Something cool I've been working on:
If you haven't already heard, I'm running a Kickstarter campaign leading up to the end of the 1920s Ginger Gold mystery series. When Norm and I were playing around with our podcast over the winter, I realized how much textual historical backdrop ran underneath the murder mysteries, much of which I'd forgotten as I progress through the series.
Linking those podcast episodes to blog posts sparked an idea: why not create a companion book? It will cover the specific historical backdrop and context for every story, starting with Murder on the SS Rosa and running all the way through to the 32nd and final book, Murder at Christmastide.
The Companion book will only be offered as part of my Kickstarter Campaign, at least for the first year, so be sure to follow so you don't miss out on any news.
What the entries will be like:
Each section will begin with the book's original blurb to jog your memory, followed by personal anecdotes about what was going on in my life while writing it, along with a few fun things I learned along the way. After that, I’ll dive into the historical backdrop—starting with details like the artwork below, which appears in several early Ginger Gold mysteries and holds special significance for Ginger.
Between Seduction and Surrender: John William Waterhouse’s The Mermaid and Destiny
John William Waterhouse spent his career lingering at the edge of myth, emotion, and inevitability. Though often grouped with the Pre-Raphaelites, he belonged just as much to a later, more introspective moment—one that understood beauty not as promise, but as warning. Nowhere is this clearer than in two of his most evocative works: The Mermaid (1900) and Destiny (1900).
Painted in the same year, these works feel less like separate canvases and more like companion pieces—meditations on desire and consequence, choice and fate, the moment before something irreversible occurs.
The Mermaid: The Lure That Knows Its Power
In The Mermaid, Waterhouse gives us a creature poised between worlds. She sits upon a rock at the water’s edge, her body turned slightly away, her gaze angled downward as she combs her long hair. The sea behind her is calm but not benign; it is deep, endless, and full of implication.
This is not the grotesque siren of medieval imagination. Waterhouse’s mermaid is human—youthful, introspective, and quietly aware of her own allure. Her expression is not triumphant, nor overtly seductive. Instead, it is thoughtful, almost melancholy.
In the world of Ginger Gold, this painting hangs above the fireplace in her sitting room. It was gift from the father to her mother before her passing. The long red hair one of the many attributes that George Hartigan must've admired in his wife. This painting for Ginger bring feelings of fondness and longing for a mother lost when she was still a nursing babe.
Destiny: The Moment When Choice Ends
If The Mermaid is about allure, Destiny is about aftermath—or perhaps inevitability.
Painted in 1900, Destiny by John William Waterhouse is a classic Pre-Raphaelite style artwork created specifically to be auctioned for the Artists’ War Fund to support troops during the Boer War.
A young woman in a crimson red dress tied with a purple sash stands in profile. Her intense, focused expression conveys anxiety and anticipation as she raises a vibrant blue ceramic bowl to her lips.
In the world of Ginger Gold, this painting belongs to Basil, a reminder of the complexities of his first, estranged wife. It's causes complex emotions for Ginger.
A Waterhouse Truth: The most dangerous moments in life rarely announce themselves with thunderous applause. They arrive quiet, reflective, and almost tender.
A woman combs her hair on a lonely rock. A woman raises a glass to a reflection in a mirror. And in a single heartbeat, everything changes.