Campaign for the American Reader: What is Mary Miley reading?

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

What is Mary Miley reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Mary Miley, author of Deadly Spirits.

Her entry begins:

I write mysteries, I read mysteries. While my preference is for historicals, I am very glad to come to the present day with a series I’ve stumbled on, written by Martin Walker and set in France’s beautiful southwest Dordogne region: the Bruno, Chief of Police series. I have spent time in the Dordogne over the past five decades and am thrilled with Mr. Walker’s spot-on portrayal of the people, customs, and places there, not to mention his cleverly plotted mysteries. Each one focuses on a particular specialty of the region: wine, cave paintings, truffles, and so forth. And Bruno (the sole policeman for a small fictional town) is a fascinatingly realistic character, trying to balance his duty to protect his townspeople while skirting...[read on]

About Deadly Spirits, from the publisher:

Medium's assistant - and reluctant sleuth - Maddie Pastore is shocked when her long-lost sister is accused of murder, in this twisty, atmospheric mystery set in 1920s Chicago.

Summer, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore has been working for fraudulent spiritual medium Madame Carlotta for nearly a year - if 'work' you could call it. Investigating Carlotta's clients, and attending seances as her shill, keeps Maddie and her young son Tommy fed and clothed, and she's grown to love the kind, well-meaning spiritualist like family.

Still, Maddie - estranged from her abusive parents for over a decade - can't help but wonder what fates befell her brothers and sisters. So when she lucks into two free tickets to a glamorous Chicago speakeasy and recognizes the star performer as her pretty little sister Sophie, she's beyond delighted.

But before Maddie can meet with Sophie again, the telephone rings. It's Sophie's husband, calling in a panic to tell her that his wife is locked in the Cook County jail, charged with first-degree murder...

Enter a dark and deadly world of seances and speakeasies, populated by fake mediums, sultry singers and dangerous mobsters! An ideal pick for readers who enjoy glitzy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths.