The untold story behind Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
Philadelphia, 1842: Poe’s cat, Cattarina, becomes embroiled in a killer’s affairs when she finds a clue to the crime – a glass eye. But it’s only when her beloved “Eddy” takes an interest that she decides to hunt down the madman. Her dangerous expedition takes her from creepy Eastern State Penitentiary to Rittenhouse Square where she runs into a gang of feral cats intent on stopping her.
As the mystery pulls Cattarina deeper into trouble, even Eddy becomes the target of suspicion. Yet she cannot give up the chase. Both her reputation as a huntress and her friend’s happiness are at stake. For if she succeeds in catching the Glass Eye Killer, the missing pieces of Eddy’s unfinished story will fall into place, and the Poe household will once again experience peace.
About This Author
Monica Shaughnessy has a flair for creating characters and plots larger than her home state of Texas. Most notably, she’s the author of the Cattarina Mysteries, a cozy mystery series starring Edgar Allan Poe’s real-life cat companion. Ms. Shaughnessy has nine books in print, including two young adult novels, a middle grade novel, a picture book, two cozy mystery novellas, and numerous short stories. Customers have praised her work time and again, calling it “unique and creative,” “fresh and original,” and “very well written.” If you’re looking for something outside the mainstream, you’ll find it in her prose. When she’s not slaying adverbs and tightening plots, she’s walking her rescue dogs, goofing around with her family, or going back to the grocery store for the hundredth time because she forgot milk.
Have you ever encountered writing that filled you with joy and envy at the same time?
If you haven’t, read Sarah Caudwell’s mannered mysteries, starting with Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981). I read Caudwell years ago in paperback, and just today decided to treat myself to the first e-book in the series.
And yes, it’s as wonderful as I remember. The genderless narrator, Oxford don Hilary Tamar, is a delightful combination of hyper-eloquence and hypo-self-awareness.
“On my first day in London I made an early start. Reaching the Public Record Office not much after ten, I soon secured the papers I needed for my research and settled in my place. I became, as is the way of the scholar, so deeply absorbed as to lose all consciousness of my surroundings or of the passage of time. When at last I came to myself, it was almost eleven and I was quite exhausted: I knew I could not prudently continue without refreshment.”
Between 78 and 79 percent of the tuition hikes at public universities — which averaged $3,628 per student at research universities and $2,463 per student at nonresearch colleges — was due to declining state appropriations, between 5 and 6 percent was due to increased administrative spending, and another 6 percent was due to construction costs.
How channeling George Costanza saved one woman’s career:
Acting like George Costanza — specifically, doing the opposite of everything I’d been counseled for the past decade — is what made me solvent once again. And if you, dear reader, are contemplating an exit from academe (as the boulder of this year’s hiring cycle rolls ever so briefly back to the bottom of the hill) a turn as George might be just what you need.
The following may not sound particularly Costanza-like, but it does contain some excellent advice for job seekers, especially freelance writers:
If, however, you want to put your Ph.D. to use in all sorts of other interesting jobs — editing, translation, freelance research, consulting, grant writing, museum work, teaching at a private secondary school — waiting is for chumps. Instead, be chipper but assertive and seek out people who have the sort of jobs you want, and send them short but admiring emails. Get as friendly as possible with all of those people. Do them favors. Prove yourself to be a solid, go-to specimen of a human. Then, months later, when you need a favor from them — a reference; an introduction — they will usually be happy to give it.
Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.
Author Paty Jager
All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story.
Q: Double Duplicity might be described as a murder mystery with a supernatural twist: Can you tell us a little more about the book?
A: On the eve of the biggest art event at Huckleberry Mountain Resort, potter Shandra Higheagle finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. She’s ruled out as a suspect, but now it’s up to her to prove the friend she witnessed fleeing the scene was just as innocent. With help from her recently deceased Nez Perce grandmother, Shandra becomes more confused than ever but just as determined to discover the truth.
Detective Ryan Greer prides himself on solving crimes and refuses to ignore a single clue, including Shandra Higheagle’s visions. While Shandra is hesitant to trust her dreams, Ryan believes in them and believes in her.
Can the pair uncover enough clues for Ryan to make an arrest before one of them becomes the next victim?
Q: Your protagonist is a potter. Is her job the most important part of her life, a way to express her creativity, or just a paycheck? How does her job color the way she approaches solving this mystery? Does it draw her into the murder?
A: Shandra Higheagle is a creative soul. She bought the ranch on Huckleberry Mountain because it had pockets of clay she could purify and use in her artwork. Her Native American heritage draws her to nature and nature feeds her creativity. She creates art pieces with her pottery to express herself not pay the bills. But she’s acclaimed and can live off her art and giving classes. Yes, in a way her art does draw her into the murder in Double Duplicity. There is a large art event approaching. One of the local gallery owners calls to discuss putting more of Shandra’s work in her gallery. When Shandra arrives at the gallery she finds the woman murdered.
Q: What inspired you to write Double Duplicity? How did this idea become a book?
A: I’ve wanted to write a mystery series for many years. When my brother, a bronze sculptor, told me a fascinating fact about a 300 pound bronze statue that would make a great weapon in a mystery novel, I started “stewing and brewing” to come up with the right protagonist and story. I needed something to do with the art world- an artist. I needed something to stay true to my tagline: Tales of romance and intrigue starring cowboys and Indians – Shandra Higheagle with a Native American background, and the crime that uses the 300 pound statue. That is how the book and the series came to me.
Q: What kind of research did you do, specifically with regard to the Nez Perce and the visions experienced by Shandra?
A: This isn’t the first time I’ve written about the Nez Perce. I have a historical paranormal romance trilogy with shapeshifting spirits that required extensive research. I read many books on their culture and myths as well as became friends with several Nez Perce people. The spirit books have been well received by the Nez Perce community. For the contemporary mysteries, I’ve been corresponding with authors of Native American heritage. Visions are a part of their heritage.
Q: What are some of the issues when writing about a community like the Nez Perce and representing them to the wider world?
A: There is always the worry what you write will upset someone. But I have the deepest respect for the Nez Perce and try to always make that come through in my writing. A friend who lives in the Colville Indian Reservation is taking me there to meet people and do research for an upcoming Shandra Higheagle Mystery.
Q. Are you a “plotter” or a “pantser?”
A: I’m a little of both. While I like to have my main characters well thought-out, the suspects and their motives (red herrings) listed and know where the story will start and end, after that I take off and start writing without an outline or synopsis.
Tarnished Remains
Shandra Higheagle is digging up clay for her renowned pottery when she scoops up a boot attached to a skeleton. She calls in Weippe County detective Ryan Greer. The body is decades old and discovered to be Shandra’s employee’s old flame.
Ryan immediately pegs Shandra’s employee for the murderer, but Shandra knows in her heart that the woman everyone calls Crazy Lil couldn’t have killed anyone, let alone a man she loved. Digging up the woman’s past takes them down a road of greed, miscommunication, and deceit. Will they be able to prove Crazy Lil innocent before the true murderer strikes again?
Deadly Aim
The dead body of an illicit neighbor and an old necklace send potter Shandra Higheagle on a chase to find a murderer. Visions from her dead grandmother reveals Shandra is on the right path, but the woods are full of obstacles—deadly ones.
Detective Ryan Greer believes Shandra’s dreams will help solve the mystery, but he also knows the curious potter could get herself killed. He’s determined that won’t happen.
Until he’s blind-sided. Are Shandra’s powers strong enough to save them both, or will the murderer strike again?
Disclaimer: I realize that in a sparsely-populated area, online education can be the only option a student has. I also realize that some of my fellow Miserians teach online, and are putting a great deal of effort into making the online experience as valuable as possible for their students. Any ire and snark are properly directed toward those administrators, trustees, and anecdote-besotted pundits who seem convinced that online education is either a magical money multiplier, or simply a trend not to be missed out on.
Inside Higher Ed reports a study out of California that compared students enrolled in online classes and their face to face equivalents.
The researchers found online students lagging behind face-to-face students in three critical areas:
In The Musubi Murder, new assistant professor Molly Barda is using her top-ten literature Ph.D. to teach resume-writing to business majors at remote Mahina State University, “Where Your Future Begins Tomorrow!”
Keenly aware of the brutal realities of the academic job market, Molly just wants to keep her head down and stay out of trouble until she gets tenure. Naturally she ends up getting dragged into the middle of a grisly murder case.
The Musubi Murder is a lighthearted murder mystery that affectionately portrays small-town life and big academic egos in rural Hawaii.
Frankie Bow knows academia. As they say, “You couldn’t make this stuff up!” You’ll laugh at Bow’s satirical sense of humor and the (almost) unbelievable lengths her university goes to in order to retain any breathing student.
The Tell-Tail Heart: A Cattarina Mystery
About This Author
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