Wow, it’s almost time for the premiere of “Past Malice: An Emma Fielding Mystery” on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries: January 14, 2018 at 9pm! If you want to brush up on who Emma Fielding is, how I came to start writing mysteries, what it’s like to work as archaeologist, how archaeologists are like detectives, or how to host an “Emma Fielding Mystery Viewing Party,” check out the links provided.
Good news: the first Emma Fielding mystery, “Site Unseen” is now available to watch, for FREE, on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel! That means, if you don’t get the Hallmark channels, or if you want to watch Emma’s first film foray again, you can see the movie here.
Past Malice was actually the third Emma Fielding mystery published—Grave Consequences came out before that. In Past Malice, I wanted to show how the past means different things to different people, as a source of personal or civic pride, an escape from the present, or as significant contributor to a local economy. And that’s just a start.
One of the other things I wanted to do with the book—besides have Emma solve a murder mystery!—was to show how even when you have the chance to excavate a site that was inhabited by prominent people, who were literate and left lots of documents behind, you still end up with a lot of questions. The archaeological record is not just a corroboration to the historical record: It gives us insight into the lives of people who weren’t well represented in written documents. It’s one of the best ways to learn about people who weren’t active in the business or politics of a community: women, children, Native people, servants, enslaved people, or people who weren’t literate. So even though my fictitious Chandler family was important in the history of Stone Harbor, and Emma is able to answer some questions about them—there are always more puzzles in archaeology.
And don't forget: there's an all-new Aurora Teagarden mystery, based on the books by Charlaine Harris on January 7! A new series, "Morning Show Mysteries," premieres on January 21.