A suddenly-widowed professor of poetry abruptly leaves her home in Los Angeles to visit Taos, New Mexico, where she and her older husband had many happy trips. She goes there in hopes of mentally and emotionally healing. Fortuitously, she finds an apartment in the complex surrounding the famous old church in Rancho Las Amigas, a few miles from Taos. The apartment was newly-remodeled by the pastor of the church who left on a back-packing trip just a few hours before she arrived. On the dark side, 'sacrifices' by a devil worship group have occurred on Labor Day during the 'mudding' or restoration of the outside walls of the church. Labor Day is coming up. While she struggles with her grief, she becomes entangled in the local politics, and the search for the identity of the devil worship group and their real purpose. She is not a sleuth, but is curious and becomes a catalyst when the guilty parties think she is not what she appears to be.
PART ONE By gay toltl kinman Short Stories and Poems featuring Jane Jillson, Investigator in The Huntington's Security Department PART TWO By gay toltl kinman and Jill Cogen Humorous Short Stories and Poems featuring Spyder, the accident prone thief PART THREE By gay toltl kinman Short Stories Library School students Hsing and her roommate solve mysteries using information learned in library school.
Set in 1974, the story opens from the POV of a man who has just sent his troops into battle. He is in his office thinking about past battles, wondering if his current plan will work. Meanwhile a plane carrying an AngelGuide American tour group, in their third week in Scandinavia, is making an unscheduled 'changeover' in Hamburg, Germany. From the window of the plane, as they land, the passengers can see armed soldiers. To one, it is an adventure; to four others, it is a disaster as they are Jews who had been in German concentration camps. To add to their consternation, they see that the soldiers wear the uniforms of the S.S. When everyone leaves the plane, the soldiers escort only the tour group into a separate old building. The leader of the soldiers is Captain Schindler who has stationed his men around the waiting room to guard the group members. While the group members are waiting and wondering, some talk among themselves. Bud tries to talk to Tom, who had been an American pilot in WWII and spent time in a German prison camp, into helping them all escape. Others of the group reflect on their life or have dreamlike thoughts as the atmosphere and setting encourage that. Finally Captain Schindler announces that they will be able to board their plane, "however, some are to remain as they are to be tried as war criminals by the Fuehrer." The group is aghast. Joy, the group leader, and others protest, while another member tries to call the American Embassy. But nothing is what it appears to be.
The theme through most of these biographies is that the woman had talent and used it. That meant going against the strong societal prejudices by men, as well as women, that women should marry and subject themselves to-i.e. 'obey'-their husbands, have and raise children and make sure the house was comfortable and dinner was on the table by the time the husband came home. The wife supposedly derived her happiness from the fact that she was doing all she could to be sure the husband was happy and comfortable. That was her primary goal in life-so said the mores of the time-set by men, of course. No fools they! I became excited as I learned more about these women. They were truly heroines buried in history. I felt them crowding around me while I put my notes together in the draft binder, a mock-up of the final book. They encouraged me along the way, TELL MY STORY! So little had been written about them. There are probably some obscure men who have done great things, but have been lost to history-however there are a lot more women in that category-and the goddess of history is a woman-Clio! Let me introduce you to the women I have met at The Huntington. They are truly outstanding-heroines all.
The story behind the story of Burials. One day in the courthouse where I was working, I headed for the elevators. Slowly pacing before them was a tall, slender man with a salt and pepper brush cut. I knew who he was, although we'd never met-a judge, and well respected. What struck me about him was the look of infinite sadness on his face. I was curious as to what caused that look. Earlier in the day, one of my office colleagues had told me the surprising story that she and her husband had been alone on their sailboat, became shipwrecked and marooned on an island for a few days before they were rescued. (They divorced shortly afterwards.) At the same time, I was reading a non-fiction book of true crime and one of the chapters was about the kidnapping of a young woman. The FBI found the kidnapper but he wouldn't tell them where she was. Time was running out. The FBI was able to piece together some clues and found her. These three incidents coalesced-and suddenly I knew why my character, an older judge, had such a look of infinite sadness on his face.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.