Mystery – Page 5 – MJ Porter

I’m delighted to welcome Laura Rahme and her new book, The Signare of Gorée, to the blog #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Laura Rahme and her new book, The Signare of Gorée, to the blog with The Last Waalo Queen: Ndaté Yalla Mbodj.

The Last Waalo Queen: Ndaté Yalla Mbodj

One of the historical figures that I feature in my novel, The Signare of Gorée, is Senegal’s last warrior queen, Ndaté Yalla Mbodj. Her origins are generally accepted to be a blend of Serer and Lebou, two of the main cultural groups in Senegal. She held the title of lingeer of the Waalo kingdom of Senegal. She appears only briefly in my book and does not play a direct part in the mystery, yet her presence looms large and hints at key events that would change Senegal’s destiny in the upcoming decade.

During the 1840s, Senegal consisted of independent kingdoms. The Waalo kingdom which extended along the northwest of Senegal, sharing a border with Mauritania, comprised the island of Saint-Louis, settled by the French since 1659. South of Waalo lay the kingdom of Cayor which engulfed today’s capital, Dakar, then a Lebou village. Only a short pirogue trip away was the island of Gorée, ceded to Europeans, and a center for commercial and slave trade for centuries.

The Signare of Gorée is set in a period when concessions by Waalo rulers allowed the French to trade in Senegal, but during which French figures were not sovereign. Europeans had to pay custom taxes to continue to trade freely in the Waalo. Over the years and leading into 1854, the French encountered increasing opposition, and what they saw as nuisances, arising from Waalo or Cayor rulers, but also from the Trarza Moors who dwelled across the Mauritanian border. Frustrated in their desire for economic gain, French entrepreneurs aspired to conquest as the means to secure the flow of resources and merchandise. As such, Ndaté Yalla Mbodj was not only the sole female ruler of Senegal, but she was to be the last queen of non-colonized Senegal. Her fight would be bitter and determined.

She ascended the throne in the palace of Nder on 1 October 1846 upon the death of her sister, Njembot Mbodj. While still young, both women had witnessed their mother’s tragic self-immolation during a battle with the Trarza moors. The Waalo army consisted of fiercely animist male warriors called tieddos, but the Waalo women were also trained in combat. Since then, and despite French military intervention to thwart it, a marital alliance between Njembot Mbodj and the Trarza ruler had smoothed discords between the Waalo kingdom and the Trarza emirate. But during her rule, Ndaté Yalla was forced to fight both the French and the Trarzas.

From the time she stepped on the throne, Ndaté Yalla made it clear that the French were to obey tithe and land boundary agreements. She wrote them letters and signed them – the only female ruler to do so – and defied them, asserting her rulership over the Waalo. In short, she bothered them.

Ndaté Yalla Mbodj et her husband Marosso Tassé Diop
An engraving by Jules Gaildrau (1816-1898)
Public domain image

Together with her husband, Marosso Tassé Diop, who was prince of Cayor, Lord of Koki, and commander of the Waalo’s tieddo army, Ndaté Yalla fought regularly with the French and Moors.

But the French would have the last word. They called upon Louis Faidherbe, a poly-engineer and French general, to quell both the Trarzas and the Waalo kingdom. In 1854, the Bordeaux entrepreneur, Hilaire Maurel, who appears in The Signare of Gorée, would end up playing a decisive role, along with his nephew, Marc Maurel, in General Faidherbe’s mind-blowing ascension as governor of Senegal. They worked behind the scenes to ensure that the like-minded Faidherbe and his military strategies would clear the path for their already thriving enterprises and future economic ambitions.

Rallying an army that included coerced local troops, Faidherbe defeated Ndaté Yalla Mbodj in 1855, spelling the collapse of the kingdoms of Waalo and Cayor. The fall of the lingeer was powerfully symbolic. The other male-led kingdoms of Senegal would fall soon after, marking the start of France’s colonization of Senegal. During his 1855-1864 campaign, General Faidherbe employed a scorched-earth policy, burning through fertile plains and razing villages. He not only burned Ndaté Yalla Mbodj’s palace in Nder but took away her son, Sidya Diop. The afflicted lingeer would die in 1860, in Dagana, where her commemorative statue stands today.

I was born in Dakar fifteen years after Senegal regained its independence from France. Colonial education must have lingered a while as I never learned about Ndaté Yalla Mbodj at school. I also suspect the Senegalese values of soutoura (discretion) and muñ (to tolerate) encouraged a long silence on the sufferings and injustices of the past. But in the last twenty years, in the name of historical accuracy, and as more African voices are given due weight, Ndaté Yalla Mbodj’s name has resurged. Publications that tell of her important story now exist in multiple languages. I am not the first to mention her, but it was important for me to feature her in The Signare of Gorée.

Blurb

1846. In the heat of West Africa, the French navy uncovers the corpses of two French soldiers. Inspector Maurice Leroux arrives at the island of Gorée. It seems death has come to this small colonial outpost off the Senegal coast, home to the prosperous mixed-blood women known as the signares.

The navy suspects that the Bambara people, emboldened by approaching emancipation, may be out for blood. While confronted by the locals’ strange magical beliefs, Maurice remains skeptical. Does malevolence play a part, or are these deaths accidental, brought upon by the brutality of nature in an island known as the white man’s grave?

But when murder strikes, it becomes clear that a killer is stalking Gorée.

Swept by a mystery unlike any he has known, Maurice meets Signare Angélique Aussenac. The proud métis, deserted by her wealthy Bordeaux lover, casts her spell upon Maurice.

But beyond the throbbing sounds of the tam-tams and the glittering signare soirées, danger lurks. Someone is watching. And the deaths go on.

Could the killer be one of the rich Bordeaux merchants? Or are they hiding among the powerful signares?

A historical mystery spanning France and Senegal, THE SIGNARE OF GORÉE explores a world of magic, murder, and passion.

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Meet the Author

Laura Rahme is the author of seven historical novels. Born in Dakar, Senegal where she spent her early childhood, she moved to Australia at the age of ten. A graduate of two Honors degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Psychology, she has worked over two decades as an IT professional. Her greatest joy comes from travel, researching history, and penning historical mysteries. She now lives in France with her screenwriting husband.

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The historical setting for The Custard Corpses #mystery #histfic #history

Setting for The Custard Corpses, my first foray into historical mysteries

The Custard Corpses is set during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. I wanted to make the book as authentic as possible, even though I’m not a historian of that time period. When I was first studying history at school, I always found it strange to think of it as history as I had grandparents who had lived through the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s (my old granny was born in 1901, my mother’s parents in 1920 and my father’s parents in 1926 and 1928). That’s probably why I’ve never written about the period before.

Getting the names right

I wanted to ensure I was using names and places that existed at the time, and I didn’t want to inadvertently make any silly mistakes – a few beta readers pointed out I was using metric measurements, when they should have been imperial in the 1940s. They thought it was sweet that I’d never known the world of imperial numbers (and money).

Maps and train routes

So, I spent quite a bit of time hunting down random facts; maps of the time period, tram and train routes (which you can find online, but I had some old maps), pictures of cars, police uniforms at the time, advertisements of the time and also editions of the Picture Post magazine. At one point, I wanted a celebrity scandal, and there it was, on the cover of a magazine.

Newspaper Archives

I was amazed by the information that I could find by accessing archives ( and also that which I couldn’t find), and I was especially impressed by the ‘history’ section on the Birmingham.gov website, and by those local newspapers that have archives available online – such as the Inverness newspaper and the Birmingham Mail. There’s also a whole aerial photo website that I could have used, but I couldn’t quite work it out.

Family memories

I was also lucky in that I set the book somewhere I have childhood memories of, and also that a family member spent their early years in Erdington. It was funny to realise the parts that they especially remembered – such as the fact that some of the buses were still open-topped at the time, and the liveries that buses were decorated with. The Birmingham that I remember is very different to the one that exists now, and the one that existed in the 1940s. My memories of Birmingham consist of the dodgy car park we used, the train journey we used to take in the old carriages with individual doors (they were old in my day) and shopping for jeans.

I also made some use of the 1911 census records, and the Office for National Statistics spreadsheet which lists all the most popular names in decades. It made it easy to devise names for the characters. It also helped that while the 1940s is ‘history’ it’s much more relatable to me than the period before 1066, when I usually set my stories, so provided I didn’t use the internet in the story itself (and only as a research tool), or refer to cms, it was just about authentic, I hope. And did allow for the use of cars and telephones.

Check out The Erdington Mysteries page for more information.

(This is a blog post I wrote in 2021 and which I can’t find on my blog, so I’m sharing it.)

Posts

Today, I’m reviewing Susie Dent’s fabulous new mystery, Guilty By Definition #newrelease #mystery

Here’s the blurb

When an anonymous letter is delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary, it is rapidly clear that this is not the usual lexicographical enquiry. Instead, the letter hints at secrets and lies linked to a particular year.

For Martha Thornhill, the new senior editor, the date can mean only one thing: the summer her brilliant older sister Charlie went missing. After a decade abroad, Martha has returned home to the city whose ancient institutions have long defined her family. Have the ghosts she left behind her been waiting for her return?

When more letters arrive, and Martha and her team pull apart the complex clues within them, the mystery becomes ever more insistent and troubling. It seems Charlie had been keeping a powerful secret, and someone is trying to lead the lexicographers towards the truth. But other forces are no less desperate to keep it well and truly buried.

Cover image for Susie Dent's Guilty by Definition.

Purchase Link

https://amzn.to/4cFDVQj

My Review

Guilty by Definition rises above other celebrity mysteries by being excellent.

This story is well-plotted and well-devised, delightfully intermingled with snippets about the Clarendon Dictionary and the little foibles of the English language, and has a great storyline. It also offers a lovely conjuring of Oxford and the surrounding location—as well as some special Oxford-specific events.

Our four main characters are well-developed, and all have their secrets as they endeavour to solve the perplexing riddles and, in doing so, answer the questions surrounding Martha’s sister’s disappearance.

It is a complex mystery that is sure to appeal to fans of the genre and the English language. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I loved it:)

I’m delighted to welcome Roberta Tracy and her new series, Zig Zag Woman, to the blog #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookclub

I’m delighted to welcome Roberta Tracy and her new series, Zig Zag Woman, to the blog, with an excerpt.

Excerpt One

The Morehouses’ world turned upside down on a warm September day when Captain Hiram Clarke of the Los Angeles Police Department welcomed Margaret to the force with a book of rules and first aid kit. Had he included a crystal ball, she might have been able to predict the way murder and deception would riddle her life for the next twenty years.

On her first official day of work, Margaret tried to take advantage of a long-standing police department privilege, free trolley rides to Central Police Station on First Street. The pot-bellied conductor, who always tipped his hat to policemen and waved them aboard, eyed her up and down with suspicion. “Anyone not wearing a badge must pay!” he declared.

Assuming he had not had a chance to read the morning paper, she handed him the fare.

If she’d left home a few minutes later, Margaret would have ridden to work alongside Alice Stebbins Wells, Los Angeles’s first female policewoman with arrest powers, who never, ever paid to board a trolley.

Blurb

The last thing LAPD Detectives McManus and Tyson expect to find behind Pantages Theatre is a body rolled up in a blanket. The last thing Margaret Morehouse, one of the city’s first policewoman with arrest powers, expects to do is join the investigation. When a deadly explosion at the L. A. Times derails their efforts, Margaret finds herself at a crossroads and strikes out on her own, a path leading to delusion and self-discovery on a vaudeville stage. Her husband’s nephew Leland further complicates the situation by sharing a ransom note and confiding his failure to report his wife’s disappearance at the Dominguez Air Meet.

A brief stint as a magician’s assistant takes Margaret to Chicago, where she almost signs on as a zig zag girl, the term used for ladies performing in the “cutting-a-woman-in-two”

illusion. Instead, Margaret returns to the tumultuous world of early twentieth century Los

Angeles. Reunited with McManus and Tyson, she confronts prejudices and societal norms in efforts to identify a body, clear Leland’s name, and topple the stranglehold one powerful, amoral person has over many lives. Their efforts lead to dead ends and misconceptions before truth comes to light. Love is rekindled and danger uncovered in unlikely places. Margaret goes from Zig Zag Girl to Zig Zag Woman, no longer cut in two but headed on a clearer path.

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Meet the Author

Early experience as a staff greeting card writer introduced Roberta Tracy to witty people who shared the writer’s dream. Marriage, motherhood, and career intervened, but she maintained that creative desire.

A degree in nonprofit management led her to work situations where newsletters, grant proposals, and business correspondence took precedence. Still, she wrote poetry, some of which won prizes and publication, and children’s books set in worldwide locations. Recently, she co-authored Come Dream With Me, a part travelogue, part hippie nostalgia work of creative nonfiction, detailing the adventures of colleague Inese Civkulis.

No matter what writing projects unfold in the future, she’ll never find enough words to thank family and friends for their inspiration and encouragement.

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Follow the Zig Zag Woman Series blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

Mercia: Exploring the Heartland of Saxon England and Its Lasting Influence

Having written more books than I probably should about the Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and with more planned, I’ve somewhat belatedly realised I’ve never explained what Mercia actually was. I’m going to correct that now.

Having grown up within the ancient kingdom of Mercia, still referenced today in such titles as the West Mercia Police, I feel I’ve always been aware of the heritage of the Midlands of England. But that doesn’t mean everyone else is.

Where was Mercia?

Simply put, the kingdom of Mercia, in existence from c.550 to about c.925 (and then continuing as an ealdordom, and then earldom) covered the area in the English Midlands, perhaps most easily described as the area north of the River Thames, and south of the Humber Estuary – indeed, nerdy historians, and Bede, call the area the kingdom of the Southumbrians, in contrast to the kingdom of the Northumbrians – do you see what Bede did there?

While it was not always that contained, and while it was not always that large, Mercia was essentially a land-locked state (if you ignore all the rivers that gave easy access to the sea), in the heartland of what we now know as England.

Map of Early England, showing the location of Mercia for the post What was the ancient kingdom of Mercia?

What was Mercia?

Mercia was one of the Heptarchy—the seven ancient kingdoms that came to dominate Saxon England – Mercia, Wessex (West Saxons), the East Angles, Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons) and Kent.

Map showing the settlement of England in about the year 600, showing Mercians, Angles, Saxons and Kent — User:Hel-hama, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

In time, it would be one of only four to survive the infighting and amalgamation of the smaller kingdoms, alongside Northumbria, the kingdom of the East Angles, Mercia, and Wessex (the West Saxons).

The End of Mercia?

Subsequently, it has traditionally been said to have been subsumed by the kingdom of Wessex, which then grew to become all of ‘England’ as we know it.

This argument is subject to some current debate, especially as the king credited with doing this, Athelstan, the first and only of his name, might well have been born into the West Saxon dynasty but was potentially raised in Mercia, by his aunt, Lady Æthelflæd, and was, indeed, declared king of Mercia on the death of his father, King Edward the Elder in July 924, and only subsequently became king of Wessex, and eventually, king of all England.

Map of Britain in the tenth century, showing Mercia, Wessex, Kent and the kingdom of York.

Mercia’s kings

But, before all that, Mercia had its own kings. One of the earliest, and perhaps most well-known, was Penda, in the mid-7th century, the alleged last great pagan king. (Penda features in my Gods and Kings trilogy). Throughout the eighth century, Mercia had two more powerful kings, Æthelbald and Offa (of Offa’s Dyke fame), and then the ninth century saw kings Wiglaf and Coelwulf II (both of whom feature as characters in my later series, The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles and the Mercian Ninth Century), before the events of the last 800s saw Æthelflæd, one of the most famous rulers, leading the kingdom against the Viking raiders.

The Earldom of Mercia

And even when the kingdom itself ceased to exist, it persisted in the ealdordom and earldom of Mercia, (sometimes subdivided further), and I’ve also written about the House of Leofwine, who were ealdormen and then earls of Mercia throughout the final century of Saxon England, a steadfast family not outmatched by any other family, even the ruling line of the House of Wessex.

In fact, Mercia, as I said above, persists as an idea today even though it’s been many years since the end of Saxon England. And indeed, my two Erdington Mysteries, are also set in a place that would have been part of Mercia a thousand years before:) (I may be a little bit obsessed with the place).

Image shows the 6 book cover titles in the Tales of Mercia series of interconnected tales by historical fiction author MJ Porter — The Tales of Mercia

Timeline of MJ Porter's Tales of Mercia series, starting with the Dark Age Chronicles and ending with The Earl of Mercia's Father

Posts

I’m delighted to welcome Heidi Eljarbo and her new book, Trouble in Assisi, to the blog #HistoricalMystery #ArtMystery #DualTimeline #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Heidi Eljarbo and her new book, Trouble in Assisi, to the blog.

Here’s the blurb

Assisi, 1973.

On art historian Fabiola Bennett’s first day in Assisi, a local gentleman takes her aside to ask for advice about a painting that has wondrously appeared in the basilica’s bell tower.

So much for enjoying relaxing days filled with dining on pasta and gelato.

Soon, Fabiola and her besties, Pippa and Cary, are thrown into a shrouded mystery and caught up in a whirlwind of intrigue, theft, lies, and attempted murder, all of which overshadows the postcard-like charm of the small, historic town.

Rome, 1511.

Life is going well for Teodoro Nicoletti. Since he was a young man in Florence, he has worked and learned alongside the most-favored artist Raphael.

When Pope Julius II commissions Raphael to paint several frescos in the reception rooms of the Vatican Palace, Teodoro follows his master to Rome and discovers firsthand the admiration and rivalry between Raphael and two other reigning artists: Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.

But the prickliest thorn in Teodoro’s side is his beloved Elisabetta’s father. The old man is determined to keep his youngest daughter from becoming Teodoro’s wife.

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Meet the Author

Heidi Eljarbo grew up in a home full of books, artwork, and happy creativity. She is the author of historical novels filled with courage, hope, mystery, adventure, and sweet romance during challenging times. She’s been named a master of dual timelines and often writes about strong-willed women of past centuries.

After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She lives with her husband on a charming island and enjoys walking in any kind of weather, hugging her grandchildren, and has a passion for art and history.

Her family’s chosen retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summer and ski the vast white terrain during winter.

Heidi’s favorites are her family, God’s beautiful nature, and the word whimsical.

Connect with the Author

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I’m delighted to welcome I.M. Foster and her new book, Murder on West Main, to the blog #MurderOnWestMain #IMFoster #HistoricalMystery #CozyMystery #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome I.M. Foster and her new book, Murder on West Main, to the blog with a snippet.

Snippet

A knot tightened in his stomach, for it wasn’t like her to seek him out in this manner.

Here’s the blurb

When Colin Brissedon arrives at work one summer morning to find his new boss murdered, all eyes turn to him. After all, the man had threatened to fire him just a few days before, and his colleagues are more than happy to tell the tale. Kathleen admits her brother is no angel, but she can’t believe he would sink this low. Fortunately for them, neither does Daniel O’Halleran, the village’s new coroner’s assistant. Of course, he needs more than his gut feeling to prove it.

But that’s not going to be an easy task, considering the victim does not appear to have been held in high regard. In fact, Daniel is hard-pressed to find anyone who did like him, though there are more than a few who had reason to wish the man dead. To make matters worse, Kathleen is intent on conducting her own investigation despite his wishes, and he fears the consequences could be deadly.

And yet, with the pieces of the puzzle laid before him, he can’t shake the feeling that something is missing, an integral clue that will tie everything else together. Will Daniel be able to find the elusive detail and discover the reason behind the gruesome murder of the prominent attorney? Or will the guilty party live to kill again?

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Meet the Author

I. M. Foster is the pen name author Inez Foster uses to write her South Shore Mystery series, set on Edwardian Long Island. Inez also writes historical romances under the pseudonym Andrea Matthews, and has so far published two series in that genre: the Thunder on the Moor series, a time-travel romance set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Borders, and the Cross of Ciaran series, which follows the adventures of a fifth century Celt who finds himself in love with a twentieth century archaeologist.

Inez is a historian and librarian, who love to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogically speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science and enjoys the research almost as much as she does writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family history. Inez is a member of the Long Island Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society.