The Alchemy of Murder
Page 38
My knees and my courage are turning to mush and I keep imagining I’m letting up the pressure on the struggling serpent. Or maybe I’m not imagining it.
I know I can’t keep this awkward stance any longer. I have to do something now before the darkness completely embraces me.
The creature underfoot thrashes violently, whipping its whole body. It starts slipping out from under my shoe and I scream as I push down on it again, my heart pounding so hard that I’m breathless and sway dizzily, almost losing my footing.
Shutting my eyes tightly, I ask God for help. I don’t think He will listen; unfortunately I’m one of those people who never talks to Him unless I’m up to my neck in alligators, but I try anyway, though I don’t think that the Good Lord would approve of my present association with the dark side of Egyptian magic.
I can’t be left blind in the darkness with a deadly snake. I need to get both feet on the snake and jump up and down until I’m sure it can’t harm me and get to the torch before it dies.
I start to bring up my other foot up as I look down.
It’s gone.
The snake has slipped out from under my foot.
Mortified, I can’t move, can’t breathe. It could strike at any second.
Mother of God, how did I get myself into this mess? Ancient curses, magic amulets, esoteric mysteries from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, murder and fanaticism—it’s all insanely bizarre for a young woman from Cochran Mills, Pennsylvania, population exactly 534.
As the darkness closes in on me and my breathing takes on the hoarse rasp of a death rattle, I ask myself what I could have done differently when I decided to flush out a killer in a land blessed by the sun and damned by ancient curses.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Hildegard Krische, who was sent to me by the heavens above—she is my guardian angel—you will never know what you have done for me and what you mean to me.…
To Doctor Pasteur, who saved my life—
as a child I was bitten by a rabid dog.…
To Nellie Bly, who gave me life.…
and
To Cenza Cacciotti, my incredible soul sister,
who keeps me sane and very happy, and
I truly don’t know what I’d do without you.…
Thank you very much.
As always, there is a host of people who deserve to be acknowledged for their help and support and just being fabulous friends who understand and put up with me. The list would be endless, and I hope there will be more books so I can give each of them their just deserve. With this first one, I want to thank Ghyontonda Mota for giving me immense support, encouragement, and, most important, helping me survive this crazy journey—thank you a million times. To David Young, who kept my hands and body functioning, Nellie might have not been written if you hadn’t spun your magic—thank you. Harvey Klinger, an amazing man who has always given me a chance and believed in me—thanks for not only being my agent, but also an extremely true-blue friend. My sis, Gen-Foxey, who gave me faith in fairy tales—love you. My mother, who not only gave me the opportunity to write Nellie, for which I will always be thankful, but also a deep, precious understanding of life. I will always be extremely grateful to Bob Gleason, my editor, who made this happen—thank you. And to Ashley Cardiff, who kindly kept me on track—you’re a real trooper—and Eric Raab, who took a helpful interest in Nellie. Then there’s my copy editor, David Stanford Burr, who did an absolutely incredible job—wow! Linda Quinton, I wish I could say the right words to let you know how much I appreciate you—you are not just a wonderful person who took a bold chance with me, but someone I consider a true friend, always. Last, but by far not least, Tom Doherty, a gentleman and a man who has given countless opportunities to so many writers whose voices would never have been heard—thank you for letting Nellie’s voice be heard again.
P.S. I feel it’s very important to acknowledge people who give you a smile when you so desperately need it and a kind word that keeps you moving forward. They are little gestures that turn a crappy day into a happy one. This is to some very special people in the village of Dennis, where I live, who did this for me when I most needed it—thank you from the bottom of my heart.… Sarah Humphrey; Brad Tripp; Tony Itri; Paulo Murta; Laurie Desso; Lorraine Steele; Stephany Hutchinson; Maureen Costa, who always had such a beautiful smile on her face; Emily Hennigan; Roseanne Smith; Dr. Kristine Soly; Dr. Jamie Nash; Sasha Reljic; Suzie Maguire; Deb Leo; Cathy Connolly; Su Pratt; Barbara Wells, our incredible librarian; Dr. Blake and Judy Blake; and my new friends at Pilates Plus, Michelle Mashoke, Kerstin Holve, and Chrissie Mashoke. And a couple of people not on the Cape, but who need to be here, Carlo Trinidad and Elvin Alvarez.
NELLIE BLY
circa 1890
Praise for The Alchemy of Murder
“The Alchemy of Murder showcases an appealingly flesh-and-blood Nellie Bly, one of the first women to break into a man’s world as an adventurous and plucky investigative journalist.”
—Booklist
“A superb historical mystery told in the first person by the intrepid heroine.”
—The Mystery Gazette
“This is an entertaining book, and McCleary does a great job of dropping the reader right into the Paris of the late 1800s. Adding real-life authors such as Oscar Wilde and Jules Verne into the mix is just the icing on an incredible cake. We loved this book from cover to cover.”
—Central Crime Zone
“Carol McCleary cleverly mixes fact and fiction to create a gripping mystery novel. Nellie Bly, intrepid reporter, goes into the madhouse looking for an exposé, and comes out on the trail of a serial killer.”
—The Province (Vancouver)
“Packed with historical detail and humor.”
—Elle magazine (U.K.)
“An entertaining mystery, it actually works.”
—The San Francisco Bay Guardian
“With a trailblazing heroine, a compelling plot, and a masterful melding of fact and fiction, The Alchemy of Murder is imaginative, original, and wonderful!”
—Mary Jane Clark, New York Times bestselling author of Dying for Mercy
“Meet Nellie Bly, America’s first female investigative reporter. She’s feisty, funny, opinionated, persistent, and as tough as any male she meets. She has to be because, in The Alchemy of Murder, she’s swept through a tale of peril and pursuit that is sure to keep you turning pages long after you should have been asleep. You’ll find yourself on the mean streets of nineteenth-century New York, in Victorian London, and finally in Paris as the Eiffel Tower rises and deadly things—men and microbes—stalk the streets. It’s dazzling entertainment, so well constructed that you’ll want to reread it right after you’re done. All this and it has Oscar Wilde, too!”
—William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of City of Dreams
“The Alchemy of Murder is a wonderful evocation of Paris in the late 1880s. Nellie Bly, American investigative reporter, is beautifully re-created here—strong, smart, and believable. With Jules Verne as a sidekick, and Louis Pasteur and Oscar Wilde in major roles, this is a book for everybody.”
—Barbara D’Amato, Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner, past president of both the Mystery Writers of America and the Sisters in Crime International, and winner of the Carl Sandburg Award for Excellence in Fiction
“This is just the kind of book I like—atmospheric, intriguing, rife with drama. What a fabulous debut!”
—Brenda Novak, New York Times bestselling author of Body Heat
“A historical murder mystery with a fantastic bluestocking detective—Nellie Bly, the world’s first female reporter—with cameo roles by Oscar Wilde, Jules Verne, and Louis Pasteur, this is set in Paris in 1889 and is, I hope, the first in a long series.”
—Kate Forsyth, international bestselling author of The Wildkin’s Curse
“Carol McCleary’s The Alchemy of Murder is rollicking good fun. The idea of starring the great Nellie Bly in a novel of suspens
e is such a natural that it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before. But if it had, I doubt any other writer would have done it better. A historical period that includes Joseph Pulitzer, Oscar Wilde, Jules Verne, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Jack the Ripper requires an artist of McCleary’s talents to do it justice.”
—Loren D. Estleman, winner of two American Mystery Awards, four Shamus Awards, finalist for the National Book Award, and author of The Branch and the Scaffold
“What a great idea for a novel. Nellie Bly is one of my favorite characters. This book more than lives up to the drama and suspense that are still part of her aura.”
—Thomas Fleming, president of the Society of American Historians, winner of the Lincoln Prize in History for Lifetime Achievement, and author of the New York Times bestseller The Officers’ Wives
“Gripping, atmospheric, and exciting, The Alchemy of Murder takes Victorian mystery and science beyond The Alienist by having one of the most amazing women in American history put together a Victorian era CSI to battle a deadly plot: Nellie Bly, the world’s first investigative reporter, teams with the great microbe hunter Louis Pasteur, Jules Verne, who invented science fiction, and Oscar Wilde, who shocked even the scandalous Victorians, to combat a threat more menacing than that in The Hot Zone.”
—Barbara Wood, #1 international bestselling author of Hounds and Jackals, whose books have been translated into thirty languages
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE ALCHEMY OF MURDER
Copyright © 2009 by Carol McCleary
All rights reserved.
A Forge® eBook
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-6175-2
First Edition: March 2010
First Mass Market Edition: March 2011
eISBN 978-1-4299-9176-6
First Forge eBook Edition: March 2011
* A second attempt didn’t fail. President Carnot was murdered by an anarchist in 1894. President McKinley of the United States, Czar Alexander of Russia, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, King Umberto of Italy, Prime Minister Canalejas of Spain, King George I of Greece, and countless others were also assassinated by anarchists. —The Editors.
* This is a song by Aristride Bruant, Montmartre’s poet-songster. —The Editors.
* Nellie is not being candid about her education. The story about leaving school because of a “heart problem” was told after she became a famous reporter. School records state Nellie left before completing the first year of high school due to financial problems.—The Editors.
* Nellie subtracted three years off her age to keep a “girl reporter” image. She was twenty-one at the time. Her charade has been successful. Even the Encyclopedia Britannica lists her birth date as 1867, rather than the actual date of 1864.—The Editors.
* Nellie’s Mexican adventures were later published in a book as Six Months in Mexico. Always for the underdog, Nellie, while visiting a graveyard in Mexico, saw a tombstone with no name and no epitaph except the initials T.M. Feeling the “loneliness” the grave’s occupant must have felt at having been forgotten, she surreptitiously carved “R.I.P.” on the headstone. It turned out to be the grave of General Tomás Mejía, who bravely faced a firing squad alongside Emperor Maximillian.—The Editors.
* Ten Days in a Mad-House was also published as a book under Nellie’s name.—The Editors.
* For once Nellie is being modest. During her madhouse caper, a newspaper reported the “pretty crazy girl … speaks French, Spanish and English perfectly.” (New York Sun, October 5, 1887)—The Editors.
* Poverty, hunger, and the rights of workers were subjects Nellie was particularly sensitive about. Besides many news stories showing the plight of the poor, she dramatized it in fiction. In a poignant scene in her novel, The Mystery of Central Park, when her heroine visits the morgue, she sees the body of a streetcar driver who, out of work during a strike, killed himself because his family was starving.—The Editors.
* Gaston fired the shot outside right after Jules left his own home. The bullet initially missed Jules, but it ricocheted and struck his left leg, seriously wounding him. Jules carried the pain and a limp for the rest of his life. Gaston had been employed by the Foreign Service at the time. Police attributed the shooting to a mental defect. Gaston was institutionalized after the stranger-than-fiction incident.—The Editors.
* The Krafft-Ebing report was one of the century’s most influential studies of sexuality. —The Editors.
* Coincidentally, this description of the Rat Mort (Dead Rat) Café is almost the same description Émile Zola used in his 1880 risqué novel of Parisian theater life, Nana. The café in Zola’s book might have been the Rat Mort, thinly disguised as “Laure’s.” We don’t know how Nellie ended up with a similar passage in her journal notes. It’s probable they both visited the café when Laure was there.—The Editors.
* For a man who had written only two plays, and highly criticized poetry, Oscar managed to get an attractive offer during that dinner to write a book. Arthur Conan Doyle sold the publisher his second Sherlock Holmes story, The Sign of Four. Wilde sold the publisher the concept of a book that ultimately became The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was published in 1890. The publisher asked Oscar for 100,000 word book and got a much shorter one—and the reply that “There are not 100,000 beautiful words in the English language.” The Dorian book essentially launched Oscar’s career as a brilliant writer.—The Editors.
* Oscar got his first taste of real literary appreciation with the Dorian book the following year. Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge poster started him on the road to fame the next year, 1891.—The Editors.
* In a bizarre twist to this Victor Noir story, Jules’ publisher purchased a manuscript from a man named “André Laurie” who was actually Paschal Grousset, the radical who sent Noir to challenge the prince to a duel. Jules worked over the story and it was published under his name. Laurie was the pen name of Grousset, who went into exile after being a Commune leader.—The Editors.
* One must not judge Nellie’s artistic judgment too harshly. Van Gogh shot himself the following year near Paris, dying at the age of 37 after having sold only one painting in his lifetime.—The Editors.
* One of the radicals hanged for the assassination attempt on Alexander III was the brother of Lenin, the founder of the Russian Communist Party and first leader of the Soviet Union. —The Editors.
* Guy de Maupassant’s brother died in 1889 and Guy went into deep depression. In 1892 he tried suicide by cutting his own throat and was institutionalized. He died the following year at the age of 42. Part of his mental problems were the result of advanced syphilis. The brother of Edmond Goncourt, who satirized Oscar Wilde in his Journal, also died of the big pox.—The Editors.
* This statement about the future of war, which has a Jules Verne futuristic flavor to it, was first made by Oscar at the lunch he had with the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the American publisher in September 1889, two months before he attended the world fair with Nellie and Jules. In his own autobiography, Conan Doyle reported Oscar’s comment as, “A chemist on each side will approach the frontier with a bottle.” A. Conan Doyle, Memories and Adventures.—The Editors.
* Lord Somerset spent the rest of his life in exile in France. His lawyer back in London went to jail for bribing witnesses to flee the country. The inclination toward manly love ran in the family. One of Somerset’s brothers was divorced by his wife on the grounds that he had abandoned her for a man.—The Editors.
* The Mystery of Central Park, published October 12, 1889. Her detective, Penelope Howard, solved a murder in Central Park.—The Editors.
*
Jules kept his word. Mrs. Branican, in Verne’s book of the same name, was inspired by Nellie’s will and determination.—The Editors.