roaring Twenties,
there’s another strong-minded aunt—and even flappers and floozies who make a
surprisingly good impression on my heroine. My female protagonists in all three
mysteries are in their early twenties, still figuring out what they want to do
with their lives and who they want to be. Because of that shared
characteristic, I had thought my
overarching theme was how women find their way in life. But over and over
again, I find myself writing about how my protagonists are steadied and
supported and protected by other women. While some of these female friends are
the same age, others are older and somewhat world weary. The older ones share
what they have experienced in their longer lives.  

Taken together, the secondary female
characters are the ones who make my heroines’ stories possible. They ensure the
heroines’ success—whether it is finding the bad people and serving justice, or
living a fuller, more fulfilling life.   Getting by with a little
help from female friends is the theme to watch for in my mysteries. Try as I
might to do something a bit different, this pattern continues. It seems I just
can’t help myself. Or, blame it on my subconscious, I guess. And, gosh, I hope
I haven’t spoiled any surprises by giving too much away.  

Meet the author
Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical
novels and now writes atmospheric mysteries that capture the spirit and
turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards
for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house
rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them
anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too. Rainy Day Women won two Silver Falchion Awards at
Killer Nashville in 2015. Visit Kay at her website < http://www.austinstarr.com/>or on
Facebook < https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>.

 

The Allure of Mysteries—Dark and Historical Ones

/in /by

By Kay Kendall

The main reason usually given to explain the enduring appeal of mysteries is that readers like to enter a world of suspense and chaos, knowing that everything will be tidied up and turn satisfactory in the end. This format has held true for the traditional mystery for decades, and even though there are now many variations on that theme, the reasoning remains largely the same. The reader enters into a scary world, experiences thrills and spills, and then comes out the other side with all the puzzles solved and the bad guy or gal apprehended and on the way to sure punishment.

Astute fans of crime fiction will be thinking at this point–“Ah yes, but what about noir?” Other younger fans may say–“But what about dystopian fiction? I like deep, dark scary stuff where everything in the world is bleak and still I can find room for hope.”

Author Philip Kerr in Berlin

Well, to each her or his own, I say in rejoinder. On the one hand, noir is too dark for me. I get depressed reading about all those losers hanging onto their lives by mere threads yet still striving to get ahead, find romance, make the killing (either of the flesh or the pocketbook), or escape from one last jam.

I do make exceptions for the best writers of noir fiction. Two such authors whose books always land on my must-read list are Reed Farrel Coleman and Timothy Hallinan. When I open one of their books, I know it will take me into the darkest reaches of the human soul, but the understanding of psychology and the writing itself will be so sublime that I am willing to go that deep and that dark. Louise Penny is a writer of traditional mysteries whose work seems to go ever darker as her books stack up. She also takes us readers into torturous psychological territory, but her protagonist is a fine man–chief inspector Armand Gamache of the Quebec provincial police–he of impeccable morals and astute ability to decipher human hearts. His shining rectitude and compassion shoot bright rays of hope through all her novels.

All three of these writers have won multiple awards for their fine books. Dark and unforgiving as I know their plots will be, I always look forward to the publication of their books. If it is going to be noir, then it has to be of the very best quality, elsewise I will not read it. Otherwise, it simply isn’t worth it for me to get depressed. Why escape from a fractious world into a fictional one that holds few pleasures? That is not escape. It is torture.

In contrast to my approach to mysteries of the noir variety is how I view historical mysteries. I love history so much that I can put up with an average mystery as long as the depiction of a long ago time is interesting and accurate. In the same vein, I often say that I will see any film if I know the actors and actresses wear period costumes. That may sound a bit extreme, but I do mean it. And I can go very dark when reading historical fiction because I know how that time period concluded. I know the good side won in World War Two, for example. and I don’t get overly anxious as I would if I were to pick up, say, a thriller based on nuclear brinkmanship with some country ruled by a madman.

In fact, historical mysteries set against the backdrop of either world war are among my favorites. I’ve blogged before about how author Jacqueline Winspear‘s books starring Maisie Dobbs have inspired my own fiction. After serving as a nurse in World War One, Maisie turns professional sleuth and amateur psychologist, and now as the series creeps up to the beginning of World War Two, she has taken to working with the British foreign office. I also admire the World War One mysteries of the mother-and-son writing duo of Charles Todd.

But perhaps the author whose mysteries speak deepest of all to me is Philip Kerr. He combines excellent writing with impeccable historical research, while focusing on the hapless case of Bernie Gunther, a decent cop in Berlin as Hitler seizes power. The Bernie Gunther books now number twelve, with the next one releasing this April. They show a basically good man trying to swim in a toxic sea of Nazis and not drown in filth. His earliest adventures are set in 1932, and his latest escapades show his entanglements with the Stasi in East Germany in 1956.

Talk about darkness of the soul. Poor Bernie can never escape his checkered past, and in the last two books he has become suicidal. I don’t know how long he can go on, but I hope like crazy that he can. When Philip Kerr announces the publication of a new book, I rejoice. He also comes through my city on book tour, and then I get to pick his brain during a book event about the wealth of research he has done in the Nazi era in Germany. So I guess I do have a taste for noir after all.

~~~~~~~

Meet the author


Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical
novels and now writes atmospheric mysteries that capture the spirit and
turbulence of the sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards
for her projects, Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house
rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them
anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too. Rainy Day Women won two Silver Falchion
Awards at Killer Nashville in 2015. Visit Kay at her website
<http://www.austinstarr.com/>or on Facebook < https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor>.