Is your hometown known for anything special? Any spies? Ever read a book set in someone else's hometown that makes you want to go visit? Today, fellow author Ellen Withers is sharing about her hometown setting in her mystery series. And it sounds fascinating. No wonder she set her books there! See what you think. Learning and reading about spies active during the Civil War is fascinating to me. Historians have discovered several of these spies were women. Some conducted their spying activities as a normal woman from the times, while others enlisted in military service and passed as a male soldier. In writing a book that includes the history of the Union Army’s occupation of my hometown during the War Between the States, I wanted to create a fictional spy within their midst and have an ordinary woman help gather evidence of the spy. I love my hometown. Even though I had to move away from it years ago, I wanted to incorporate the town into my mystery series. Decades have passed since I was a resident, but my affection for the town has never dimmed. I yearned to share the charm and history of Mexico, Missouri, as a writer. I believed readers would embrace the fun things that make my town special. This is the foundation of the Show Me Mysteries series. Mexico, Missouri is an enchanting town, with a diverse community. It has farmers, tradespeople, merchants, scientists, teachers, engineers, and every other occupation you can imagine. Beautiful houses with unique architecture line the streets. The history of the town and the county is intriguing. City streets originate from rural highways and crisscross in the town square. Some streets were paved with bricks and a few remain to this day. It’s a fun experience both sounds and vibrations from the car tires when driving over those bricks. Each of my books in the Show Me Mysteries series features two mysteries in a dual timeline. One mystery occurs in contemporary times and one in a historical time frame. Each book highlights an existing historical structure in my hometown. Show Me Deceit features a Classic Revival style Italianate home built in 1857 by John C. Clark. It’s called Graceland today and is a major museum for the local historical society, on 12 acres within the Robert S. Green Park. An army of dedicated and motivated people worked to save the structure. After centuries of use, it had fallen into disrepair. The Audrain County Historical Society brought the structure back to life, and it’s now on the National Register of Historic Places. With this home built prior to the Civil War and still serving the community today as a historical museum, it was the perfect structure to feature in Show Me Deceit. My goal was to use fictional characters and fictional situations to breathe life into local history associated with the Civil War. Although most characters and situations are fictional, the larger parameters of accurate historical events were my guidelines. The Union Army occupied my hometown for the entire duration of the Civil War. The town was an important military holding because the railroad lines were critical to secure the entire upper half of the state of Missouri for their cause. Because Missouri was a border state, divided almost equally between Southern sympathizers and Union loyalists, nearly half of the state resented the Union presence. Ulysses Grant was in town for approximately six weeks in 1861 as a colonel. When he arrived, he put a stop to the Union soldiers stealing from local farmers and making citizens declare their loyalty to the union at gunpoint. The locals, leaning both Union and Southern, adored him because of instituting those two changes. My historical tale finds United States Army Lieutenant O’Malley seeking proof that a Confederate spy is working within the encampment so he can save the lives of Union soldiers. He has no choice but to work with his sweetheart from town to uncover the truth. Can they identify the spy before more lives are lost? The contemporary storyline features the discovery of a dead man within a fictional museum. Liesl and Nicole work together with Detective Kurt Hunter to identify the deceased and determine his purpose within the museum. Although personalities clash, they must act to protect Graceland, a museum they believe will be the next target of a thief or thieves. Later, when Nicole and Liesl uncover a set of historic bones, more questions arise. Are these bones related to the Army encampment in town during the Civil War? Was this a battlefield death or murder? Characters from the contemporary storyline move forward with each new book. The historical characters remain within their historical timeline, but some are the antecedents of contemporary characters. In addition, romantic threads run through both the contemporary and historical storylines. Thanks to the positive reception of the series, I’m under contract for a third and fourth book. Book three, Show Me Skullduggery, will feature a historic stable preserved in town. It is the oldest building in the United States continuously devoted to boarding and training champion American Saddlebred horses. Book four, Show Me Murder, highlights Hardin College, a woman’s college founded in Mexico in 1873. Presser Hall, a building used by the college, has been repaired, restored, and transformed into the Presser Arts Center. Presser Arts Center now produces events and offers classes and workshops in the study of fine arts. I’m grateful to God for giving me the love of my hometown and its history, plus the talent to write and create. I hope readers will enjoy the series and fall in love with the town, the people, and the rich history of the area. Ellen is kindly offering a to do a giveaway for her book, Show Me Deceipt! For a chance to win (US only), leave a comment by Friday, May 17th, answering this question: What is an historical fact or event you find fascinating? ![]() Show Me Deceit Take a walk through time with Show Me Deceit, book two of the Show Me Mystery Series. Mexico, Missouri is the setting of the mysteries where death encompasses two eras, Civil War and contemporary. Liesl, Nicole, and Detective Kurt Hunter have previously put a killer behind bars. Now they must combine their skills and work together again to stop the plunder of local charities and solve the mystery of a Union soldier’s death. Can Liesl and Kurt work together again as friends, putting aside their former romance to solve these mysteries? ![]() Ellen Withers is an award winning fiction writer, freelance writer and retired insurance fraud investigator. Her professional writing career began in 2003, as a freelance contributor to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. She was editor of an international magazine, SIU Today, for insurance fraud investigators for ten years. She remains on their editorial committee. Ellen has written the monthly resident feature for Life in Chenal Magazine since 2006. Her non-fiction articles have been included in international, national and regional magazines. She’s a contributing columnist to Writers Monthly Magazine, an online guide for professional writers, on the subject of Writing for Contests. When not writing or reading, Ellen enjoys spending time with her family, traveling the world with her adventurous friends and performing with Top of the Rock Chorus, a Sweet Adeline chorus located in central Arkansas. Website: https://ellenewithers.com/ Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071728886831 Amazon profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BWZ1G7JS Instagram profile: https://instagram.com/lnwithers?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33215146.Ellen_E_Withers Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/ellen-e-withers?list=about
2 Comments
5/13/2024 08:30:05 am
Ellen's book sounds interesting. You may have learned about the Cherry Valley Massacre during the Revolutionary War. Cherry Valley is in the northern part of Otsego County. Communities along the Susquehanna River, including Otego, were wiped out at that time. British/French/Native American relationships were complicated.
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Susan Atkins
5/13/2024 05:54:27 pm
As a lifelong resident of Mexico, I am thrilled that our town is featured in these books. I loved book 1 and can’t wait for Show Me Deceit.
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