A Memory of Muskets (A Chloe Ellefson Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Midnight Ink (October 8, 2016)
Paperback: 408 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0738745152
E-Book ASIN: B01APSYQ1A

Synopsis

Curator Chloe Ellefson is happily planning to spotlight home-front challenges and German immigrants at Old World Wisconsin’s first Civil War reenactment―but her overbearing boss scorns her ideas and proposes staging a mock battle. And when a reenactor is found dead at one of the historic site’s German farms, Chloe’s boyfriend, cop Roelke McKenna, suspects murder.

The more Roelke learns about reenacting, the more he fears that a killer will join the ranks at Chloe’s special event. Then Chloe discovers a disturbing secret about Roelke’s Civil War-era ancestors. Together they struggle to solve crimes past and present . . . before Chloe loses her job and another reenactor loses his life.

Guest Post

Please welcome author Kathleen Ernst as she tells us more about reenactments.  Seems like a lot of work to me!

A Complicated Hobby

By Kathleen Ernst

Have you ever attended a Civil War reenactment?  Perhaps a few men dressed in uniform came to your local historical society to demonstrate drill.  Or maybe you got to see a huge battle reenactment, with ten or twelve thousand soldiers on the field.

I was active in the hobby for about a decade.  I thought nothing of jumping in the car after work on Friday with a few others, driving through the night, and participating at a distant event.  While dressed in 1860s attire I had some amazing experiences, made lifelong friends, and met my husband.

That’s not to say, however, that everything is peaches and cream in the reenacting world.  Every unit has it’s own focus.  Some stress authenticity; others are more relaxed.  Some welcome women into the ranks; the very idea makes others apoplectic.  Some are willing to don Confederate or Union uniforms, depending on an event’s needs; others most definitely are not.  The diversity isn’t surprising, but I was distressed by the amount of antagonism that sometimes develops between units.

Now, years later, I’ve put some of my memories to good use.  My latest Chloe Ellefson Historic Sites mystery, A Memory of Muskets, has curator Chloe busy planning a Civil War-themed special event for the site where she works, Old World Wisconsin.  She and her maniac boss have very different ideas about the appropriate approach.  The discovery of a dead reenactor at a restored German farm doesn’t help.

The book also features a plot strand set in the 1860s, letting readers see the struggles facing newly-arrived German immigrants as the Civil War disrupts their plans for peacefully settling into their new homes.

Readers have told me that one of the things they enjoy about the Chloe Ellefson series is the chance to peek behind the scenes of the historic site and museum world.  In A Memory of Muskets, you can also glimpse the complexities of reenacting.

About the Author

Kathleen Ernst is a former museum curator who remains passionate about history!  In addition to the Chloe Ellefson Historic Sites series, she has written many books for American Girl, including nine about the historical character she created, Caroline Abbott. Over 1.5 million copies of Kathleen’s 33 titles have been sold. The Chloe series has earned a LOVEY Award for Best Traditional Mystery, and several of her mysteries for young readers have been finalists for Edgar or Agatha awards.

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