It’s September 1902, and Mary MacDougall has fulfilled her greatest dream—opening her own detective agency. But the achievement doesn’t come without complication.
Mary’s father insists that an older cousin come to work with her—as both secretary and minder. Jeanette Harrison pledges to keep the plucky sleuth away from danger, as well as from her unsuitable suitor Edmond Roy.
The new agency’s first cases hardly seem to portend danger or significance. There’s the affair of the nicked napkin rings…the problem of the purloined pocket watch...and the matter of the four filched felines.
Mary and Jeanette have not the slightest notion that one of these modest matters will blow up into something consequential and perilous. What begins in triviality mushrooms into disappearance, betrayal, international intrigue, and murder. As she learns more and more, Mary’s prospects for making the acquaintance of an assassin’s blade improve dramatically.
Witty, fast-paced, and enthralling, A Fatal Fondness delves deeply into Mary’s world and paints the portrait of an unconventional young woman ever ready to defy propriety for the sake of justice.
Book Details:
Title: A Fatal Fondness
Author: Richard Audry
Genre: historical mystery
Series: The Mary MacDougall Mysteries, book 4
Publisher: Conger Road Press
Date Published: November 15, 2019
Print length: 260 pages
On tour with: Great Escapes Book Tours
Ifs
Q: If you could talk to someone (dead), who would it be and what would you ask them?
A: I was a bit under three months old when my mother died. So, of course, I have zero memories of her. I’d like to meet her when she was in her late twenties and get to know her. I’d ask her about her childhood (I have a cool picture of her with her tricycle), her career in nursing, and her dreams and aspirations.
Q: If you could step back into a moment or day in time, where would you go?
A: Another sentimental journey, I’m afraid. I’d love to go back to when I was, say, nine years old, and be with my dad and mom at one of the supper clubs we’d go to on the weekend. (My dad remarried and my step-mom became my adoptive mom.) And we would talk and talk and talk. I’d love to recapture that feeling and see my folks—both long gone—again, when they were young.
Q: If you could time travel for an infinite period of time, where would you go?
A: I’m a classical music fan and I’ve had this longtime fantasy of time-traveling back to Vienna c. 1790, with an ample purse of gold coins. I’d go find Herr Mozart and hire him to write me some music. Cello concertos and viola concertos. Operas based on Shakespeare and Cervantes. More string quartets. Solo guitar music. And then I’d stick around long enough to meet Beethoven and Schubert.
Q: If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
A: An author whom I’ve already met, though he died many years ago. Back in the day I worked at a weekly newspaper, and books and authors were one of my beats. Frank Herbert was in town on a book tour and I spent the better part of day hanging out with him. I’d love to have his perspective on the state of American democracy (he was there in person at the McCarthy hearings in the early ’50s) and on what kind of chance we might have in the face of climate change. One of the great science fiction innovators—there was never a bigger sci-fi blockbuster than Dune—he was a fun, gregarious guy, with an incredible laugh. But he saw things painfully clearly. He would pull no punches.
Q: If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
A: In a small, modernist house just off the beach, somewhere in the Florida Keys. A rental or lease. I wouldn’t want to own beachside property, what with climate change.
Ands
5 favorite possessions:
• my car• my Olympus DSLR camera
• my Larrivée guitar
• my movie collection
and
• my street photography archive
5 things you love about writing:
• creating credible worlds and vivid characters• entertaining readers
• that feeling of finishing a book and knowing it’s good
• holding your book in your own hands
and
• the excitement of embarking on a new book
5 favorite foods:
• salmon• buttered bread warm out of the oven
• a great sharp cheddar
• turkey sloppy joes
and
• blueberry pie à la mode
5 favorite books:
• The Wind in the Willows• The Great Gatsby
• Gaudy Night
• The Lonely Silver Rain
and
• any Agatha Raisin mystery
5 living people you’d like to invite to dinner:
• Michael Palin• Joni Mitchell
• Michelle Obama
• Stephen Colbert
and
• Bob Dylan
Whats
A: I love a great romantic comedy more than almost anything. And my ideal rom-com, which I watch every November, is Moonstruck. Cher was never more gorgeous and feisty and magical. And the young, scintillating Nicholas Cage stays with her every step of the way, chewing scenery like mad. No film better captured the jaw-dropping irrationality of infatuation and lust—under a moon that makes everyone loony.
Q: What’s your favorite meal?
A: My wife and I used to go to place called Palomino that served a wonderful salmon with polenta. Just heavenly. We occasionally make it ourselves, though it never quite recaptures that old magic.
Q: What’s your favorite vacation spot?
A: The North Shore of Lake Superior, near where I grew up. Sue and I love to hike the wonderful state parks up there.
Q: What’s your favorite beverage?
A: A gin martini on the rocks that I make myself, using a quality gin like Bombay or Plymouth. I quit ordering them in restaurants because they’re never as good as my own and cost too much. A close second would be a well-made latté.
Q: What’s your favorite hobby or past-time?
A: I’ve been a photographer since I was a kid. My main photo genres have been street photography, landscapes, unusual botanicals, and travel. I’ve had five exhibits of the street photos and they’ve been in several national magazines, here and in the UK.
Q: What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: Chicken wrap using collard greens for the wrap
Music: Mongolian rock band The Hu
Movie: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Book: Any of the Slough House Series by Mick Herron
Podcast: Breakfast All Day (movie reviews)
TV: The Good Place
Netflix/Amazon Prime: Stranger Things
Miscellaneous: You Tube travel vlogs The Endless Adventure, Daneger & Stacey, and Travel Man
Richard Audry is the pen name of D. R. Martin. As Richard Audry, he is the author of four Mary MacDougall historical mysteries and three King Harald Canine Cozy mysteries. Under his own name, he has written the rip-roaring Johnny Graphic ghost adventure trilogy. He’s also the author of the hardboiled PI mystery Smoking Ruin and two books of literary commentary: Travis McGee & Me and Four Science Fiction Masters.
Connect with Richard:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon
Buythe book:
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