The Palimpsest Murders
by Reed Stirling
GENRE: Historical Mystery
BLURB:
Day one: check-in on the Iphigenia, a Boat & Bike home for thirty guests of diverse backgrounds on a one week excursion through Holland and Belgium. Personalities clash, conflicts arise.
Day seven: a body is found in canal waters at the stern of the boat. On the final morning a second body is discovered.
Who among the cyclists and crew is hateful and motivated enough to kill? Twice. How are the two murders related? Why two coins for the ferryman? Is the phoenix jug, both admired and derided, merely symbolic? How does the death mask of Agamemnon lead to resolution?
Determining truth entails travelling from Amsterdam to Bruges to Paris to the ancient site of Mycenae in Greece where what’s past is shown to be prologue.
Excerpt:
She was definitely formidable, imperious even, possessed of an elegant yet hardened beauty. Vanessa’s earlier estimation of Kat as a well-preserved, middle-aged vixen came to mind as I watched and listened to her, but any imagined resemblance to Sophia Loren was fading quickly. She was striking in her grandiose posing, seeming as though she’d slid down the reverse side of an ancient Greek vase intent on focusing our interest on her and her misery, the one-time exemplar of easy command and sensuous self-indulgence. I was considering the possibility that Kat Steele was living up to the character she had invented for herself in view of the performance the role of forlorn wife and rejected mother presently required of her. We’d all noted the air of theatricality about her. As to what I actually observed of her face that night in the lounge as she entertained us with her anxious but less than sober self-absorption and resentment, I could not avoid considering her likely dependence on Botox and all the meretricious beauty resulting from its application. Kat had brown eyes that appeared to be anything but lustrous on this occasion because of the smeared mascara shadowing them. Patches of darker pigment crested her high cheeks. The woman could boast having perfect teeth, the better to bite you with, and an aquiline nose sloped perfectly for looking down its length at you. I was intrigued particularly with how she worked her lips and how she slid words into statements with iambic stops and starts designed to smite verbal opposition.
Interview with Reed Stirling
Before getting to your questions, I want to thank you, Nancy, for hosting me on The Avid Reader.
Thank you for being here with us today on The Avid Reader
How many books have you written and which is your favourite?
I have written four novels that BWL, Inc. has published. Determining which is my favourite is not easy. Shades of Persephone was my first so I have a soft spot for it as most of it was written while I was on sabbatical in Greece. Lighting the Lamp is a fictional memoir; it reflects much that went on in my life in terms of philosophy and literary ambition, but it remains no more than a work of fiction. Séjour Saint-Louis took me partly into the realm of surrealism, which proved most interesting. The Palimpsest Murders, published in September of this year, is a literary mystery and is the work I will refer to in answering the remaining questions.
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
At present I am playing around with ideas for another novel that I’ve speculatively entitled A bouquet of Darts. Although the setting is similar in places to that in The Palimpsest Murders, and despite the overlapping of a few themes, this work in progress represents a completely new direction. It is not a sequel nor part of a series.
Eros, the Greek god of love and desire, is my narrator. He will certainly have much to say about himself and the individuals he feels impelled to observe, eavesdrop on, and take shots at with his arrows.
So far, Eros has this to say: “We so-called immortals evolved lockstep with humans; the more sophisticated they became, so with us. They gave us substance, personality, powers, and through us they began to understand themselves more thoroughly and the world they inhabited. Mutual dependency. They created us to explain what they didn’t understand, which is, as I have maintained since the outset, the central paradox that defines our existence. But as to immortality, forget it. Eternal life for us is a phantom concept: we will cease to exist with the death of the last human.”
Often pitted against the designs of Eros is his twin Eris, goddess of strife and disorder.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Each book should stand on its own. However, I have borrowed characters from one narrative and infused them in another. For instance, Frank Veridis was introduced initially in Lighting the Lamp but reappears in Séjour Saint-Louis and in The Palimpsest Murders. Candace Troyes and Isla Troyes have parts to play in The Palimpsest Murders; I plan to re-introduce them in A bouquet of Darts, my present work in progress.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
I subtitled The Palimpsest Murders a European Travel Mystery. The plot revolves around thirty or so characters who have embarked on a week-long Boat and Bike excursion through Holland and Belgium. The storyline begins in Amsterdam, continues in Paris, and ends in Greece. During this time, two murders happen in real time and other suspicious deaths are uncovered as part of the backstory. Typical of my plots is the juxtaposition of the contemporary against a background of the mythological past. Well dramatized in this tale is the implication that “blood will have blood,” an ancient theme, indeed.
How long did it take to write this book?
It took about six months to produce a first draft. After nine months I had a fairly satisfactory MS.
What does the title mean?
Palimpsest: a manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing; something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form…
The Palimpsest Murders fits the pattern and re-establishes the Shakespearean dictum that “What’s past is prologue.” A cycle of bloodshed in the contemporary world is viewed in the mirror of Classical dramatists.
What did you learn from writing this book?
What I learned from this book is how challenging keeping control of thirty or so individual characters can be. Each had to be plausible with realistic backgrounds and fit the role of either victim or perpetrator. Motivation, opportunity, and means.
What surprised you the most?
What surprised me the most was how readily I was able to cast Alexsis Troyes as both victim and perpetrator, or at least suggest that she fit that bill. I played around with ambivalence right to the very end.
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
Determining whether readers loved this or that character is not easy for me at this stage in my life as a fiction writer. I have certainly killed off innocent characters in a species of bi-lateral damage. Villainous characters have definitely hit the deck with the precision of a final period. Some characters have just walked off the stage left, gone but not forgotten.
What do you do to get inside your characters’ heads?
For each character I compose a file — name, age, nationality, occupation, likes and dislikes, ambitions and frustrations, relationships, etc., etc., etc. That takes a little time but it is worth the effort in the long run. The salient question is where does character X fit in the plot and what moves him or her to make crucial decisions about reaching predetermined goals. It’s all about motivation. Determining motive is chiefly how I get inside a character’s head. The file provides me with a great deal of helpful information.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Reed Stirling lives in Cowichan Bay, BC, and writes when not painting landscapes, travelling, or taking coffee at The Drumroaster, a local café where physics and metaphysics clash daily. Before retiring and taking up writing novels, he taught English Literature. Several talented students of his have gone on to become successful award-winning writers.
He and his wife built a log home in the hills of southern Vancouver Island, and survived totally off the grid for twenty-five years during which time the rooms in that house filled up with books, thousands of student essays were graded, and innumerable cords of firewood were split.
Literary output:
Shades Of Persephone, published in 2019, is a literary mystery set in Greece.
Lighting The Lamp, a fictional memoir, was published in March 2020.
Set in Montreal, Séjour Saint-Louis (2021), dramatizes family conflicts.
The Palimpsest Murders, a European travel mystery, is forthcoming.
Shorter work has appeared over the years in a variety of publications including Dis(s)ent, Danforth Review, Fickle Muses, Fieldstone Review, and Humanist Perspectives.
Intrigue is of primary interest, with romantic entanglement an integral part of the action. Greek mythology plays a significant role in underpinning plots. Allusions to art, literature, philosophy, and religion serve a similar function. Reed sits down to write every day and tries to leave the desk having achieved at least a workable page. Frequently what comes of his effort amounts to no more than a serviceable paragraph, a single sentence, or a metaphor that might work in a context yet to be imagined.
Connect with Reed Stirling
reedstirlingwrites.com
reedstirling@gmail.com
http://bwlpublishing.ca
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bookswelove
https://authorcentral.amazon.comgp/home
https.//ca.linkedin.com>reed-stirling
Affiliated Authors @ LinkedIn
Reed stirling @ Instagram
12 comments:
I think the blurb sounds very intriguing. I like the cover.
Thank you for sharing. This sounds really good.
Thank you so much for hosting this book and author today.
Thanks for your comment, Marcy. Intrigue, yes. It's an essential part of the story. Alexsis Troyes is a very intriguing characters; what motivates her paces the action. The protagonist and narrator, Geoff Canter, is intrigued by her and her story. He pursues her right to the end.
Many thanks to The Avid Reader for this spot on your blog.
About, the cover, Marcy. It resents two images that represent themes in the story. Biking along Lowland canals (a body is found in a canal) and the parallel story of King Agamemnon who was murdered upon his return from the Trojan War, therefore, his death mask.
Good afternoon, which aspect of your story would you say required the most research on your part?
This sounds like a good book and I really like the cover.
Thanks for your question, Bea, about what aspect of my story required the most research. I spent a week on a bike and boat excursion through Holland and Belgium, so that part of the story was fairly easy to arrange. How Belgian authorities would deal with a murder on their turf posed some problems, but delving into police procedures there helped present what is, I hope, a realistic rendering of a crime scene. Tying what could be termed contemporary murders with those staged by Classical dramatists, that required more in-depth research.
Thanks, Sherry. The Palimpsest Murders should provide the reader with a challenging read. The cover suggests the overlay of a classical dramatization of matricide without happens on the Boat and Bike excursion. In a sense it is history repeating itself. Do enjoy the read.
looks like a fun one
You're right, Daniel, I had a lot of fun writing it. Greek mythology plays into much of the fiction I write, and that's a good part of the fun. Thanks for your comment.
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