Mere weeks after moving into her unique one-bedroom apartment on a bluff overlooking Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, Adelia is confronted by an old man who wants to know what has been done to find a valuable locket lost in the building sometime in the distant past.
In Memories Will Always Linger, Elizabeth Tidwell brings a fresh style to historical mystery writings. Using primarily dialogue, she weaves a tale of one of Virginia's more famous post-Civil War families with the people and events of the building on the bluff. Cameo characters of the tale include presidents, diplomats' daughters, a dictator's son, and movie stars interacting with everyday students and staff of a prominent girls' prep school, a corrections department academy and a few ghosts.
Each chapter is rich with the history of a crucial time in the site's existence. Introductions for each chapter chronicle Adelia's encounters with the old man or changes in perspective as her fascination and time investment deepen. So organized, there are two surprise endings. Even the author was shocked by the locket's final resting place.
More information about Memories Will Always Linger is available at the bookstore at http://www.authorhouse.com.
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Tidwell's usual genre of history mystery is inspired by a long-time favorite author, James Michenor. However, when top officials approached her to write a political intrigue novel based at Fishburne Military School, she took her lead from a current favorite, Jack Higgins.
Still, the secret to getting it all down on computer was the 2008 Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge. Winners must write 50,000 words in November.
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Device and Deceit is Elizabeth Tidwell's second novel based in Waynesboro, Virginia. The Blue Ridge Tunnel, which figures prominently in the plot, was introduced in Memories Will Always Linger.
When a top Nazi scientist arrives in a POW camp in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, he begins to redraw plans for a lost weapon. The device, Germany believes, will disable the United States east coast, leading to America's surrender to the Third Reich or, at least, a neutrality pact. Cadets at Waynesboro's Fishburne Military School uncover the plot, also involving a top German spy, a Mennonite farmboy, Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, another high ranking general, top United States scientists and key American operatives.
Based primarily in Augusta County, action also moves from a French farmhouse and u boats in the North Atlantic to Virginia Military Institute, Louisville Kentucky, and the Pentagon.
In Device and Deceit, Tidwell builds memorable characters in unusual roles and captures the flavor and challenges of World War II life. A key feature is the real-life friendship between George C. Marshall and Morgan Hudgins, the superintendent of Fishburne Military School.
Device and Deceit
available September, 2009
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