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Q&A: Carolyn Marie Wilkins, DEATH AT A SEANCE
By Kathryn Gandek-Tighe
Posted: 2020-01-09T03:52:00Z
Carolyn Marie Wilkins' newest book, Death at a Séance:  A Carrie McFarland Psychic Mystery, was released on December 1st. She answers our questions about the book and what led her to write it. 

 

Writers usually hate writing book summaries. Will you share with us your real book blurb or one you wish you could have used?

 

I believe it was Mark Twain who, when complimented on a letter he wrote, stated: “If I’d had more time, I would have made it shorter.” For me, writing a teaser for a book is a major enterprise.  This one went through multiple drafts, but I am proud of the final result:

    Carrie McFarland’s psychic gifts land her in trouble wherever she goes.

    The year is 1920. Corruption, bootleggers and the Klan are part of everyday life in Aronsville, Indiana. As an African American teenager, Carrie McFarland knows she must watch her step carefully. She’s already in hot water for putting a Love Hex under the pillow of the wealthy white man who seduced and abandoned her. 

    Carrie hopes she’s put the past behind her when she lands a job cleaning house for an  eccentric Spiritualist. But when she foresees the death of a guest at her boss’s weekly séance, Carrie finds herself accused of murder.  Intent on keeping her community from being torched by the KKK in retaliation for the slaying, Carrie enlists the help of two  friends—a handsome young reverend and a notorious bootlegger. To uncover the truth, she will have to search for answers in the dark and dangerous world of spiritual frauds, gangsters and con men. 

    There’s a vicious killer loose in Aronsville. Will Carrie’s psychic powers save her from becoming the next victim?

What was the a-ha moment that made you write this story?

 

As an African American kid growing up, I was told that my great grandmother was part-Native American, a member of the so-called “Saskatoon” tribe in Canada.  But when I began to research my family history, I discovered that this story was a complete fabrication.  Instead of being an Indian, my great-great grandmother was the illegitimate daughter of one of the most influential white men in her small Indiana town.  Though I spent many hours searching on Ancestry.com, I was unable to discover the exact nature of her mother’s relationship with this white man.  Was she his mistress, or was rape involved?  Since the truth will never be known, Death at a Séance is my attempt to tell one possible version of my great-grandmother’s story. 

 

Who is your favorite character and why?

Although I love all the characters in my book (even the bad guys), my favorite character is Carrie McFarland.  She’s just sixteen years old, an African-American teenager navigating a world filled with stumbling blocks.  Though her circumstances are sometimes bleak, Carrie is more than capable of handling the many challenges she encounters in life.  She’s smart, she’s feisty, and she’s psychic.  As my story unfolds, she discovers that she has more courage than she ever imagined. 

 

Which of your skill sets were useful constructing the plot?

In writing Death at a Séance, I drew heavily on my experience as a professional medium. This psychic work gave me the knowledge and confidence to write about what really happens during a séance, both for the medium and for the participants. My experiences as a medium also helped me to write accurately about the way Carrie works with a mentor to hone her psychic gifts, an aspect of the psychic life that is often overlooked.  

Although there is genuine mediumship in Death at a Seance, no murder mystery would be complete without a few con-men, fakes and phonies. Once again, my knowledge of what good mediumship looks like proved invaluable in helping me write about its opposite.  Without giving away the story, I’ll just say there are some very crooked psychics among the characters in my book.  

 

What is the hardest part of writing a book?

Getting started.  Releasing the need for your manuscript to be perfect, or even coherent for the first 3 or 4 drafts.  Once you have something concrete written down, and a rough outline of what it is you’re trying to accomplish, the writing becomes easier and easier.


Carolyn Marie Wilkins is a jazz pianist, a Psychic Medium and an initiated Priestess of Yemaya, the African goddess of compassion, motherhood and the ocean.  Her other novels Mojo For Murder and Melody For Murder feature the crime-fighting exploits of Bertie Bigelow, a forty-something choir director and amateur sleuth living on the South Side of Chicago.  



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