HAPPY SUMMER DAZE!

This is the season of writers conferences, a great way to meet new fans and tick off other writers. I had a wonderful time at Malice Domestic, one of the biggies for writers and fans. My roomie was Nancy Means Wright. Not surprisingly, Nancy writes mysteries starring a Vermont farm wife as detective. Nancy just happens to live on a farm in Vermont. I was on the historical mystery panel where we discussed settings and periods and what drew us to a particular time and place. Kathy Lynn Emerson was moderator; I was privileged to sit at Kathy's table when she won the Agatha Award for her nonfiction book on writing historical mysteries. (I got to touch the teapot prize - the closest I expect to get to an Agatha!)

The panel got me thinking why I chose my setting and period; Boston in the 1690's. For one thing, it was a time of unrest. For another, famous cleric Cotton Mather was in his 20's, suffering from periodic bouts of nerves, and I could use him as comic relief.... My own family settled in my hometown of Oxford, MA in 1713. (I tell everybody I was born in 1713 -- sometimes they believe me.) My grandmother always told me stories about our family background. (Uncle Horatio was one of the founders of the Unitarian Universalist Church.) Then too, my husband and I love to wander the old streets of Boston -- once we even met a pirate -- and we found many old bookstores where I picked up old histories of New England for 25 cents, 50 cents -- great resources! Anyhow, I decided to make my detective a young Puritan minister, trained to ferret out the guilty secrets of the human soul. He became Increase "Creasy" Cotton, a cousin of Cotton Mather, who would have a nervous breakdown and allow Creasy to investigate community problems in his stead. (Ministers were political powers as well as spiritual advisors.) I wanted to give him a sidekick, so I introduced Hetty Henry, a young widow of wealth and connections to high and low society. The only problem was that Hetty is such a pushy broad, she took over the book and the series.

As I work on finishing the fourth book, THE DANCING MASTER'S DEMISE, I'm planning an appearance at DEADLY INK, my favorite conference in New Jersey - lots of fun and funny people. I hope to have a short story published in the DI magazine. After that it's time to relax and hit the beach for some Summer Sun! (and the New York City Ballet at SPAC - Saratoga Performing Arts Center.) HAPPY SUMMER and READ! READ! READ!

I was born in 1713 – no, that’s the date my ancestors settled in my hometown, Oxford, MA. The truth is, I might as well have been born then. I feel right at home in the colonial era. By the way, the Puritans were really a lusty group who ate, drank and loved to excess. I feel my fiction is a more realistic picture of our colonial ancestors than the stereotypes that continue today in the media.

Rather than a grumpy, sourpuss in a black, high-crowned hat, the proper Bostonian of my period – 1689 to 1713 – dressed in the latest London fashions, which might be a scarlet waistcoat with gold trim. (Cotton Mather wore a scarlet cloak and no doubt he presented a fine, handsome figure, him being something of a ladies man.) This is not to mention the vast amounts of liquor the average male consumed. How would you like to drink a concoction of beer, rum, molasses and breadcrumbs?

M. E. Kemp's latest novel, Death of a Bawdy Belle, is now available .

My detective, Hetty Henry, is a successful businesswoman. As a widow she has certain legal rights that she would not have as a married or single woman, although there were many women who ran the family business while their husbands were away for months at a time. Hetty’s sidekick, Increase "Creasy" Cotton, is one of a new breed of minister appearing in the pulpit – less fire and brimstone and more compassion for human frailties. Originally Creasy started off as the main character in the first book, MURDER, MATHER AND MAYHEM, but then he met Hetty. She’s a pushy broad, no doubt about that, and she took over the book and the series. My plots come straight out of history. MM&M is based upon the bloodless revolution against the Royal Governor, Edmund Andros. DEATH OF A DUTCH UNCLE allowed me to explore the little known influence the Dutch retained in the Albany area. Cookies, cole slaw and place names like Kinderhook and Guilderland are a few that remain. DEATH OF A BAWDY BELLE is set during the Salem witch trials and examines a seamier side of the Improper Bostonian. Foremost in Puritan life was a strong belief in justice and in the law; the witch trials were an aberration that never occurred again, although witches were burned in Europe well into the 18th century.

I hope you enjoy my little tour set in the right place but a different time.