Erin Hart was kind enough to answer a few questions about False Mermaid, the concluding book in the mystery of Tríona Hallett’s murder, first brought to light in Haunted Ground. But this is apparently not the end of Nora Gavin and Cormac Maguire. Read on for more fascinating tidbits about this series, where you can find Irish music in St. Paul, and more in Part One of this Author Q&A…
Q: The final resolution to the mystery of Triona’s death was very complex. Did you have an idea of how it was going to end back when you began writing Haunted Ground?
A: Would you believe me if I said I didn’t have a clue? That’s the truth. All I knew was that the husband was the prime suspect, and that the resolution to that story had to be more complicated than a black-and-white, true-or-false kind of solution. I can’t resist intertwined multiple mysteries. Probably one reason I’m such a slow writer!
Q: You had a lot of technical detail in this story, from the forensic botany to the fiddle playing. Talk a little bit about how you became interested in some of these areas. Let’s start with botany. Where did you hear about the plant False Mermaid?
A: For some reason, I planted a clue in Haunted Ground about leaves and seeds found in Tríona Hallett’s hair, probably thinking they could help pinpoint the site where she was murdered. So many things bob up from the subconscious! I also had a suspicion that Tríona had probably been attacked along the Mississippi River, because in some ways, the river has always been a hidden, secret place—it’s a strip of wild parkland that cuts right through the heart of a huge city. So I started combing through lists of wildflowers, trees, and other plants that grow along the river bottoms, and I struck upon False Mermaid. I’d decided to go with the selkie/mermaid theme in the novel, and it happened that the plant had exactly the sort of seed that might prove valuable as a forensic clue. I went to the University of Minnesota Herbarium to learn about the plant, and talked to botanists and plant biologists from the DNR and various universities.
Q: Your husband is a musician. I’ll bet you’ve spent many hours listening to Irish music. Does he act as your technical advisor? Or do you just observe and soak it up? Do you speak the language? And where do you recommend a reader go in St. Paul if they want to hear some good old-fashioned Irish music?
A: Yes, my husband is Paddy O’Brien — he’s a button accordion player from County Offaly in the Irish midlands. And I do spend hours soaking up Irish music—we have band rehearsals in our dining room, and of course I listen to CDs and go to concerts. You could say that my husband is a technical advisor—and not just on the subject of music! When I’m looking for a tune to express a certain emotion in a scene, he’ll talk it over with me, and offer a few suggestions. Or I’ll ask him which tune might best suit a fiddle or a flute or the pipes, and he always knows! But Paddy is also my technical advisor about all things bog-related. He grew up cutting turf by hand with his father (as in Haunted Ground), and also worked at an industrial bog where they were cutting peat by the ton (the setting featured in Lake of Sorrows). And he was nice enough to tromp around the mosquito-infested wilds of Hidden Falls with me while I was doing research for False Mermaid.
I don't play Irish music on any instrument (my hand-ear coordination is pretty bad!). I do sing a little, like my character Nora Gavin -- in the unaccompanied traditional style that's sometimes called sean nós in Irish. But living with a musician has made me pretty sensitive to instrumental music, so I have lots of tunes in my head, even though I can only whistle bits of them. I often associate certain tunes with characters in my books -- a slow air called "The Dear Irish Boy" is the theme for the red-haired girl in Haunted Ground, and various other jigs or reels are signature tunes for other characters.
People who’d like to hear some great Irish music in Saint Paul can go to Celtic Junction, a new-ish venue on North Prior Avenue. They’ve got concerts and dance events going on there all the time. The only informal traditional music sessions I know are in Minneapolis. Kieran’s on First Avenue, Sunday at noon; Keegan’s in Northeast Minneapolis on Sunday evenings (Keegan’s also has a beginner’s session on Monday evenings); and Merlin’s Rest on Lake Street on Friday nights. The Dubliner on University also has live music several nights a week, and ceili dancing on Wednesdays. The Traditional Singer’s Club also has a singing session at Keegan’s from 3-5 pm on the last Sunday of each month. Details on all these regular sessions and one-off events are listed at the Irish Music & Dance Association newsletter and website.
Q: As this is posted, you’re in the midst of leading a trip to Ireland. Have you done this before? What do you hope participants get out of this trip?
A: The tour is fully booked, we had 18 people go, and I’m hoping it’ll only be the first of many. I haven’t accompanied a tour before, and I’m excited about it. We’re visiting the bog men at the National Museum, then to the Neolithic burial at Newgrange, a 5,000-year-old agricultural settlement buried under a bog at Céide Fields in Mayo, lots of other ancient sites, and of course we’ll have music along the way as well. I wanted it to be a sort of back roads, behind-the-scenes tour of Ireland, digging a bit under the surface—a bit like the way I do research for a novel. And of course I’ll be staying on to do some real-life research for Book Four, including visiting a bog spa where you can soak in a tub of wet peat—it’s supposed to be very good for the skin! (After all, it’s done amazing things for those 2,000-year-old bog men…)
Check out part two of this Q&A to find out a lot more about themes and setting in False Mermaid and what Erin Hart is up to next. You can also find my review of False Mermaid here. Also note that there will be a special evening at Celtic Junction on Oct 29, when the IMDA will be honoring Paddy O'Brien for his lifetime of contribution and commitment to Irish music. Check their website for more info on this evening of music and fellowship.
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