The F.I.G. Mysteries

 Once more we welcome to this blog Barbara Casey, who's doing a virtual book tour for The F.I.G. Mysteries, a mystery available now from Gauthier Publications. The tour will run July 12, 2021 - August 6, 2021.

Barbara Casey will be giving away a $50 Amazon or Barnes&Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Please add your comment via this link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3782/

Blurb

THE F.I.G. MYSTERIES

 

Dara Roux, abandoned when she was 7 years old by her mother.  Exceptionally gifted in foreign languages. Orphan.

 

Mackenzie Yarborough, no record of her parents or where she was born. Exceptionally gifted in math and problem-solving. Orphan.

 

Jennifer Torres, both parents killed in an automobile accident when she was 16. Exceptionally gifted in music and art.  Orphan.

 

THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES: Book 1

 

Known as the F.I.G.s (Females of Intellectual Genius), three high-spirited 17 year olds with intelligent quotients in the genius range, accompany their teacher and mentor, Carolina Lovel, to Frascati, Italy, a few weeks before they are to graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women.  Carolina's purpose in planning the trip is to remove her unusually gifted, creative students from the Wood Rose campus located in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they can't cause any more problems ("expressions of creativity") for the headmaster, faculty, and other students – which they do with regularity. Carolina also wants to visit the Villa Mondragone where the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, was first discovered and attempt to find out how it is related to a paper written in the same script she received on her 18th birthday when she was told that she was adopted.

 THE WISH RIDER: Book 2

 

When Carolina and the F.I.G.s return to Wood Rose, Dara decides that she wants to try to locate her birth mother when she learns that she might be living in New York City. Carolina, Mackenzie, and Jennifer accompany her and their search leads them to a secret dangerous shadow world hidden deep beneath Grand Central, constructed in what Mackinzie identifies as chevroned magic squares—N X N matrixes in which every row, column, and diagonal add up to the same number—and cloaked in the discordant B flat minor key music that only Jennifer can hear. 

THE CLOCK FLOWER: Book 3

 

The three FIGs—Females of Intellectual Genius—graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women after returning from New York City where Dara learned why her mother abandoned her all those years ago, and they are now attending universities where they can further their special talents. This means they will be separated from each other and from Carolina, their much-loved mentor and teacher who is “one of them,” for the first time in their young lives. They vow to try living apart for one semester, in the so-called real world that doesn’t include the orphanage; but if things don’t work out, they will come up with another plan—a plan where they can be together once again. Dara is invited through Yale University to take part in an exciting archeological project in China. Jennifer, once again visualizing black and white images and the unusual sounds of another cadence that seem to be connected to Mackenzie, is engrossed in creating her next symphony at Juilliard. Mackenzie, because of her genius at problem-solving, is personally chosen by a US Senator to get involved in a mysterious, secret research project involving immortality that is being conducted in a small village in China—not too far from where Dara is involved with the archeological site. Once there, however, she finds herself facing a terrifying death from the blood-dripping teeth of an ancient evil dragon. Her best friends, the FIGs and Carolina, rely on their own unique genius and special talents to save her as she discovers the truth of her birth parents.

THE NIGHTJAR’S PROMISE: Book 4

 

Jennifer Torres, one of the three FIGs (Females of Intellectual Genius) who is a genius in both music and art, is the last to leave the closed rehearsal for her upcoming performance over Thanksgiving break at Carnegie Hall when she hears something in the darkened Hall. Recognizing the tilt of the woman’s head and the slight limp of the man as they hurry out an exit door, she realizes it is her parents who were supposedly killed in a terrible car accident when she was 15 years old. Devastated and feeling betrayed, she sends a text to Carolina and the other two FIGs—THURGOOD. It is the code word they all agreed to use if ever one of them got into trouble or something happened that was too difficult to handle. They would all meet back at Carolina’s bungalow at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women to figure it out. As soon as they receive the text, because of their genius, Dara starts thinking of words in ancient Hebrew, German, and Yiddish, while Mackenzie’s visions of unique math formulae keep bringing up the date October 11, 1943. And as Carolina waits for the FIGs to return to Wood Rose, she hears warnings from Lyuba, her gypsy mother, to watch for the nightjar, the ancient name for the whip-poor-will.

In their search for “The Nightjar’s Promise” and the truth surrounding it, Carolina and the FIGs come face to face with evil that threatens to destroy not only their genius, but their very lives.

Excerpt

From the Wish Rider:

Once the house got quiet and she thought everyone was asleep, Mackenzie sat up, fluffed her pillow behind her back, and pulled the little gold chain that turned on the white, hobnail glass lamp next to her bed.  Then she reached for the small computer that was never far away, which applied logarithms and other difficult mathematical calculations and stored information, and began methodically punching in figures.  Even as unrelated and disconnected everything seemed to be, there was a certain mathematical logic to it.  There always was, for numbers never lied.

Five different addresses from five different areas of the city; yet they were an equal distance from the center—the center being Grand Central Terminal.  It was more than just a strange coincidence, as Larry had said.  More than likely he just didn’t want them to worry.  There had to be a logical reason for it.  And what did the number “61” have to do with everything?

Mackenzie pulled up another app she had installed on her computer before leaving Wood Rose that gave a lot of the history of Grand Central Terminal and the area that surrounded it. She also wanted to research the five addresses as well and had downloaded documents she had found in public records.  The first address they were going to the next morning was in an older part of the city, she quickly discovered, but the apartment building itself was fairly new.  The original building had been destroyed by fire several years back. She tried to pull up a tenant list to see if she could get any background information on who lived there, now as well as before the building burned, but hit a dead end.

The excitement of the past twenty-four hours and her concern for Dara suddenly left her feeling exhausted. She once again pulled the little gold chain; and tiptoeing into Dara’s room, quietly slipped into her friend’s bed and immediately fell asleep. From the screen of the small computer left behind, next to the white, hobnail glass lamp, a faint light illuminated the number “61.”

Author bio and links

Originally from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history.  In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service.  In 1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and book production.        

Ms. Casey has written over a dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IP Best Book for Regional Fiction, among others. Two of her nonfiction books have been optioned for major films, one of which is under contract. 

Her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in both national and international publications including the North Carolina Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story.  A thirty-minute television special which Ms. Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina.  She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies.  Ms. Casey's essays and other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).

Ms. Casey is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she served as guest author and panelist.  She has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003.  In 2018 Ms. Casey received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest Georgia with three cats who adopted her, Homer, Reese and Earl Gray - Reese’s best friend.

 

I had the opportunity to ask Barbara a couple of questions. Her answers you can read here:

Any weird things you do when you’re alone?

I am a bit of a clean freak. Every morning after I feed the cats, I dust the furniture and hard wood floors. Once I have done that I feel I can concentrate on my work. That, and occasionally I like to sing Pucinni’s Nessum Dorma from his opera Turandot. But only if I am alone.

What is your favorite quote and why?

“Adversity is the opportunity to develop character.” I have always liked this quote because everyone has adversity in their lives, but the negative can be changed to something positive. I prefer to see a glass half full rather than half empty.

Who is your favorite author and why?

Simply for pleasure, I enjoy reading the Make Way for Lucia series by E.F. Benson, a British author from the early 1900s. I really love the way he presents his characters with all of their flaws, likeable and without condemnation, yet so realistic. These books always make me laugh.

What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

I believe it is important to never talk down to your readers. In both fiction and nonfiction, truth, accuracy, and a story line that is supported by interesting research and strong characters are the things that bring a book to life for the reader.

Where did you get the idea for this book?

When I was attending N.C. State University in Raleigh, I lived off campus and drove to the campus for my classes every day. On the way I passed an orphanage situated on a large expanse of land and surrounded by a brick wall. That memory stayed with me for years until eventually it came to life in The F.I.G. Mysteries.

Links

www.barbaracaseyauthor.com

www.barbaracaseyagency.com

Amazon Author Page with Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Barbara-Casey/e/B001K7S4IW/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1