Catching Up with V. M. Burns By E. B. Davis

  

Nana Jo has volunteered her lawyer granddaughter, Jenna, to teach estate planning to retirees—with Sam providing her bookshop as the venue. But during the seminar, entitled Getting Your Ducks in Order, it quickly becomes clear someone’s up to Fowl Play. When elderly Alva Tarkington, accompanied by her niece, sits down for a consultation, Sam realizes the woman’s frequent blinking is actually Morse Code—S.O.S. The sisters get her alone, and Alva tells them she believes her life is in danger and must change her will . . .

 

Unfortunately, Alva is found dead the next day—seemingly from natural causes. But Nana Jo and the sisters suspect otherwise. In between penning her latest historical mystery, set in 1939 as England declares war on Germany and Lady Elizabeth Marsh pursues stolen paintings and a traitor, Sam teams up with the senior sleuths of Shady Acres to search for motives—beginning with Alva’s family. They soon learn not everyone is who they say they are, and someone is more than qualified to teach a class on cold-blooded murder . . .

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Does main character Sam Washington solve mysteries in her fiction that apply to her current case? Or does she work out the mystery and put the solution into her fiction? I think only V. M. Burns, the author of Murder from A to Z knows the answer to that question. This novel is the eleventh in the Mystery Bookshop mystery series, and was released on January 27^th. It’s definitely a fun read!

 

Please welcome Valerie to WWK.                                                               E. B. Davis

   

Where is Sam’s and Jenna’s mother? Grace Robertson, Sam and Jenna’s mother, has been in Australia with her husband, Harold. After wildfires devastated the koala population, Grace and Harold moved to Australia to assist with koala rescues.

 

Sam says that Nana Jo volun-told her to host Jenna’s “Getting Your Ducks in a Row” course in her bookshop. Does Nana Jo have other tasks she volun-tells Jenna and Sam for? Nana Jo has volunteered her granddaughters for various tasks. Sam and Jenna are adults, and could decline, but they love and respect their grandmother. So, while they may not have initially wanted to do whatever tasks she has for them, they are willing to do it out of love. Fortunately, Nana Jo loves her granddaughters and never volunteers them for anything they would hate. 

 

Jenna seems to be having a hard time with empty-nest syndrome. Did the twins live at home during their college years? The twins, Christopher and Zaq did not live at home during their college years, but they were close, and she saw them much more frequently. Now that they’ve graduated, they have moved further away and visits aren’t nearly as frequent.

 

Do the “A” and “Z” in your title referring to the victim and her twin sister, Alva and Zelda? Yes. That’s where I got the idea for the title.

 

Does Sam identify with Lady Elizabeth? There are a number of similarities between Samantha and Lady Elizabeth. Neither woman had children of their own. Both are intelligent and strong. Both are excellent leaders. And both are great at solving mysteries. 

 

What was the Night of Broken Glass? The Night of Broken Glass or Kristallnacht, occurred on November 9-10, 1938 in Germany and Austria. Jewish business, homes, hospitals, and schools were ransacked and destroyed. The attacks were retaliation for the assassination of a German diplomat by a 17-year-old Polish Jew who was living in Paris. Over 7,000 Jewish businesses were damaged or destroyed. The episode is referred to as the “Night of Broken Glass” because of shards of broken glass that littered the streets.     

 

What is a Fifth Columnist? Fifth Columnist are people who sympathize with a country’s enemy and work from within to sabotage and undermine a nation. This was a large fear during WWII. In England, there were many people with ties or connections to Germany and other Axis nations. After Pearl Harbor, fear that Japanese Americans would provide critical information to Japan resulted in the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

 

Was Paul Klee real?  Paul Klee was a German artist born in 1879 in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland. Klee was a modernist and was known for his use of color. Hitler objected to modern art. Klee and other modern artists’ works were labeled by the Nazis as “degenerate” and were banned (and in some cases destroyed) in 1937.  

 

The Marsh family sponsored three Jewish children, who now live with them, from the Kindertransport. Was this common? The Kindertransport or Children’s Transport, was an organized effort to rescue children, primarily Jewish children, from Nazi occupied areas between 1938-1939. More than 10,000 children were taken to the United Kingdom. Belgium, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands also took children, but the vast majority of children went to the U.K. The Marsh family are wealthy aristocrats who live in the country. They had the space, the staff, and the resources to care for the children.

 

Although only one young woman, Isabella, seems to mourn Alva’s death, she also has more than one reason to have murdered Alva. Why would Sam offer her a place to stay? Sam was touched by Isabella’s grief. She seemed to be the only person genuinely mourning Alva. Yet Isabella is also the person who is being taunted and harassed. Alva trusted Isabella and despite the circumstances, Sam was willing to trust her, too.

 

After Sam and Nana Jo interest the police in Alva’s death, the police find that arsenic killed her. From her research, Sam suspects the wallpaper in Alva’s bedroom was Scheele’s Green, a historic wallpaper, which was made with arsenic. Is this true? How did they find out about the arsenic and its poisonous effects? Sadly, this is true. Scheele’s Green was popular in the 18^th and early 19^th century. The vibrant color was made with an arsenic-based pigment. In the 19^th century, arsenic (in small doses) wasn’t considered lethal and was used in food, medicine, face powder, paints, and wallpaper. The vibrant colored wallpaper was often used in nurseries. High mortality rates in nurseries were troubling to 19^th century scientists. They believed flaking pieces of the wallpaper may have been consumed by small children. Fireplaces may have also combined with the arsenic to create a toxic gas. Hard to believe that the people knew that the wallpaper contained arsenic and did nothing?  Coca Cola used to contain cocaine.

If Nana Jo is a grizzly, and Jenna is a lioness, what animal is Sam? Sam is more of a golden retriever. She is friendly, good natured, and fun-loving. She is intelligent, calm, a quick learner, and she gets along with just about everyone. She isn’t known for aggression, but will do what she has to in order to protect those she loves.

 

Was Isabella’s necklace an Egyptian artifact that was given to her illegally? Isabella’s necklace was an Egyptian artifact. It was more than likely given to her illegally, although there is a slim possibility that it wasn’t. Years ago, archeologists often removed artifacts from dig sites. The practice was made illegal in Egypt in 1983.

 

Is there still missing art from WWII? YES. There is still a great deal of art that has been missing since WWII. Some art was stolen from museums, churches, and institutions. Other art and valuable objects were stolen from private collections and homes.

 

Who or what is John Wick? LOL – John Wick is the title character in an action/thriller. Wick is a former hitman who comes out of retirement to get revenge against the underworld thugs who kill his dog. Keanu Reeves plays the main character.

 

Did Winston Churchill really say, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”? (Loc 2932) Winston Churchill is attributed with making a similar quote, although it is believed that the word “appeaser” was added in the 1950s. On January 20, 1940, Winston Churchill gave a speech that was broadcast over the BBC. The New York Times reprinted the speech the next day. Referring to nations that remained neutral during the war, Churchill said, “Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last.” There was also a metaphor about a storm, which was confusing and eliminated in future publications of Churchill quotes.

 

Sam gets flashes of insight, and then loses the connection before making a realization. Why the lost connection? Too much information? Samantha and I share a lot of character traits. Sadly, one of them is getting a flash of insight, an idea, or a thought. But, within moments, it’s gone. Generally, if I stop trying to grab hold of the idea, it comes back.

 

Was the 2010 case of Cornelius Gurlitt real? Yes. Cornelius Gurlitt was the son of Hildebrand Gurlitt, an art dealer for the Third Reich. Art that wasn’t stolen was bought at ridiculously low prices from Jews. Cornelius Gurlitt was a recluse living in Munich, who was found to have had over 1,300 pieces of looted art in his Munich apartment that he inherited from his father, Hildebrand.  

 

Sam works on a notepad, do you? Sometimes. Most of the time, I write on my laptop. However, when I am away from home, I find that I’m more productive writing in a notebook.

 

What’s next for Sam, Jenna, Nana Jo and the rest of Nana Jo’s friends at the Shady Acres Retirement Village? Sam and Frank are finally going to tie the knot in the 12^th installment of the series. The working title is, A Prologue to Murder.