TRAVEL WITH SERENA--A VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND WITH GUEST AUTHOR WILLIAM S. SHEPARD

The King David Hotel
photo by David Shankbone

William S. Shepard, author of the Robbie Cutler Diplomatic Mysteries, makes a return visit to Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers today. The Diplomatic Mysteries are set in American Embassies overseas and mirrors Shepard’s own career in the Foreign Service of the United States. He served in Singapore, Saigon, Budapest, Athens and Bordeaux, in addition to five Washington tours of duty.

His diplomatic mystery books explore this rich, insider background into the world of high stakes diplomacy and government. His main character is a young career diplomat, Robbie Cutler. Learn more about William and his books at his website. 

Today William joins us to talk about travel in the Holy Land.

           

Christmas In The Holy Land

Holidays are always fun, but for our family, travel always added an extra dimension of enjoyment. We lived abroad for years in the Foreign Service, and tried to spend holidays in meaningful areas. That is why we spent one Halloween in Transylvania, looking for Dracula’s Castle! But when we were at the Embassy in Athens, it seemed the perfect opportunity to visit the Holy Land. Fortunately I didn’t get the duty roster, and so had a few days free. Why not spend Christmas where it began? And so our younger daughter, son and I flew from Athens to Tel Aviv, full of anticipation for a memorable holiday.

We were not disappointed. Security in Israel was tight then, but not oppressive. We were thrilled to see the Shrine of the Book, with the earliest copy of the Book of Isaiah (from the Dead Sea Scrolls) on display. The Marc Chagall stained glass windows at the Hadassah Hospital were extraordinary, each window representing one of the biblical tribes. The Yad Voshem we visited in reverence. And there was time for a bit of recent history. We had dinner at the King David Hotel, and a brilliant performance of “Shalom Aleichem” stories followed in the intimate hotel theater. I was fascinated to realize that the then Prime Minister of Israel had tried to blow up that very hotel during the early days of struggle against the British Mandate.

The Western Wall

We saw the Western Wall, and next to it there was a stone stairway, marked off limits to citizens of Israel. Since that didn’t include us, we ventured up the stairwell, and found ourselves on the Temple Mount. Furthermore, it was even possible to visit both the Al Aqsa Mosque, with its memories of Saladin, and the Dome of the Rock, an imperishable memory. And, of course, the Mount of Olives (with very old olive trees) was a highlight.

The sites we saw included, in Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And in Bethlehem, we visited the Church of the Nativity on Christmas Eve. Choruses sang in neighboring Manger Square. And security was lighter in those days, with no wall separating the little town from the fields below. And so we walked back through security to find Shepherds’ Fields, and there read the lesson from Luke. We drove back to Tel Aviv Airport directly in our rented car, with memories for a lifetime, and were home in Athens in time to open our Christmas presents. I look forward to a return trip with my wife and older daughter (who were not feeling well enough to travel then).

Mount of Olives
photo by Nemo

The time to travel is when you have the opportunity!

Travel informs many of my ebooks. Sunsets In Singapore is a memoir of our Foreign Service days and travel. My series of diplomatic mysteries echoes my career assignments in Bordeaux, Budapest, Saigon, Singapore and other fascinating cities. The first in the series,Vintage Murder, introduces the diplomatic sleuth Robbie Cutler, and his fiancée Sylvie and everyone’s favorite character, Uncle Seth Cutler, a retired intelligence operative whom the White House has on speed dial. The latest, The Great Game Murders, has Robbie and the Secretary of State dodging serial Al Qaeda assassination attempts, while savoring the cities of Southeast Asia, China, India and Afghanistan. And for those who armchair travel, there’s a destination for nearly every preference!

The Great Game Murders

Book Five of the Robbie Cutler Diplomatic Mystery series.

The President has decided in view of Chinese threats over the region that American forces should be reconfigured from the Middle East, in a strategic “Tilt Towards Asia.” The Secretary of State, Ronald Adams, flies in Air Force Two on a mission reassuring allies throughout Southeast Asia. His staff assistant, Robbie Cutler, again helps plan the trip to Australia, Singapore, Hanoi, Manila, Bangkok and New Delhi.

Along the way, Al Qaeda hatches several assassination plots against the Secretary – with the help of Chinese covert resources in the region. And they display a deadly facility with cyberwarfare – turning America’s technology against us, as emails from Air Force Two are used in a murder plot against Secretary Adams.

The rivalry between China and the United States calls to mind the Great Game of the nineteenth century, as imperial Britain and Czarist Russia struggled over the approaches to India. The new Great Game concerns much of the same region, with far higher stakes, in the nuclear era. But is official China aware of the working alliance with Al Qaeda?

In Kabul, Robbie Cutler leaves the official party to begin his six month temporary duty assignment in beleaguered Kandahar Province. His adventures include tracking an overland smuggled shipment of ammonium sulfate, the raw material of IEDs (improvised explosive devices). But his greatest satisfaction as he leaves Kabul may be the well that was dug to provide healthy water for the people of remote Maruf District.

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ANASTASIA INTERVIEWS "ASK MARTHA" ADVICE COLUMNIST

Prize-winning mystery writer William S. Shepard writes the Diplomatic Mystery series, mirroring his own career in the Foreign Service. He is also the author of two collections of short stories that feature amateur sleuth Crusher Davis, a former football player who now writes the “Ask Martha” advice column for a local newspaper. Read more about William and his books at his website.

When I first heard about “Ask Martha,” I thought it would be cool to interview her, but as you can see, the interview didn’t go exactly as planned—AP

Anastasia: Excuse me, but I thought that this was the desk of the columnist who writes “Ask Martha.”

Martha: It is. I guess that I didn’t fit your mental image. Most readers don’t know that I am 6 foot six, 265 pounds, and decidedly male!

Anastasia: Why are you writing the “Ask Martha” column for the Chronicle? I mean, when I started to research this column for American Woman magazine about “Up and Coming Women Reporters and Editors,” you were not exactly what I had in mind. What’s your real name, by the way?

Martha: Locally I’m known as “Crusher” Davis. I got that name from my football playing days.

Anastasia: What on earth are you doing writing an advice column?

Martha: It’s a job. Matter of fact, it was the only job at the Chronicle when I started some six months ago. Since then, the Business Editor slot opened up, and my Editor, James Carstairs, picked me for that job. But the advice column is something that I really enjoy. Since I was a kid, people have confided in me. They still do. That’s the quality that Carstairs was looking for when he interviewed me for the job. But he did say that he wondered if I’d be accepted writing the advice column under my own name. So we kind of together came up with the idea that I’d write under the “Ask Martha” pen name.

I should have mentioned that the original “Ask Martha” really was named Martha, and she wrote the column for years and years. When she left for Arizona, the job was open. People kind of assume that she may be still on the job. But I hope not. I think that I give better advice! Anyway, it’s a good use of my Journalism major.

Anastasia: Just how do you keep your cover? I should think that your readers would easily figure out who really writes the “Ask Martha” column.

Martha: It’s all done by the column. People read it and send email replies and comments. And in a small town, people do tell you the darndest things. So mostly, Martha never interviews people. Advice columnists don’t, as a rule, as you know. When I have to do an interview, it can be in my Business Editor guise. But often, what I hear from readers in answer to the questions that I ask them is helpful in solving our local mysteries.

Anastasia: Doesn’t all this annoy the police?

Martha: Not in the least. As a matter of fact, Inspector Samuels of the Centerville Police says I’m a great help. He is understaffed, to put it mildly. What the town can allocate for the police budget is simply inadequate. He even had to let a patrolman go, for lack of funds. Samuels just doesn’t have time to thoroughly analyze every case. So he shares some of the puzzling ones with me. When he does, I take it from there. It’s all OK, and Samuels gets the credit, which he deserves.

Anastasia: As you may have heard, I’m an amateur sleuth myself. Since we’re in the same detecting business, so to speak, we have that in common. Tell me about some of your cases.

Martha: Crime with a small town focus, about sums it up. I haven’t had any murder cases, or aggravated violence, and hope that I never do. But theft, shoplifting, arson, embezzlement, and stolen identity, those are actual crimes that I’ve solved.

Anastasia: Have they been written down, for crime readers to enjoy?

Martha: Why yes, and to my surprise, my efforts have gathered something of a readership. That’s quite interesting, considering I share the billing in two collections of short mysteries, “Coffee Break Mysteries” and “More Coffee Break Mysteries: The Sherlock Holmes Edition,” with other sleuths, including Holmes himself!

Anastasia: This has been most interesting, even if you don’t quite fit the topic I had in mind.

Martha: But the character does. If I can be a believable Martha, think of how a real one would prosper writing an advice column, and solving the odd crime or two as she does!

Anastasia: Agreed. Thank you so much for your time. I’ll keep your real identity a secret ... between us girls?

Coffee Break Mysteries is a collection of twenty short mysteries, from shoplifting to murder. Each mystery is set forth for the reader to solve, with clues and several suspects. The reader solves the mystery, then turns to the next page for the solution.

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More Coffee Break Mysteries: The Sherlock Holmes Edition is a collection of twenty short mysteries, ranging from blackmail to murder. Each mystery is set forth for the reader to solve, with clues and suspects. The reader solves the mystery, then turns to the next page for the solution.

Buy Link