Book Title: Zig Zag Woman Series:
Author: Roberta Tracy
Publication Date: April 16, 2024
Publisher: Historium Press
Pages: 248 pp.
Genre: Historical MysterY
Zig Zag Woman
by Roberta Tracy
The last thing LAPD Detectives McManus and Tyson expect to find behind Pantages Theatre is a body rolled up in a blanket. The last thing Margaret Morehouse, one of the city's first policewoman with arrest powers, expects to do is join the investigation. When a deadly explosion at the L. A. Times derails their efforts, Margaret finds herself at a crossroads and strikes out on her own, a path leading to delusion and self-discovery on a vaudeville stage. Her husband's nephew Leland further complicates the situation by sharing a ransom note and confiding his failure to report his wife's disappearance at the Dominguez Air Meet.
A brief stint as a magician's assistant takes Margaret to Chicago, where she almost signs on as a zig zag girl, the term used for ladies performing in the "cutting-a-woman-in-two"
illusion. Instead, Margaret returns to the tumultuous world of early twentieth century Los
Angeles. Reunited with McManus and Tyson, she confronts prejudices and societal norms in efforts to identify a body, clear Leland's name, and topple the stranglehold one powerful, amoral person has over many lives. Their efforts lead to dead ends and misconceptions before truth comes to light. Love is rekindled and danger uncovered in unlikely places. Margaret goes from Zig Zag Girl to Zig Zag Woman, no longer cut in two but headed on a clearer path.
READ AN EXCERPT FROM ZIG ZAG WOMAN
Gasps arose from the uninitiated audience. After Marco waved his hands in front of Margaret's eyes, she pretended to fall into a wide-eyed trance and swooned into his arms. He gently lowered her limp form onto the table. Giacomo helped him position the cabinet in such a way her hands stuck out through the top holes and head extended beyond the semicircular neck opening. Two feet jutted out the opposite side. They weren’t hers, although the shoes were identical.
She drew her knees up to her chest. Secreted in the lower half of the table below, the kitchen lad extended his stockinged feet in ladies’ shoes through the opposite end. There was enough space between his head and her bottom for two audience volunteers to pull an enormous saw through the soft wood without injuring either of them. The men looked horrified; whether from the wink and smile her head gave them or the grisly deed they might have performed, she would never know.
Early experience as a staff greeting card writer introduced Roberta Tracy to witty people who shared the writer’s dream. Marriage, motherhood, and career intervened, but she maintained that creative desire.
A degree in nonprofit management led her to work situations where newsletters, grant proposals, and business correspondence took precedence. Still, she wrote poetry, some of which won prizes and publication, and children’s books set in worldwide locations. Recently, she co-authored Come Dream With Me, a part travelogue, part hippie nostalgia work of creative nonfiction, detailing the adventures of colleague Inese Civkulis.
No matter what writing projects unfold in the future, she'll never find enough words to thank family and friends for their inspiration and encouragement.
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Thanks so much for hosting Roberta Tracy today, with a short, enticing excerpt from her mystery, Zig Zag Woman.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Cathie xx
The Coffee Pot Book Club