Why Did She Skip Woodstock? by Kay Kendall
Why
Did She Skip Woodstock?
By
Kay Kendall
Historical
mysteries provide a way for readers to refresh their knowledge of a time
period, or learn about it in the first place. The 1960s gave rise to issues
that are still relevant today, and in my Austin Starr mystery series I try not
only to entertain but also to give gentle
history lessons.
Rainy
Day Women, new this month, takes place the second
week of August in 1969. If you were a young adult or older back then, you are
sure to remember some of the week’s highlights. Headlines all across the
continent shrieked about the sensational murders in Los Angeles of pregnant
actress Sharon Tate and four of her friends, although Charles Manson and his
gang had yet to be fingered. Apollo 12 astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and
Collins were back on Earth and cleared by NASA to rejoin their families. Lovers
of rock music throughout the northeastern states were looking forward to a big
outdoor concert scheduled for the coming weekend—posters called it the
Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
My
amateur sleuth Austin Starr, however, is only dimly aware of all this. Her new
baby is only three months old. She is sleep-deprived and barely learning to
adjust her life to heavy new demands. That is when a phone call sends her
scurrying thousands of miles to help find a killer. Her dear friend Larissa is
suspected of murdering women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Then her former CIA trainer warns that an
old enemy has contracted a hit on her. Her anxious husband demands that she
give up her quest and fly back to him. Austin must decide how much to risk when
tracking the killer puts her and her baby's life in danger.
I set my
second mystery against the backdrop of women’s liberation because I myself was
involved in what has become known as second-wave feminism. My participation
changed my life, as it did for countless others, and the ripples from those
changes are still spreading, and the rightful place of women in society remains
a point of much contention. My character Austin Starr knows very little about
the movement, but as she questions members of the dead woman’s group, she finds
herself fascinated with the new ideas she hears.
Even though Austin’s young husband is an
anti-war activist, she herself is not a radical. I wanted her story to be
accessible to anyone today, of whatever political persuasion, and I explore what life was like for a typical young woman—not a headline
maker, not a Hanoi Jane or Angela Davis, but a moderate who nonetheless gets swept
up by history's tides during the turbulent sixties. All that turmoil lends
itself to drama, intrigue, and murder.
I
don’t think this is a true spoiler when I divulge that the very day Austin
discovers the murderer is the same day it rained hardest at the Woodstock
festival. Later she decides she has no regrets at missing the event, saying, “I
never liked mud very much anyway.”
*******
BUY LINKS—
http://www.stairwaypress.com/bookstore/rainy-day-women/ Free shipping, worldwide!
Kudos for RAINY
DAY WOMEN:
Austin Starr is at it again, tackling a mystery in the heady days
of budding feminism. But this time around she has to juggle her
investigation with a new baby. A totally absorbing book. ~~Terry
Shames, award-winning author of A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge
Kendall's crackerjack amateur-sleuth novel, set in the
days of Mad Men, reminds
you how much has changed since then, but also that the rules for writing a
knockout mystery remain the same: compelling characters, vivid setting,
absorbing story. ~~Timothy Hallinan, award-winning author of the Poke Rafferty
Bangkok thrillers and the Junior Bender mysteries
Kendall paints a vivid portrait of the times –
everything from macramé purses to bell bottoms and beads – but it’s
her protagonist who wins our hearts in a mystery that explores issues as timely
today as they were for the Woodstock generation. Highly recommended. ~~Lynne
Raimondo, author of the Mark
Angelotti crime novels, Dante's Wood, Dante's Poison,
and Dante's Dilemma
Vivid detail of the 1960s and a clever plot make Rainy Day
Woman an outstanding follow-up to Kay Kendall’s strong debut, Desolation
Row. Austin Starr is a memorable protagonist, and Kendall’s skill at
crafting a compelling mystery kept me turning the pages! ~~Robert Rotstein,
author of The Bomb Maker’s Son and Corrupt Practices
BIO
Kay Kendall is a long-time fan of historical novels and now
writes atmospheric mysteries that capture the spirit and turbulence of the
sixties. A reformed PR executive who won international awards for her projects,
Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel
Wills. Terribly allergic to her bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles
show she's a Bob Dylan buff too. RAINY
DAY WOMEN published on July 7--the second in her Austin Starr Mystery
series. The E-book and paperback are available now, and the audio-book will be
soon.
FIND KAY KENDALL ONLINE HERE—
AustinStarr.com
@kaylee_kendall
(And by the way, I've read the book and loved it! My review will appear in Kings River Life.)
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