Whatever made me choose a magic trick gone wrong for the 10th book of the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, Bewitched, Bothered, and Beheaded, I will never know. I don’t know the first thing about magic. And the only guillotine I’ve seen is in the movie with Connie Stevens and Dean Jones called “Two on a Guillotine.” Wait a minute! I did see a guillotine when we were in France at some museum of horrors. France and England like to specialize in horror museums, I’ve noticed. Certainly not Sweden. Sweden specializes in Volvos and ABBA.
Remember ABBA? Mama Mia! I love ABBA. And so does Sweden. So, they came up with the interaction ABBA Museum in Stockholm where you get to sing along with ABBA or play some of their music on pianos, guitars, and drums. And they even have life-size holograms of the four members of ABBA, where you can go on a stage and sing with them. It’s a lot of fun to watch. I have a video of my husband doing that. He’s a professional singer and musician. He sounded great with them, even though at the time he was wearing Bermuda shorts with suspenders and rounded out the look with knee-high white socks. He looked more like he was going to yodel, but he gave good ABBA.
But back to the guillotine. I don’t think a museum that shows an interactive guillotine would be a good idea. I, for one, wouldn’t want to see even a hologram of one cutting off somebody’s head. And I remember the guillotine as being a very tall piece of business, maybe twenty feet high. The idea of a blade coming down using all that gravity force is enough to give me nightmares. Yikes.
And I did mention that I know nothing about magic, so research, research, research, before I could write one single word. But I have to say I am having a lot of fun writing this story. It should be done soon and I hope to have it out in January.
Once again, Bewitched, Bothered, and Beheaded, is the upcoming 9th book in the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries. A blurb of sorts:
During Marvin the Magnificent’s magic act for charity, Lee Alvarez reluctantly fills in for his missing assistant. During the finale, something goes horribly wrong with the guillotine trick and it’s off with Marvin’s head in a most dramatic and startling way. Lee becomes the prime suspect and spends the night in jail. Frank Thompson, Lee’s godfather and Palo Alto’s Chief of Police, pulls in all his favors and has Lee released. However, she has only three days to find out who messed with the magic trick and clear herself of 1st-degree murder charges. As Marvin was nasty and disliked but rich, and his will left a lot of money to a lot of suspects, Lee has her work cut out for her.
But not to worry! The entire Alvarez clan is on the job, as is her hunky, ex-Navy SEAL hubby. Not content to wait in the wings, Her Son The Cat, Tugger, plus Baba the Beautiful, hubby’s cat, offer their own feline form of detective work. Bottom line: can Lee find the real culprit or is she off to Hoosegow for the rest of her life, known as the Queen of Beheading?
