BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR KATHLEEN ERNST

Today we're happy to welcome back author Kathleen Ernst. The Light Keeper’s Legacy is Kathleen’s twenty-sixth published book. In addition to the Chloe Ellefson series, she has written many books for American Girl, including seven books about the newest historical character, Caroline Abbott. Several of her mysteries for young readers have been finalists for Edgar or Agatha awards. 

Leave a comment for a chance to win any one of Kathleen's Chloe Ellefson mysteries: Old World Murder, The Heirloom Murders, The Light Keeper’s Legacy, or Heritage of Darkness (October 2013). For more information, visit Kathleen at her website or blog. -- AP

Of Mothers and Daughters

Threading plotlines over a multi-book arc is one of the pleasures of writing a mystery series. While each of my Chloe Ellefson Historic Sites books can stand alone, readers who follow the series in sequence see relationships grow and change.

Curator Chloe Ellefson’s personal life has its share of tangles. The third book in the series, The Light Keeper’s Legacy, begins with Chloe heading off for a consulting gig and a week of much-craved solitude on a remote island. By the end of a harrowing week, she’s ready to admit that sometimes, solitude ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Vesterheim, Decorah, Iowa
photo copyright D. T. Nelson, Oneota Fotos

The next book, Heritage of Darkness, allows her to make good on her vow to improve family ties. Chloe’s relationship with her mother is polite, but distant. Mom is a renowned practitioner of rosemaling, a decorative form of Norwegian painting. When Chloe spots an ad announcing classes at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, she impulsively suggests that she and Mom sign up for concurrent advanced and beginning classes.

Even better, Chloe’s cop-beau, Roelke McKenna, decides to tag along. What could go wrong?

A lot, of course. Chloe is mortified when Mom subjects Roelke to a not-so-subtle barrage of anecdotes about love and marriage, Norwegian style.

Rosemaling

And when an instructor is attacked and left for dead, Mom is asked to teach the beginners. Roelke can see that Chloe is less than pleased with the announcement that her oh-so-critical mother is now her instructor:

Chloe’s expression suggested that she’d been smacked in the face with a pickled herring. “Remember,” Roelke whispered, “the whole idea of this trip was for you to spend time with…”

Chloe pinned him to the wall with a look that had gone from stunned to mutinous. He stopped talking.

Mom compounds the tension by volunteering Chloe for a folklore project that involves interviewing elderly Norwegian-Americans about Christmas customs and traditions.

Chloe blinked. “You what? Mom, I’m a curator, not a folklorist!”

“For Heaven’s sake, Chloe,” Mom said. “You work for the Historical Society of Wisconsin. You’ve got a master’s degree in museum studies. You’ve been involved in folklore your entire life.”

“But I’m supposed to be painting, remember?” Something in Chloe’s eyes changed. “Or…do you not want the daughter ‘who’s never picked up a brush’ in your class? Is that it?”

Roelke felt something crackle in the air like electricity before a storm. And at that moment, he realized that he was a complete and utter moron. Why had he thought he could help ease tension between Chloe, who he was only beginning to understand, and her mother, who he barely knew? What had possessed him?

On one level, Heritage of Darkness is a traditional mystery about a murdered painter and the dark roots of now-cozy holiday traditions. However, it’s the personal relationships that provide emotional connections for readers. I think many adult women will relate to Chloe’s efforts to forge a stronger bond with her mother.

I might have chosen to end the book with Chloe and Mom reaching a place of perfect harmony…but I didn’t. It would feel unrealistic if Chloe’s relationship challenges were completely resolved. Progress is made, but there’s still room for discovery and growth.

Besides, where would that leave me for the next Chloe Ellefson mystery? I have lots of ideas about Chloe’s changing relationship with her mom. (There’s Chloe’s relationship with Roelke to develop, too.) Stay tuned!

Heritage of Darkness

For curator Chloe Ellefson, a family bonding trip to Decorah, Iowa for rosemaling classes seems like a great idea—until they start driving. Chloe’s cop boyfriend Roelke takes her mom’s talk of proposal ideas good-naturedly, but it causes Chloe’s emotional distress to increase with each passing mile.

After finally reaching the Vesterheim Museum, Chloe’s efforts to remain positive are slammed shut when she and Roelke find Petra Lekstrom’s body in one of the museum’s antique immigrant trunks. Everyone is shaken by the class instructor’s murder, and when her mom volunteers to take over Petra’s class, Chloe is put in the hot seat of motherly criticism. As she investigates, Chloe uncovers dark family secrets that could be deadly for her mom—and even herself. 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR KATHLEEN ERNST

Kathleen Ernst is back today for another visit. Kathleen is the author of fourteen historical novels for young readers and the Chloe Ellefson mysteries for adults.  The second Chloe book, The Heirloom Murders, was published last fall.  Visit Kathleen at her blog to follow her meanderings through the intersection of history and fiction, and see her website for more information about her books.

Kathleen is offering a copy of any one of her seventeen books to one of our readers who leaves a comment this week. Don’t forget to check back on Sunday to find out if you’re the lucky winner. Otherwise we have no way of getting your book to you unless you leave an email address along with your comment. -- AP

  

Author Kathleen Ernst doing Rosemaling

Dabbling

I love handwork.  My current passion is rosemaling, sometimes called rose painting.  Rosemaling is a decorative folk art long practiced in rural Norway.  Nineteenth-century immigrants brought treasured pieces across the Atlantic in their trunks, but the art itself almost died out in the new world.  A revival began during the Great Depression, and an even bigger revival surged in the 1960s.

Today rosemaling is thriving.  I’ve been lucky enough to take two classes at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum.  Vesterheim also sponsors a National Exhibition in the Folk Arts each July.  Entrants compete for ribbons; those who earn enough ribbons over the years earn a coveted Gold Medal.

Earning a Gold Medal would be extremely cool, but it’s not something I aspire to.  Developing such proficiency requires, I imagine, total focus and dedication to the art.  I’ve worked with equal tenacity to establish myself as a working writer.  When it comes to handicrafts, though, I don’t have that much single-minded commitment.  I’m an unashamed dabbler.

Author Kathleen Ernst at a weaving loom

My introduction to domestic arts and crafts is rooted in my fascination with history.  Most of my novels for young readers are historical fiction.  I’ve worked as an interpreter and curator at historic sites.  Chloe Ellefson, protagonist of my adult mystery series, is also a curator.  The plots always involve some historical event or theme that resonates through time and affects the here-and-now.  And many feature an heirloom art.

Folk-art pieces in museum collections are often the only tangible hint of anonymous lives long gone.  One of the characters in my newest book, The Heirloom Murders, is an elderly woman of Swiss descent.  When I found some embroidery in Swiss Historical Village and Museum in New Glarus, Wisconsin, I felt as if I’d found a reflection of my fictional character.

Overshot Weaving

Women who were illiterate or simply too busy to write diaries or letters did leave some of themselves in their quilts or woven coverlets or bits of lace; men in their painted trunks or carved ale bowls.  When I learn the rudiments of those crafts, I feel just a bit of kinship to the long chain of women and men who developed or practiced the art.  By incorporating a handicraft in a novel, I hope to honor all those people who faced enormous challenges and yet found ways to express themselves and indulge in creative pursuits.

Which brings me back to rosemaling.  The plot of the first Chloe mystery, Old World Murder, revolves around a missing antique—a Norwegian rosemaled ale bowl.  Chloe’s mom happens to be a Gold Medalist painter.  Those choices provide some mom-daughter conflict as the series progresses, introduced some readers to the art of rosemaling, and sparked my own interest in painting.  I’ll never be a great rose painter, but I do intend to keep learning and practicing as time permits.

Characters in some of my other mysteries include an 18^th-century young woman who is passionate about overshot weaving, a basket maker living in the Kentucky hills, and Depression-era quiltmaking using flour sack fabrics.

Embroidery from the Swiss Historical Village and Museum

I just started developing ideas for my fourth Chloe Ellefson mystery.  No title yet, but I’ve decided the plot will include a glimpse of the centuries-old art of chip carving.  I’ve never dabbled in woodworking before.  I can’t wait to give it a try.

How about you?  Do you prefer to stick with one art or craft, or do you like trying new things?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I’m grateful to Anastasia for inviting me to visit.  And I’m grateful to readers! I love my work, and I’d be nowhere without you. Leave a comment (and a way to contact you), and your name will go into a drawing for a free book. The winner can choose any of my seventeen titles. A Chloe Ellefson book, one of my American Girl mysteries, a Civil War novel—the choice will be yours! To learn more, please visit my website.

Thanks so much for joining us today. As for me, I’m a dabbler like you. What about the rest of you readers? -- AP

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR KATHLEEN ERNST

Today’s Book Club Friday guest author is Kathleen Ernst. Kathleen is celebrating the publication of her first adult mystery, Old World Murder, published by Midnight Ink.  She’s also written eight mysteries for young readers.  Several have been finalists for Edgar or Agatha awards. Kathleen is offering the winner of this week’s drawing the choice of any one of her sixteen titles -- either Old World Murder, one of her American Girl mysteries, or one of her Civil War novels. Everyone who posts a comment to the blog this week is entered in the drawing. You can read more about Kathleen and her books at her website. -- AP

I’m grateful to Anastasia for allowing me to be a guest on her blog.  And I’m grateful to readers!  I love my work, and I’d be nowhere without you.

I loved art until the 8^th grade.  That year my art teacher quickly divided students into two unofficial but obvious groups:  Those Who Have Talent, and therefore belonged there, and Those Who Have No Talent, and therefore had no right taking his time.  During our first project, which involved painting, he made it clear that I was in the second group.

Fortunately, my language arts teachers were much more affirming.  I wrote my first novel when I was fifteen.  It took many years and many manuscripts before I sold a novel, but I believed I’d break through one day.

I didn’t take any more art classes in high school or college.  But when I went to work as an interpreter at Old World Wisconsin, a large living history museum, I was excited about the opportunity to learn a variety of 19^th-century domestic crafts.  In my first season I learned how to spin wool and flax, how to weave, how to quilt, and how to make coiled rye-straw baskets.  (I never quite got the hang of the basketry, although I did pretty well on the others.)

After a couple of years I became curator at the historic site.  Among other things, I supervised the domestic craft program.  Old World Wisconsin includes ten completely restored farmsteads and a crossroads village.  The buildings represent a variety of ethnic groups and their folk traditions.  I actually got paid to research the handwork relevant for the women of each group depicted!  I helped train the interpreters, who in turn shared the activities with visitors.  And I loved every minute of it.

That hands-on practice also served me well as I developed my skills as an historical novelist.  I could write about warping looms, scutching flax, and tatting lace because I’d done all of those things.

I left Old World Wisconsin in 1995, after twelve years on staff.  I never forgot how much I loved the site, though.  So when I decided to write an adult mystery series, I chose to make my protagonist, Chloe Ellefson, a curator.  Old World Murder is set at the site I know so well.  And one of the great pleasures of developing the series is thinking about different ways handwork can play a role in the plots.

Future books will find Chloe traveling to different historic sites, much as Nevada Barr gets her wonderful protagonist, ranger Anna Pigeon, to different national parks.  The plot of Old World Murder revolves around a rosemaled Norwegian ale bowl.  In book 3 or 4, I plan to have Chloe learn more about the traditional Norwegian folk art of rosemaling, or “rose painting.”

I knew about rosemaling from a curator’s perspective, but in order to understand Chloe’s experience, I decided to take a rosemaling class.  Last summer I signed up for five days at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa.  Perhaps I subconsciously still believed I belonged in the “No Talent” group, but I went to Decorah believing I was there for research purposes, nothing more.

The five days of class were intense and challenging.  But much to my surprise, I felt in love with the art.  I hadn’t held a paint brush since the eighth grade, and it felt wonderful.  I couldn’t be more proud of my first two projects.

So crafts have always played an important role in my writing.  Learning about historical handwork fed my early novels…and now, my newest book has circled me back to the pleasure of learning a new art form.

I hope you enjoy meeting Chloe in Old World Murder, and will want to follow her to new sites as the series unfolds.  I also hope you won’t wait as long as I did to learn, or return to, an art form that appeals to you!

Thanks so much, Kathleen! One of the best parts of Book Club Friday is discovering all the varied backgrounds of our guests. And I’m in awe of the fact that you were able to master tatting, something even I haven’t yet mastered!

Remember, readers, leave a comment and your name will go into the drawing for your choice of any one of Kathleen’s novels. Be sure to stop back tomorrow to find our if you’re the lucky winner. -- AP