Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Spotlight: FLOATS THE DARK SHADOW & BITTER DRAUGHTS by Yves Fey

 


Floats the Dark Shadow Excerpt:

 

Paris, Spring 1897:

There was a man in the rue de la Mire—not really a street, but a long set of stairs descending the hillside, narrow as an alleyway. Theo stopped and watched him for a moment, not sure why he had captured her attention. He did not look at all like a bum or a ruffian, but neither was he a workman or businessman going about an errand. He was exploring. But why? She liked his attentiveness, however mysterious, and the way he moved, with economy and grace.

Almost instantly, he was aware of her watching and turned. He paused then climbed the steps toward her. “Bonjour, mademoiselle,” he said, stopping in front of her. His manner was serious, his voice low and quiet. “I’m Inspecteur Devaux of the Sûreté.”

“What are you investigating?”

“The disappearance of Denis Armand.”

“Ah, yes,” she said, feeling the sadness of that loss take hold of her again. She remembered how sweet the little boy was and how grief-stricken his mother had been. She had helped organize one of the many searches for him. “Is there any news?”

“No, I am looking at his neighborhood again. He would have used this passage on the night he disappeared.”

The other policeman she’d talked with had not told her that. Theo was appalled that Denis might have been taken right beside where she lived. There were bushes to one side where a kidnapper might lurk. She shivered.

The detective perused a list. “You are Mademoiselle Theodora Faraday, the American?”

Theo nodded. “Is it so apparent?”

“Your French is excellent. You simply look more like an American than a Frenchwoman,” he replied. “I saw the drawing you gave the police here. It was skillful.”

“Thank you,” she said, “but it was not much of a likeness—so small. His mother was the centerpiece.”

He nodded. “Still, it is good to have anything like that during an investigation.”

She thought back. “He has been missing over a month now.”

“I do not expect to find him alive,” the detective said bluntly.

 “Do you expect to find him at all?” Theo prickled—but she did not think Denis was alive, either. There was a kind of emptiness around his name now.

He shook his head.  “I doubt it.”

Theo felt a chill of premonition. “Has another child disappeared?

 

 


Bitter Draughts Excerpt:

Paris, Winter 1898:

The bell above the café door jangled as Saul Balsam entered. Michel beckoned him to join them. Although Balsam was an astute and ambitious reporter, he had a quiet mien. Behind the round glasses, his gaze was both searching and soulful. He was easy to like, a helpful attribute in a reporter, especially for a Jew many would feel obligated to dislike on principal.

“Who is your friend, Inspecteur Devaux?” Balsam asked.

Zeb lifted an eyebrow, letting Michel choose what to disclose.

“Monsieur Saul Balsam, this is Monsieur Zebadiah Jones. We knew each other in the Legion.” Michel decided that a brief truth was better than prevarication where Balsam was concerned. Frenchmen were not supposed to join the Foreign Legion, but many lied their way in, for as many reasons as there were men. The information obviously piqued Balsam’s curiosity further, so Michel added a warning. “I don’t want to see that in the paper the next time I arrest an anarchist.”

“It would add both grit and glamour to the portrait of a heroic officer,” Balsam suggested.

“More grit than glamour,” Michel countered. He supposed Balsam couldn’t resist trying to coax more information from him.

When Balsam sat down, Zeb rose. “I’ll leave you alone.”

“No, stay please,” Balsam said. “It strikes me that the perspective of a Negro on the Dreyfus troubles could be fascinating, having endured prejudice yourself.”

“As long as I remain nameless.” Zeb grinned, teeth gleaming. Michel recognized it as a warning.

“As you wish,” Balsam agreed, used to dealing with secrets. “Tell us your thoughts.”

“Anti-Semitism is rampant in Algiers, both on the Right and the Left,” Zeb said. “The French rulers consider Jews indigenous like the Arabs, and so inferior. The Arabs think the Jews hold themselves apart and resent what little wealth they possess.”

“And the soldiers?” Balsam asked Zeb.

“Within the Army, the hatred is intensified because of Dreyfus. Most of the officers think the man guilty because he is a Jew. Half the men agree. The other half suspect the Army’s serving up a tasty scapegoat.”

“A banquet of blame.” Balsam agreed. “Your French is very good—but there is an exotic hint. Are you from Martinique?”

“Martinique?” Zeb repeated without clarifying his origins.

Michel was surprised Zeb did not volunteer his anonymat. Legionnaires invented histories to disguise their identity, or to give themselves flair. Michel’s own sins had been too raw, too dark for him to disclose, much less embellish. Zeb had decorated himself in a story he recited with ease, but Michel had seen the darkness buried within.

 

 

TELL US ABOUT YOUR TWO BOOKS AND WHAT MAKES THEM UNIQUE.

Most people love the art of the Belle Époque, but not a lot of books are set there, even fewer mysteries. In Floats the Dark shadow, my young American artist, Theodora Faraday, joins forces with my French detective, Michel Devaux, to search for children who’ve vanished mysteriously. They’re at odds at first, of course, but finally work in tandem. I’ve got artists, poets, psychics, criminals and courtesans adding to the drama, as well as my horrifying copycat killer who believes he’s the reincarnation of Gilles de Rais, who was once Jeanne d’Arc’s lieutenant.

Bitter Draughts takes place during the uproar of the Dreyfus Affair, and the whole political frame job, cover up, and radical division of the populace is frighteningly relevant. Michel is investigating the murder of an editor which appears to be politically motivated but may well be a crime of passion, and must question his own motives and passions as he tries to solve the crimes as they unfold. Bitter Draughts is a thriller rather than a mystery. It’s a why done it and a will they do it again tale.

 

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THESE BOOKS?

I’ve been in love with Paris ever since I was a little girl. It always seemed so romantic and the language was very beautiful to my ears. Before I wrote my historical mysteries I wrote historical romance. I wanted to set one in Paris but was informed that Paris wasn’t romantic. I was also told that Italy wasn’t romantic. I was supposed to write Regency (before you were allowed to write sexy Regency), Scotland, the American West or Medieval.

When I decided to write mystery instead I immediately went to Paris. I wanted something in the era of the Impressionists or Post-Impressionists as much of my favorite art is from that era. I wanted my heroine to be an artist. I actually spent quite a while with the wrong character, who insisted she was a journalist. I lost that argument. It was finding Gilles de Rais as my villain that pulled it all together. He was a really terrifying model for a copycat killer, and he’d been written about by a famous decadent author of the period. That gave me a link between my artists and poets and my detective.

 

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CHARACTERS IN YOUR STORIES?

Identity is a major theme throughout the trilogy. Theo doesn’t suffer from the self-loathing some of the other main characters suffer from, but she is trying to become more Parisian, to become part of this new world, to discover who she is as an artist. She’s never had the family she wanted either in America or in France, so the art world and the world of her cousin Averill’s poets are her new home. She’s very self-sufficient and optimistic, but she still has a deep longing to belong.

Michel suffers from terrible guilt about his past and is trying to make restitution. He’s very intense but tries to bury his passionate nature. As a detective he’s competent, very astute about others, but very constrained and cautious. Leaving his rebellious past behind, I think his creed is now “First do no harm” a difficult doctrine for a cop. Devoting himself to his career, he’s lived almost like a hermit for 15 years, without admitting how much he’s punishing himself. In different ways, Lilias, Theo, the charming criminal Dancier, and his new partner Rambert, all have a hand in breaking down his barriers.

 

WHAT DRIVES THE CHARACTERS IN YOUR STORIES? 

In Floats the Dark Shadow, Theo is driven to try to discover the identity of the killer because she doesn’t want to believe it could be one of her poet friends, The Revenants, especially not Averill. In Bitter Draughts, she’s very focused on her first gallery show but also must once again face a terrible betrayal by a friend. And she must also deal with her new feelings for Michel, and whether giving into her heart will destroy her career.

In the first book, Michel is tormented by guilt, but is taking the first steps toward friendship and the possibility of forgiveness and love. In Bitter Draughts the murders he’s investigating force him to come to terms with his own past of vengeance and grief.

 

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS A PIVOTAL SCENE IN EACH BOOK AND WHY?

I thought about some of the big dramatic scenes, which were all important emotionally as well. There’s a Black Mass in Floats the Dark Shadow where one character gets arrested that’s very significant. But for pivotal I decided on two emotional turning points in quieter moments. In Floats the Dark Shadow, there’s a scene where my poet, Averill, kisses his male lover knowing Theo is watching. Averill believes he’s not good enough for Theo, so he deliberately breaks her heart and his own dream of happiness with her. There’s a chapter in Bitter Draughts where Michel’s lover, the courtesan Lilias, breaks up with him. She’s seen him with Theo and realizes he’s falling in love with her before he does. She’s in love with Michel but she is not a woman to be put aside, so she ends the affair. Michel is stunned by her decision and it’s the moment when he truly begins to question his own emotions.

 

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MAIN DRAW FOR YOUR BOOKS AND WHY WOULD READERS WANT TO BUY IT?

Paris at the turn of the century was the most exciting place in the world. I try very hard to capture both the darkness and the light of the era. Floats the Dark Shadow has much about the poets, artists, and the occult movement in the first book—lots of very colorful characters. For the political scene, the first book looks back on the hero’s history with the commune and the radical movement in Paris. Bitter Draughts takes place during the violent furor during the Dreyfus Affair but keep the artistic and occult threads in play.

 

WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN WRITING THESE BOOKS AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO OVERCOME IT?

When I wrote Floats the Dark Shadow, my hero, Michel, refused to talk to me for weeks. He’s intensely private and didn’t want me to tell his story. It wasn’t a case of my not knowing about his past, but of his refusing to participate in the novel I was trying to write about his present. This may sound crazy to anyone who isn’t a writer, but we have to collaborate with our characters. He finally stopped fighting.

Other problems with Shadow—writing about the charity bazaar fire was very difficult. Writing effective action is always troublesome, especially when it’s such a devastating event. I also had to make it significantly different from the dramatic scene in the book where I first read about it, so it was a double challenge.

Bitter Draughts came into being when I realized that the Dreyfus Affair might well be going on during Floats the Dark Shadow. Entirely by chance, I’d chosen the 9 months or so after his conviction and before Zola’s accusation of a cover-up by the Army. Knowing how important it was, and that the French weren’t discussing much else, I decided that’s when I ‘d set the second book. Easy, right? Hah! I loved reading about the Dreyfus Affair and found it fascinating, but trying to write political conflict was a challenge. I was much more comfortable with my artists and poets, my psychics and even my serial killer. I was also interweaving several plot lines with various forms of prejudice playing off against each other. I finally took out my favorite sub-plot and decreed it would become the third of the trilogy. With that decision, Bitter Draughts became much more compact and the focus on Michel’s story came to the fore.

 

WHAT CRITERIA DID YOU USE WHEN SELECTING THE COVERS FOR YOUR BOOKS?

I’m an artist, but not skilled enough to do the realistic cover I wanted for Floats the Dark Shadow. I did look at paintings of the era, of course, but didn’t find any that evoked the story. I actually envisioned a cover that looked exactly like the spooky photograph that I found, by Michel Colson. It’s a stairway in Montmartre, the setting of much of the book, and there are two shadowy figures at the top. After an endless hunt to find it again, I was able to buy the photo from Michel, who was both a photographer and an artist—and a tour guide for me when I returned to Paris. He knew all sorts of great nooks and crannies and great bits of history.

Having chosen a photograph for the first book, I wanted the others to have a similar feel. I had some possible photographs of beautiful tombs picked out for the second book because there was to be a big scene in Père Lachaise cemetery. But that scene got moved to the third book—along with the original title, A Harmony of Hells and the cover. I had to come up with both a new title and a new cover. I found Alexandre Dumas’ quote about revenge for the title. I tried many cover images and finally chose the gargoyles because they evoke Paris and have a creepy feel that suits the dark themes of the book. The photograph I wanted had a great composition for the placement of the title, but I only had a low resolution photo. I tried several other gargoyle photos none of which worked as well. Finally, I found a better resolution of my favorite image. I used a variation of the same color palette of black, white, and teal. The lettering is an authentic Art Nouveau font, Trinigan.

WAS THERE A MESSAGE IN YOUR BOOKS THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO CONVEY? IF SO, WHAT?

I think both books are about the search for identity, about being true to yourself, insofar as that’s a message. Bitter Draughts, and the upcoming sequel, A Harmony of Hells, both deal with prejudice as well. There’s the direct plot link to the anti-Semitism of the Dreyfus Affair, but also the misogyny that Theo faces as a woman artist and the general scorn for the feminist movement. Averill deals with homophobia. Sex between men wasn’t illegal in France, but they were often arrested on lesser charges then given punitive sentences. Since my character Zeb is black, I look at the relative lack of prejudice in France against Blacks in that era.

 

WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE TO ACTUALLY LIVE IN THE SETTING OF THESE BOOKS? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT IT?

If you’ve seen Midnight in Paris, you know that the time-traveling hero has a chance to stay in the Paris of my era with his new found romance. The woman is going to stay in Maxim’s with Toulouse-Lautrec and can’t believe the hero wants to return to the 20s, the era where he found her. I was, of course, urging him to stay there with her. There were horrible things then too, but my favorite books and paintings are predominantly late 19th-century and early 20th-century. I think I’d feel right at home.

 

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR NEW WRITERS?

Write what you love. It’s too hard to second guess the market.

 

DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR WEBSITE READERS CAN VISIT FOR UPDATES, EVENTS AND SPECIAL OFFERS?

I have a gorgeous website with lots of great pages of the history and art of the era. There’s more about the characters, but also more about women artists, the Paris Commune, a page about Absinthe. Lots of interesting topics. I also have some wonderful trailers.

 

           

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