Hello, Sunshines, I have the massive pleasure to be today’s stop on the amazing blog tour for; The Spinster’s Fortune by Mary Kendall. This book sounds amazing, I love the cover it’s very eye-catching I can’t wait to share this book with you all. Plus, I have an exclusive guest post by Mary (which is fabulous) to share with you too.
Firstly, I want to say thank you to Amy at Historical Fiction Virtual Blog Tours for the invite to this tour.
About the Book
The Spinster’s Fortune by Mary Kendall.
Publication Date: April 6, 2021
Publisher: Darkstroke Books
Format: Paperback & eBook; 227 pages
Moonlit alleys, shadowy tunnels, and buried secrets…
Summer of 1929.
Of supposed unsound mind without a penny to her name, Blanche Magruder lies alone in a home for the aged and infirm.
Meanwhile, her house, a crumbled ruin in the heart of Georgetown, Washington, D.C., is pillaged nightly by thieves looking for treasure rumored to be hidden there.
A distant niece, Margaret O’Keefe, is tapped as executor and soon becomes embroiled in the hunt for recovering monies, taking it on as a welcome escape from her financial and marital woes.
As Margaret discovers caches in unlikely spots throughout the house, family mysteries begin to unravel. She questions whether Aunt Blanche is an insane fool or a daring genius, yet Margaret must also wrangle with her own hidden truths.
Pressed towards a convergence of their pasts and presents, the two women must ultimately face down a fateful discovery in order to rectify their lives.
Shrouded in gothic undertones and dark artifice, THE SPINSTER’S FORTUNE is a tale that takes the reader on a strange journey through tangled webs of family deceit. But where does it end?
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
Guest Post
What goes on “behind the scenes” in the making of a historical mystery novel?
by Mary Kendall.
In the case of The Spinster’s Fortune, inspiration struck whilst down the rabbit hole of genealogical research. The internet has been uploading old newspapers on the daily it seems. Newspaper reels that used to be hunted down on microfilm and took months to procure can now be brought to a home screen in a keystroke. This has been a huge boon—as well as a way to get lost quickly in the weeds!
I was on the hunt for information my long deceased paternal grandfather, a man who died nine years before I was born. He was an attorney in Washington, D.C., and had worked on some significant cases. Because of this, there were opportunities to “find” him in the internet newspaper archives. And I hit pay dirt when I came across a photograph of him taken when he was in his early 30s. After clapping myself on the back a bit, I took a closer look at why he was photographed and in the paper.
It was due to him being involved in a very unusual case. An elderly woman had been hiding monies around her old crumbling-down house in the neighborhood of Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Headlines such as “Spinster, 90, in Poorhouse, Found Owner of Fortune”, “Old House Yields Additional $1,100 Hidden in Rubbish” and “Rag-Stuffed Old Box Reveals Rich Treasure” made my head spin. I got brought to a standstill right then and there. I had to know more…
My imagination got fired up about why this woman did this and what could possibly be behind her decision-making processes. Eventually, this led to me crafting a work of fiction around the facts of the real life event. And it became an historical mystery. So the real life facts of the event became the framework for the novel and the vibrant setting of 1920s Washington D.C. became a sort of “setting as character”.
So that is the “unpacking” of how this particular historical mystery came to be—-in this case, a mystery spinning off a mystery.
***
Thanks so much for having me on your wonderful blog, Frankie!
My absolute pleasure, Mary! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful post with us all.
About the Author
Mary Kendall lived in old (and haunted) houses growing up which sparked a life-long interest in history and story-telling. She earned degrees in history related fields and worked as an historian for many years. Her fiction writing is heavily influenced by the past which she believes is never really dead and buried.
Fueled by black coffee and a possible sprinkling of Celtic fairy dust, she tends to find inspiration in odd places and sometimes while kneading bread dough.
The author currently resides in Maryland with her family (husband, three kids, barn cat and the occasional backyard hen) who put up with her mad scribbling at inconvenient hours.
THE SPINSTER’S FORTUNE , a mystery set in Georgetown, Washington DC, is her debut novel and is a twisty, tangled dive into a web of family deception murky with gothic undertones.
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Blog Tour Schedule
Tuesday, June 22
Review at 100 Pages a Day
Review at Probably at the Library
Wednesday, June 23
Review at Bonnie Reads and Writes
Thursday, June 24
Review at Two Bookish Babes
Guest Post at Chicks, Rogues, and Scandals
Friday, June 25
Interview at Passages to the Past
Saturday, June 26
Review at Reading is My Remedy
Sunday, June 27
Review at Rajiv’s Reviews
Review at Booking With Janelle
Monday, June 28
Review at Books, Cooks, Looks
Tuesday, June 29
Review at Bookworlder
Giveaway
Enter to win a paperback copy of The Spinster’s Fortune by Mary Kendall!
The giveaway is open to US residents only and ends on June 29th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
Giveaway Link: https://gleam.io/competitions/QWQHB-the-spinsters-fortune
Chicks,Rogues and Scandals 
Thank you so much for hosting Mary’s guest post + blog tour, Frankie!
Amy
HF Virtual Book Tours
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Always a pleasure, Amy!! xx
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