AUTHOR KATHLEEN KASKA'S NEWEST CIRCA 1950S MYSTERY

Kathleen Kaska is the author of the awarding-winning Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series set in the 1950s and the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights Mystery Series. She also writes mystery trivia, including The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book. Visit her website to learn more about her books read her humorous blog, “Growing Up Catholic in a Small Texas Town,” because sometimes you just have to laugh. 

Location, Location, Location

When my husband and I travel, we enjoy searching for historic hotels in which to stay. And we often return to stay in the same rooms. Before long, these places become like home. On one of these occasions, the idea to write a mystery series set in historic hotels was handed to me. We had checked into the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas for our annual stay during Thanksgiving week when this tall, young, attractive woman rushed out of the bathroom, complaining that a dead body was in there. I peeked in and saw a man’s hairy leg hanging over the tub. I jerked back the shower curtain, and darn if she wasn’t right. There he was, lying in a pool of blood. She assured me that she wasn’t the killer, and it was evident that she expected me to do something about it.

 

She introduced herself as Sydney Lockhart from Austin, Texas, a reporter with the Austin American on assignment to write a travel article about the hotel and Bathhouse Row, a collection of spas built along Central Avenue. Since then, Sydney’s world has grown. As in real life, she’s met new people, tweaked her career, and toughened her spirit. Sydney has since solved murders at the Luther Hotel on the Texas coast, the Galvez Hotel on Galveston Island, the Driskill Hotel in Austin, and the Menger Hotel in San Antonio. Now she’s at the Pontchartrain Hotel in New Orleans. 

 

Why turn back the clock to the 1950s for the setting of my mysteries? It’s hard to explain the feeling that overcomes me when standing in a vintage hotel lobby soaking up the past. I’m not exaggerating when I say the inspiration and excitement are explosive. I allow my imagination to drift back into a magical, glamourous world where men wear suits and fedoras and women don pencil skirts, seamed stockings, and stilettos. These old hotels make rich settings because they have their own tales to tell—about the guest, the events, and maybe even the scandals.

 

I can’t help but wonder about all the people who’ve stayed in my room. Were they on their honeymoon? Were they on a family vacation? Were they sneaking away for a romantic rendezvous or engaged in a nefarious activity. All these thoughts run through my mind while unpacking, and soon I’m spinning a new tale.

 

These hotels have accommodated U.S. presidents, notorious gangsters, famous movie stars, and popular musicians. Some were even turned into hospitals and military facilities during World War II. When writing my mysteries, I draw upon actual events and weave them into my stories. Think of my mysteries as whodunits wrapped around a scandalous history lesson. 

 

Sydney no longer flinches when she finds a dead body. However, she is often annoyed with me because I make her the number one murder suspect. She’s also not happy that I relax in my hotel room, propped up in a cushy bed with my laptop while she chases bad guys, or runs from bad guys, gets shot at, thrown into a river, and kidnapped and dumped in an alligator-infested swamp. But the incentive to find the killer is strong. She knows I’m waiting for her at the hotel bar with two olives, steeping in a gin martini. We toast and select the next hotel.

 

Murder at the Pontchartrain

A Sidney Lockhart Mystery, Book 5

 

I came to New Orleans to marry my boyfriend/partner Ralph Dixon. Unfortunately, wedding vows were not exchanged. So there’s no ring on my finger. Instead, I’m in the Louisiana swamp spying on the Ku Klux Klan while Dixon’s sitting in jail for a double murder. Back at the Pontchartrain Hotel, my so-called team is doing their best to help solve the case. My bubble-headed cousin, Ruth, is interrogating the hotel’s French chef. My charge, twelve-year-old Lydia LaBeau, is dressed as a voodoo queen, entertaining the locals at Pat O’Brien’s while looking for clues. Ghost detective Rip Thigbee is the only reasonably sane person assisting me on the case.

 

You probably think I’m making this up, but trust me, it’s just another day in my crazy life. I’m Sydney Lockhart, a private detective. I solve murders. Most of which I’m the primary suspect. 

 

So, mix yourself a Hurricane and join me in the Big Easy for another historic hotel murder case.

 

Preorder (available June 15th)