One of my earliest love affairs—at the tender age of six or so—was with the city of San Francisco. During the 1960s my mother would drive my brother, sister, and me over the Bay Bridge for dinner in Chinatown or fish-watching at Steinhart Aquarium or for a parade in North Beach. The City was magical, and no matter where I lived afterwards, I never lost my love for it.
Years after I fell in love with San Francisco, I also fell in love with its history. I’ve read up on the Gold Rush, Chinese immigration, the 1906 earthquake, Pan Pacific Expo history, and—thanks to my husband volunteering on The Rock for twenty years—Alcatraz Island.
But recently I’ve been more curious about San Francisco in the first months of 1919, a time just after the end of the world war and the almost-end of the Spanish influenza epidemic. I’ve been reading up on 1919 San Francisco because once again, I fell in love. This time the object of my affections is feisty globe-trotting vaudeville chanteuse Elsie Clark. (After inheriting Elsie’s newspaper-clipping-stuffed scrapbooks, photographs, playbills, sheet music, and recordings from my stepmother, how could I not fall in love with Elsie?)
Elsie’s fascinating life on the vaudeville stage inspired me to create the character of Viola Vermillion, vaudeville singer and the bodacious amateur sleuth of my upcoming mystery THE RED-HOT BLUES CHANTEUSE. Like Elsie, ambitious Viola dreams of making it to the vaudeville Big Time by headlining the Palace Theatre in New York City.
And since San Francisco was home to some of the most exuberant vaudeville theatres on the West Coast, I joyfully set Viola’s first murderous adventure there.
Once Viola and her troupe of travelling vaudevillians (Female impersonators! Chinese acrobats! Drunken dogs!) begin their two-week run at Market Street’s Pantages Theater, however, Viola’s life come to a dead stop: She discovers her piano player and lover Stu Wiley murdered in the Pantages balcony, killed by her own gun. To remain out of jail, Viola is forced to uncover Stu’s secret past life in San Francisco and figure out which one of his lies got him killed.
Viola’s not quite as innocent as she seems, and like her dead lover, she’s got secrets of her own. Like the encrypted notebook in her possession, which really belongs to the East Coast munitions tycoon who caused her sister’s death. Then there’s Viola’s surprising attraction to her hot new replacement piano player Jimmy Harrigan, who—unknown to Viola—is employed by the munitions tycoon and has been following her since the troupe performed in Seattle.
As Viola unravels multiple secrets, lies, and suspicions, she still holds tight to her dream of reaching the vaudeville Big Time. But to succeed at anything, first she needs to stay alive . . .
Viola’s not quite as innocent as she seems, and like her dead lover, she’s got secrets of her own. Like the encrypted notebook in her possession, which really belongs to the East Coast munitions tycoon who caused her sister’s death. Then there’s Viola’s surprising attraction to her hot new replacement piano player Jimmy Harrigan, who—unknown to Viola—is employed by the munitions tycoon and has been following her since the troupe performed in Seattle.
As Viola unravels multiple secrets, lies, and suspicions, she still holds tight to her dream of reaching the vaudeville Big Time. But to succeed at anything, first she needs to stay alive . . .
THE RED-HOT BLUES CHANTEUSE debuts on the historical mystery stage on Tuesday October 17th in ebook and paperback, and to paraphrase the vaudeville-inspired musical Gypsy, I hope you let THE RED-HOT BLUES CHANTEUSE entertain you.
***
Years after I fell in love with San Francisco, I also fell in love with its history. I’ve read up on the Gold Rush, Chinese immigration, the 1906 earthquake, Pan Pacific Expo history, and—thanks to my husband volunteering on The Rock for twenty years—Alcatraz Island.
But recently I’ve been more curious about San Francisco in the first months of 1919, a time just after the end of the world war and the almost-end of the Spanish influenza epidemic. I’ve been reading up on 1919 San Francisco because once again, I fell in love. This time the object of my affections is feisty globe-trotting vaudeville chanteuse Elsie Clark. (After inheriting Elsie’s newspaper-clipping-stuffed scrapbooks, photographs, playbills, sheet music, and recordings from my stepmother, how could I not fall in love with Elsie?)
Elsie’s fascinating life on the vaudeville stage inspired me to create the character of Viola Vermillion, vaudeville singer and the bodacious amateur sleuth of my upcoming mystery THE RED-HOT BLUES CHANTEUSE. Like Elsie, ambitious Viola dreams of making it to the vaudeville Big Time by headlining the Palace Theatre in New York City.
And since San Francisco was home to some of the most exuberant vaudeville theatres on the West Coast, I joyfully set Viola’s first murderous adventure there.
Once Viola and her troupe of travelling vaudevillians (Female impersonators! Chinese acrobats! Drunken dogs!) begin their two-week run at Market Street’s Pantages Theater, however, Viola’s life come to a dead stop: She discovers her piano player and lover Stu Wiley murdered in the Pantages balcony, killed by her own gun. To remain out of jail, Viola is forced to uncover Stu’s secret past life in San Francisco and figure out which one of his lies got him killed.
Viola’s not quite as innocent as she seems, and like her dead lover, she’s got secrets of her own. Like the encrypted notebook in her possession, which really belongs to the East Coast munitions tycoon who caused her sister’s death. Then there’s Viola’s surprising attraction to her hot new replacement piano player Jimmy Harrigan, who—unknown to Viola—is employed by the munitions tycoon and has been following her since the troupe performed in Seattle.
As Viola unravels multiple secrets, lies, and suspicions, she still holds tight to her dream of reaching the vaudeville Big Time. But to succeed at anything, first she needs to stay alive . . .
Viola’s not quite as innocent as she seems, and like her dead lover, she’s got secrets of her own. Like the encrypted notebook in her possession, which really belongs to the East Coast munitions tycoon who caused her sister’s death. Then there’s Viola’s surprising attraction to her hot new replacement piano player Jimmy Harrigan, who—unknown to Viola—is employed by the munitions tycoon and has been following her since the troupe performed in Seattle.
As Viola unravels multiple secrets, lies, and suspicions, she still holds tight to her dream of reaching the vaudeville Big Time. But to succeed at anything, first she needs to stay alive . . .
THE RED-HOT BLUES CHANTEUSE debuts on the historical mystery stage on Tuesday October 17th in ebook and paperback, and to paraphrase the vaudeville-inspired musical Gypsy, I hope you let THE RED-HOT BLUES CHANTEUSE entertain you.
***
Many years ago, Ana Brazil inherited the scrapbooks, recordings, and theatrical ephemera of vaudeville songstress Elsie Clark, and used this treasure trove to create Viola Vermillion, the smart, sassy, and bodacious vaudeville heroine of THE RED-HOT BLUES CHANTEUSE. Ana’s currently writing the second of her Viola Vermillion Vaudeville Mysteries, THE MAGNOLIA VOODOO BRAWLER.
Ana is a founding member of the Paper Lantern Writers historical fiction collective and lives with her husband and cat just across the bay from San Francisco.
1 comment:
How lucky to inherit all that original material! I know you'll make the most of it in your new story.
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