An Interview with Author Molly MacRae by E. B. Davis

 

When she’s not selling seashells by the North Carolina seashore from her shell shop, Maureen Nash is a crime-solving sleuth with a ghost pirate for a supernatural sidekick . . .

Maureen is still getting used to life on Ocracoke Island, learning how to play the “shell game” of her business—and ghost whispering with the spirit of Emrys Lloyd, the eighteenth-century Welsh pirate who haunts her shop, The Moon Shell. The spectral buccaneer has unburied a treasure hidden in the shop’s attic that turns out to be antique shell art stolen from Maureen’s late husband’s family years ago.

Victor “Shelly” Sullivan and his wife Lenrose visit the shop and specifically inquire about these rare items. Not only is it suspicious that this shell collector should arrive around the time Maureen found the art, but Emrys insists that Sullivan’s wife is an imposter because Lenrose is dead. A woman’s corpse the police have been unable to identify was discovered by the Fig Ladies, a group who formed an online fig appreciation society. They’re meeting on Ocracoke for the first time in person and count Lenrose among their number, so the woman can’t possibly be dead.

But Lenrose’s behavior doesn’t quite match the person the Fig Ladies interacted with online. Now, Maureen and Emrys—with assistance from the Fig Ladies—must prove the real Lenrose is dead and unmask her mysterious pretender before a desperate murderer strikes again . . .

Amazon.com

 

There’ll Be Shell To Pay is the second book in Molly MacRae’s Haunted Shell Shop mystery series. My interview with Molly on her first in this series, Come Shell Or High Water can be read here. Molly continues the adventures of main character, Maureen Nash, who became part of an amateur crime-solving team in the first book. They continue the investigation of another murder, but unbeknownst to the two other members of the team, there is another member who only Maureen (and it seems her children) can perceive—the ghost of an accidental pirate who haunts the shell shop.

 

The story takes place on Ocracoke Island, specifically in Ocracoke Village at its most southern tip. Because I live in nearby Hatteras Island, I not only can relate, but I also can verify many of the nuances Molly so effectively and accurately portrays.

 

Please welcome Molly, today’s WWK subject, as I interview her about the second book. We invite you to ask her questions in our comments section.

When Maureen gets off the ferry going from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island, (yes, there really is a ferry named Croatan) she experiences what her late husband described as the “Brigadoon” hypothesis. I can attest to this experience. In the Outer Banks, the National Park Service owns most of the beaches, and they are unreachable unless 4 Wheel driving. To get on the beach, most often, you must drive on a ramp (provided by NPS) up and over the dunes. When you crest the dune, you glimpse the ocean spread out before you—at its sight comes the “Brigadoon” moment. Molly, what is the “Brigadoon” hypothesis and what moments have you had?

 

The hypothesis (a made-up thing) is based on the classic musical, Brigadoon. In that story, an idyllic Scottish village appears out of the mists for only one day every 100 years. Maureen Nash’s late husband liked to think there are wonderful places like that in the real world, that they only appear as you approach them. Ocracoke Island has been like that for the Nash family who were only able to visit once a year at most. Ocracoke is like that for my family, too. So is Washington Island in Lake Michigan.

 

I never heard of a superstition about traveling on Mondays. What’s with that?

 

Dr. Irving Allred probably twisted a few superstitions together or read something in a book or online and forgot to note exactly where. He tells people that if you start a journey or vacation on a Monday you’ll drag all your bad luck along with you. There are Irish superstitions that caution against going into new situations on Mondays. Allred might have extrapolated from that.

 

Are there valuable shells?

 

Oh sure, though not in the same league as gems and jewels. The value depends on a number of things – size, scarcity, condition, etc. Glory of the Sea cone shells (Conus gloriamaris), were once thought to be the rarest shells in the world. In past centuries they sold for thousands of dollars. They have beautiful markings, like hieroglyphs, and grow to be just over 6 inches long. Only since diving technology improved, with scuba gear, has their habitat been discovered. They only live in deep water off the Philippines. They aren’t as rare as once thought, but they’re still valuable. They might sell for as much as $600, though they can also be found for less.

 

Why is it that I only like the other two members of her sleuth group, elderly brother and sister, Glady and Burt Weaver, sometimes? They don’t really seem like friends of Maureen because half the time they include her on the suspect list. Don’t friends believe in one another?

 

Glady and Burt are eccentric. And, to be fair, Maureen had suspicions about them in Come Shell or High Water. The three of them have only known each other for a few weeks. Considering all they’ve been through, in that short amount of time, they’re getting along pretty well.

 

The building housing The Moon Shell is actually owned by Glady and Burt. Maureen half suspects that they might sell the building out from under her. Why won’t they give her a long-term lease? I feel badly for Maureen inheriting a business without the building.

 

Maureen probably only one-quarter suspects they’ll sell the building out from under her. The shop has been there since at least the early seventies, though, and apparently there’s never been a lease. Plus, Maureen is trying out this new life. She might decide it isn’t for her and move back to Tennessee.

 

While Maureen was back in Tennessee packing up her possessions to move, Glady mounted a stuffed seagull from the ceiling in the shop where it peers at everyone. Why did she do that? What’s the gull’s name and why?

Glady thinks the seagull is perfect décor for an island shell shop. It’s also appropriate because it belonged to her mother, and the shell shop is in the house where Glady and Burt grew up. Their mother named the seagull Mrs. Bundy, after the ornithologist in the movie The Birds.

 

I know all of the shells you name except for an oyster drill. What’s that? Do you have a picture? It sounds like a bird, not a shell.

 

Oyster Drills, also known as American Whelk-tingles, are predatory sea snails found from Nova Scotia, in Canada, to Nassau Sound in Florida. They drill through the shells of oysters and eat them. Large numbers of them can wreck oyster and clam beds. Here’s a nice photo of an Atlantic Oyster Drill at WORMS, the World Register of Marine Species.

 

I was surprised that the shop carried shells that weren’t native to Ocracoke. Why have a Philippine Nautilus shell?

 

Dottie Withrow, the woman who started the shell shop, traveled the world with her diplomat husband. She collected shells wherever she went and stocked her shop with them. Her son, Allen, from whom Maureen inherited the shop, carried on the tradition of selling shells from around the world. He didn’t necessarily come by his stock honestly.

 

What is susurrus? I guess you really can’t hear the ocean if you listen for it inside a shell. But then, who would believe a word like susurrus?

 

A susurrus is a whispering or rustling sound. It’s an onomatopoeia—it sounds like what it is. It can be the whispering of leaves, or the sound of the sea’s gentle waves, or of ghosts gossiping in your attic.

 

Maureen’s cat, who came with the shop, is named Bonny after pirate Anne Bonny. Who was she?

 

Anne Bonny, an Irishwoman born in 1697, was one of the few known female pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy. She sailed with Jack Rackham, also known as Calico Jack.

 

I thought bear paws were a pastry made with almond paste. What are bear paws candies?

 

Bear paws are like turtle candies—a mounded patty of caramel and nuts covered in chocolate. Bear paws are bigger, though, and have some of the nuts stuck along one edge to look like a bear’s claws. Cashews are especially effective.

 

Glady and Burt tell Maureen about a woman’s body being found near the inlet. They also tell her of a couple who came into the shop looking for the former owner, who was murdered. Glady broke the news to them. They introduced themselves as Shelly and Lenrose Sullivan. When Maureen meets them a few days later, they seem very interested in shell art, which was the property of Maureen’s husband’s family. Why does this make Maureen suspicious of them?

 

Very few people know about the shell art. Allen Withrow, the previous owner of the shell shop, stole the art along with a valuable shell collection. Now here comes Shelly Sullivan telling Maureen he and Allen did business together and asking somewhat vague questions that might be about the art and the collection. Maureen is being careful as much as she’s being suspicious.

 

The history you present on William Howard, Blackbeard’s quartermaster is true. He was able to live when the other pirates were hanged, and came back to live on Ocracoke. (Some say his spirit is alive and pillaging tourists due to the prices charged at Howard’s Pub.) Have you gone through the graveyards on Howard St., which date all the way back to William?

 

I have. They’re wonderful. The oldest grave on Howard Street is that of William’s grandson, William III, who died in 1823.

 

Maybe because Maureen is the mother of two twenty-something young men, she gets along well with Deputy Matt Kincaid, and he seems to trust her. Tell our readers about him.

 

He’s a happy, eager guy. The kind of young man who jumps right in to help in any situation. After Hurricane Electra he got up on his grandparents’ roof to repair it, fell off, and broke his femur. He’s somewhat clumsy with his crutches—the way a bouncy young golden retriever might be.

 

What is sea shell folklore? What is shell art?

 

Shells have held significance in cultures at least since the stone age. Shell folktales are found all over the world. Here’s The Carabao and the Shell, a Philippine folktale.

 

Shellwork was a popular craft as far back as the 17^th century when European traders started bringing exotic shells home from faraway places. Crafters stuck shells on sewing boxes, jewelry boxes, picture frames, miniature sets of drawers, etc. They created miniature grottos out of shells and put creatures in them made of shells. Shells lend themselves to floral designs and artists created floral pictures out of them or floral bouquets they displayed in glass jars. As early as 1703 advertisements offering classes in shellwork appeared in newspapers. As you can imagine, antique shellwork can be quite valuable. Here are some pictures of 19^th century shellwork.

 

Did Edgar Allan Poe really write text books? One on shell species?

 

He only wrote one, as far as I know. He wrote The Conchologist’s First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given with the Shells, A Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science. His work is a revised and updated edition of an earlier work. It’s the only book of his to go into a second printing in his lifetime. Some people accused him of plagiarizing the first book. He didn’t. He had a contract to revise and update the original. He did it because he needed the money. You can see the book here and download a digitized copy. It has nice illustrations.

 

Maureen finds out where the body was located, but when she does, she finds Emrys stuck in a loop at the site. How does Maureen get Emrys out of the loop so he can come back home to the shop?

 

She carefully wraps the moon shell—the large shell Emrys carved for his wife—and takes it to him, hoping he’ll see it and snap out of the loop. A loop is a pattern of repetition that some ghosts get stuck in.

 

I never heard that the inlet waters were tannin-stained. Where did that come from and why would they be?

 

The tannins come from rotting organic matter in the water—leaves, reeds, etc. The waters aren’t darkly stained. They look like weak tea rather than coffee.

 

Shelly Sullivan doesn’t value women. He wants to buy high-end shells from the shop’s owner, who he assumes is a man and Maureen just the shop girl. How did Maureen keep her cool?

 

She draws on her library training. Librarians rarely smack people.

 

I loved when Emrys quotes Shakespeare, Arthur Ashe, and Walt Whitman. They’re so good! Where do you find applicable quotes?

 

Emrys has me keep an eye out for quotes he might like.

 

Is the caveman mask experiment real?

 

Yes! Isn’t that cool? Here’s an article about in Science Advisor.

 

There so much backstory to tie up. There’s Maureen’s quest to find shell suppliers and delve into the boxes hidden by the former owner, Emry’s future, and whatever Maureen will do with the Sound front lot she inherited. What’s next for Maureen and Emrys?

 

I’ve just finished writing book 3, All Shell Breaks Loose. Tourist Martha Lee Wyatt-Beckington and her dog find an antique sword in the marsh. She picks it up and puts it in her car trunk. Later that morning she stops in the Moon Shell where Glady and Burt are telling Maureen what Irving Allred is crowing about—he’s buying a haunted pirate sword. Martha Lee mentions the sword she found and brings it in to show them. They, and Emrys, the ghost who haunts the shop, look at the sword and see what appears to be a bloodstain. Emrys also sees a ghost. Is this the sword Allred is buying? Is this new ghost a real bloody pirate? When Maureen and Martha Lee find a dead man not far from where she and her dog found the sword, all shell breaks loose.