A Light Shines Through

A dear friend and colleague passed away this past week.  To honor her memory, I wrote this short free-verse poem.  I know very little of poetry, so please forgive the amateur effort.  Most of my writing is from the mind.  This piece is from the heart.

Light shines through

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When darkness comes

It slips in on padded feet

Silently, stealthily, unknown

It comes to us all

Young, old, in-between

And no matter how prepared

We may be

We’re not

Never are

Still we must accept it

The best we can

And move forward

But it leaves a tiny hole

In our heart

A hole that never heals

But that same hole

Lets in light and life

And so we go on

With the memories

We hold precious

Until darkness comes

Once again

Imagining Alternative History

Writing historical mysteries is a juggling act.  Writers must create a fictional plot with fictional characters around a historical time period with real people. . . and somehow suspend the readers’ disbelief.

Jack the Ripper sceneMany writers of historical fiction choose a particular time period and stay with it.  I’m thinking Anne Perry, Phillipa Gregory, Charles Todd.  I, on the other hand, am intrigued by so many time periods, I skip around.  Each of my mysteries takes place in a different place and time, which enables me to do the thing I love most: research.   The risk, of course, is that I will know only a little about each time period as opposed to Anne Perry who knows a great deal about Victorian England.

Once I settle on a time period, I read and read and read about it.  I visit the places in question, interview experts, historians, and read and read and read some more.  By this time, I usually have a kernel of an idea for the plot and maybe even a character sketch or two.

Building fictional characters around authentic ones is key.  Unless your character is transported from modern times to the past, he/she must act, speak, dress like the time period.  In using real people from the time period, they must be as genuine to history as I can make them.

Jack the Ripper papersAs the story develops and takes twists and turns on its own, I find I am bending the truth a bit–creating an “alternate history.”  This is fiction, after all.  The book I am working on now, Time Lapse, will be a totally new take on the Jack the Ripper murders.  Some will think it’s an outlandish scenario, completely out of the realm of possibility, but since there have been hundreds of theories and books written on this serial killer, why not one more? The backdrop and many characters are authentic, but the storyline meanders considerably from what we know to be historically accurate.  Still, Jack has never been caught.  What if my resolution is. . .  never mind.

In fact, the questions I ask take the form of “what if” and I let my imagination run free.  It’s a rare writer that can devise a plotline that hasn’t already been done.  But even a clichéd plot can be made new and fresh with unusual twists, powerful characters and exceptional prose.

As I put the final touches on this fifth novel, I realize I am bending history to fit the story.  That’s the advantage of fiction.  And its strength.

 

The Road to Deadly Provenance

I had a question recently from a reader who asked how I came to write Deadly Provenance.  Here’s my story.

Since I write historical mysteries but solve them with modern technology, I first needed a time period for a backdrop.  I was always fascinated by the Holocaust and the horrors of WWII.  As a museum professional, I happened upon a book called The Lost Museum by Hector Feliciano.  It’s the story about the systematic plundering of Jewish-owned artwork by the Nazis.  I was hooked.  I read many books to follow, one of which you may be familiar with: The Rape of Europa by Lynn Nicholas. (Since then there have been popular books and movies on the subject: The Monuments Men, The Woman in Gold.)

I pondered a storyline. What about a particular piece of art that was stolen from its Jewish owners, but to this day, has never been seen again?  Add to that a 1940s photograph of the said painting that comes to light 70 years later.  Can the painting be authenticated by analyzing a photograph?

Vase with OleandersHow did I begin research on this book?  I needed a missing painting, the mystery for the historic story, and state-of-the-art digital photography techniques to resolve the crime years later.  I started with the backdrop: France during the German occupation and discovered this incredible true story.

The Bernheim-Jeunes, a French Jewish family, were collectors.  They owned a painting by Vincent van Gogh, one of my favorite artists, called Still Life: Vase With Oleanders. When the family learned they were about to be raided by the Nazis, they hid their collection with friends at the Chateau de Rastignac, outside of Bordeaux.  However, in 1944, the Chateau was invaded, plundered, and razed to the ground.  No one knows whether the Van Gogh survived.  Was it stolen by a Nazi soldier?  A local citizen?  Did it burn with the Chateau?

Add to the back story several real-life characters like Rose Valland, an art curator who secretly catalogued all the Nazi loot, villains like Hermann Goering and Alfred Rosenberg, plus a master art

Confiscated degenerate art stored at Jeu de Paume. Photo: Archives des Musees Nationaux

Confiscated degenerate art stored at Jeu de Paume. Photo: Archives des Musees Nationaux

forger: Han van Meegeren, and my back story was developing.

Research into the modern story was helped along by my museum associates.  My modern protagonist, a digital photographer, had to figure out a way to authenticate the painting from an old photograph.  Could it be done?  Yes, no, maybe.  Research is currently being done at Dartmouth and it looks like the answer is within reach.  Since this is fiction, I can take a few liberties.

Thoughts welcome.