Interview with Giselle Cole,
(Martha Rose’s younger sister)
By Mary Marks
(Martha Rose’s younger sister)
By Mary Marks
My name is Giselle Cole and I am Martha Rose’s half-sister. On a whim I spat into a bottle and sent my DNA to Deep Roots to be analyzed. That’s how we found each other—through the Deep Roots data base. We had the same father, Jacob Quinn Maguire. He disappeared around thirty years before, so after we met, the two of us decided to search for him and bonded over that experience.
Since then, we’ve become family. My fiancé Harold and I drive to Martha’s almost every Friday night for the Jewish Sabbath or Shabbat. Did I mention I’m Catholic? You might be wondering how a Catholic and a Jew could be sisters. It’s no mystery, really. Martha’s mother was Jewish and mine Catholic. Since our father was absent, our mothers determined how we’d be raised.
Anyway, that’s knot why I’m telling you this. (LOL. Get it? Knot instead of not?) I recently helped her investigate the death of Royal St. Germain, the leader of the Mystical Feather Society. I wasn’t present when he was shot to death at their commune in Ojai, California. But Martha and Birdie and Lucy were. You know them, right? Part of our Tuesday morning quilters group?
Anyway, we really wanted to discover who killed him, so we had to think of a way to go back to the commune undercover. We posed as spiritual seekers and signed up for a weekend class in Tarot card reading. Our friend Jazz came with us (and brought his Maltese Zsa Zsa Galore along. She rides in a tote bag wherever he goes).
Boy, was that class fun. I mean, where can a gay menswear designer, a Nigerian/American woman, a Jewish quilter and an oil company owner/CEO (that’s me) find common ground? Our curiosity brought us together. And our teacher was great. It turned out he had a few secrets of his own. After class we went hunting for dead bodies.
Martha (I call her my Sissy) and I make a great team. Since I’ve known her, I’ve helped her investigate three murders. This was our fourth effort together. It doesn’t take much to investigate. You just have to be curious, nosy, not afraid to ask questions and dedicated to the truth no matter what it takes. It doesn’t hurt to also be able to tell a lie with enough conviction so people will believe you.
Another thing I learned from my Sissy is quilting. Until I met her, I didn’t know a thing about quilts. Then I remembered my Grandmother Eagan (my mother’s mother) was working on one when she died. The pattern was Grandmother’s Flower Garden, which is a mosaic made of two-inch cotton hexagons pieced together by hand. That pattern must’ve been thought up by the devil, because it takes forever to put together one of those quilt tops. No joke. Anyway, my Sissie and the other members of the Tuesday morning group have all been helping me to finish my grandmother’s endless project.
Anyway, I hope you like the story Knot of This World. It’s Martha’s account of what actually went on at the Mystical Feather commune. Happy reading!
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Knot of This World (A Quilting Mystery) by Mary Marks
About Knot of the World
Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Publisher: Kensington (July 28, 2020)
Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
Quilter Martha Rose must patch together the clues to solve the murder of a cult leader in the California mountains . . .
Has Martha’s fellow quilter and dear friend Birdie Watson become unraveled? Birdie and her new husband have decided to join the Mystical Feather Society, a spiritist group living on a commune in the mountains of Ojai, California. Before her free-spirited friend makes a huge mistake, Martha organizes a surprise visit to check out the commune. While white-robed members conduct a seancé in a glass yurt, their leader—Royal St. Germain—is nowhere to be found . . . until, that is, Martha and her friends discover him shot in their Winnebago. Now Martha must track down the killer and debunk the cult—before it's bye bye Birdie . . .
About Mary Marks
Born and raised in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Mary Marks earned a B.A. in Anthropology from UCLA and an M.A. in Public Administration from the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. In 2004 she enrolled in the UCLA Extension Writers Program. Her first novel, Forget Me Knot, was a finalist in a national writing competition in 2011. She is currently a reviewer of cozy mysteries for The New York Journal of Books at www.nyjournalofbooks.com.
Author Links:
Kensington: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/9781496720511/knot-of-this-world/
Website: https://marymarksmysteries.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mmarks2013
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I enjoy this series a lot. I recommend it. I've read it in book release order.
ReplyDeleteThis cozy looks fun. I get a kick out of all the puns used in these and I really enjoy reading them. Thanks for this opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good series, I love cozy mysteries.
ReplyDelete