When my second mystery novel “Murder at the Art Fair Raises the Stakes” was written I had already created the character of Dr. Jessica Shepard, who was introduced in my first mystery novel “Murder on the Mountaintop Leads the Way.” As I create the plots that my protagonist unravels through the course of my mysteries, I also wish to pose questions about thorny issues that are of current importance.
With “Murder at the Art Fair Raises the Stakes” the two themes I chose to fold into the plot were the long-term effects of traumatic events and the importance of interactions with family and friends to prevent a sense of social isolation. This mystery centered around events that had their origin in the tumultuous and frightening era of pre-World War II Germany and how they continued to extend their effects to modern day America through the people traumatized by them, as well as the succeeding family members connected through the generations. I attempted to show that the balm for such unhappiness can be the engagement of family and friends who provide the healing needed to handle it.
Social media platforms allow greater connectivity than anyone might have imagined prior to their introduction into the mainstream of daily life. Whether it be websites accessed through computers or applications downloaded to mobile devices, they almost demand connections between people to be maintained. Yet at the same time they can enhance a sense of social isolation leading to lower confidence and motivation to engage in social interactions, which can lead to depression, anxiety, and despair.
I also touched upon the fact that although technology allows greater facility in our lives, it does have its drawbacks, and to some its use can be a source of stress. In this second mystery in the series, I enfolded the issue of facial recognition technology and the controversies surrounding its use, such as rapid recognition versus the potential for invasion of privacy. But other technological devices, even a basic cell phone or a laptop computer, although providing essential connectivity so essential for engagement, can be fraught with inherent problems – risk of hacking, software inadequacies, again the potential for invasion of privacy.
As our country and our world also struggles with these issues, particularly now, it is so important to think about them, and how they can be understood, and how each individual can try to affect a sense of control over them to prevent trauma, social isolation, and stress from having deleterious effects.
Reading and writing are such basic functions. Yet what sources of knowledge, enjoyment, and understanding they can be. Even here, there are some (myself included) who love the feel and smell of a book in paper and the feel of a pen in the hand, while others derive the same enjoyment reading an e-book or tapping out a story on computer keys.
I hope that my mystery novels can positively contribute to these positive qualities.
Enjoy!
