Upas Street: Shocking Specter

 Do you dare enter Dr. Frankenstein’s la-BOR-uh-tree? 

 

Upas Street: Shocking Specter

The Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries Book 6

by Sherrill Joseph

Genre: Middle Grade Paranormal Mystery

 

A fearless quartet of teen sleuths, the Botanic Hill detectives, travel to Llanfair, a fictitious Welsh village in present-day California, to solve the mystery of the Shocking Specter.

The green-glowing apparition reportedly roams the countryside, setting fire to buildings and meadows during the new moon. The occurrences began shortly after a motion picture stagehand Scotty Roberts’s accidental death by electrocution in this case inspired by the filming of Universal Pictures 1931 classic horror movie Frankenstein.

Supernatural?

Coincidence?

Or is criminal activity at work?

And why, nearly a century later, has the Shocking Specter returned?

 

Readers will enjoy learning about real-life horror film star Boris Karloff, Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, other key players in the movie’s production, and some early Hollywood cinematic history. Our fabulous four might need to kick some monsters to the curb to solve this challenging mystery!

GUEST POST

Q: You and your detective character, Rani Kumar, have synesthesia. What is synesthesia?

A: Synesthesia is my superpower! Synesthesia is a mental ability, or condition, that two to four percent of the world’s population is born with. Synesthetes have extra connections in their brains between senses that aren’t normally joined. This allows a crossover of the senses to occur, and one sense comes through as another. For example, Rani Kumar and I have lexical-gustatory synesthesia, the rarest form (0.2% of the world’s population). We taste or smell something when we hear a word or name. For example, Rani says her name makes her taste raw green beans. My name Sherrill makes me taste cherry jelly. My last name Joseph makes me taste a Mounds candy bar (coconut and dark chocolate). Not all tastes are pleasant, however, and we can’t control the taste and aroma sensations that occur. Basically, we experience the world in a different way from most people. Research reveals that synesthetes are often creatives, e.g., Billie Eilish, Lorde, Beyonce, Pharrell Williams, Duke Ellington, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Geoffrey Rush, Leonard Bernstein, Franz Liszt, Richard Feynman, Marilyn Monroe, Vladimir Nabokov, Arthur Rimbaud, Vincent Van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, and Aristotle. Synesthesia has enhanced my ability to write more descriptively. It is often hereditary, but I know of no one in my family who had or has it. Sometimes, that makes me feel lonely. Perhaps that’s why I created a character with synesthesia.

Q: Which of your four detectives is the most like you? How do these personal connections enhance the authenticity of your characters and stories?

A: All four detectives are like me to some extent: I have Lanny’s love of reading, words, old movies, and detective stories. Lexi and I are both emotional, “hands-on,” love literature, and try to be positive. I am a twin as are Lanny and Lexi. I have Moki’s dry sense of humor, love of pineapple, and fear of snakes. And Rani and I are both lexical-gustatory synesthetes. But all my detectives have much more courage and poise than I had at their age. I hope my young readers will take after them! I believe that many authors put something of themselves into their characters and stories, which can help create a more authentic experience for the reader since the writing comes from experience and knowledge

Amazon: https://a.co/d/bbbffYW

 

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https://bit.ly/ShockingSpecterTour