Can You Ever Escape the Past? A guest post by Daniella Bernett

RHYS BOWEN: I met Daniella when I was in New York for the Edgar celebrations this year, and I promised her a visit to Jungle Reds when her book came out. So here she is, talking about a checkered past. I expect many of you have had one. I know I have!
. Welcome, Daniella.

Daniella Bernett   Jungle Reds Blog post 

Past Crimes: The Fatal Trespass

I would like to thank Rhys Bowen for inviting me to Jungle Reds. After admiring her writing for such a long time, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting her in person in April at the Mystery Writers of America’s pre-Edgar Awards gathering at the Mysterious Bookshop in New York. Rhys, you were gracious and charming. I hope I didn’t gush too much as I basked in the glow of your presence. And now, here I am once again rubbing shoulders (figuratively) with all of the Reds, each bringing her own engaging style to the mystery world.

I’m delighted to let everyone know that A CHECKERED PAST, the fourth book in my mystery series featuring journalist Emmeline Kirby and jewel thief Gregory Longdon, will be released on September 29 by Black Opal Books. The story is set in contemporary London, but it bears the scars of shameful betrayals of decades that have come and gone.

This begs the question: Can you ever truly escape the past? Isn’t it the shadow that stalks your footfalls? Doesn’t it rise from the ether like a mist’s moist caress to send a frisson slithering down the spine? This is when danger can strike without warning because the past holds the key to everything one feverishly struggles to keep locked away. But the past drags one back.

My story was inspired by sheer, unadulterated fury and a desire to ensure that we, as a civilized society, should never forget the dark sins perpetrated during the Holocaust. It is inconceivable to me that in 2018, well into a new century, survivors and their families must endure lingering indignities as they continue to fight to have the property stolen from them restored. Some say that I’m overly sensitive and take things too personally. Perhaps, I do. But what is the alternative? Numb indifference and that is unacceptable.

In A CHECKERED PAST, I sought to put a personal face on this heart-breaking tragedy, which is still very much alive for so many. When treachery and lies are someone’s modus operandi, confronting ugly truths can be a lethal endeavor as Emmeline learns while pursuing an investigative series on looted Nazi art. Her research and uncomfortable questions stir up a cauldron of trouble when a Constable painting belonging to a prominent Jewish family that she knows is discovered in the collection of Max Sanborn, the chairman of the company that owns the Clarion newspaper where she is employed. Her reporting quickly garners Max’s ire. To complicate matters, Emmeline stumbles upon a disturbing connection between the painting and a sinister IRA collaborator named Doyle.

Gregory, a criminal with a sense of honor, is just as resolute in his efforts to prevent Emmeline’s

quest from becoming a perilous obsession. Through his shadowy contacts he seeks to help her, but his own illicit choices in life keep getting in the way and threaten to destroy everything they hold dear.

If you’re haunted by a checkered past, you’re living on borrowed time and soon there will be no place left to run. The day of reckoning must come. But when desperation is laced with fear of justice long-delayed, the only way out is murder.

If A Checkered Past piques your interest, don’t miss Lead Me Into Danger, Deadly Legacy and From Beyond The Grave, the first three books in my series, where Emmeline and Gregory put their lives at risk when they’re thrust into imbroglios involving Russian spies, stolen diamonds, duplicity and blackmail. 

Daniella Bernett is a member of the Mystery Writers of America New York Chapter. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Journalism from St. John’s University. Lead Me Into Danger, Deadly Legacy and From Beyond The Grave are the first three books in the Emmeline Kirby-Gregory Longdon mystery series. She also is the author of two poetry collections, Timeless Allure and Silken Reflections. In her professional life, she is the research manager for a nationally prominent engineering, architectural and construction management firm. Daniella is currently working on Emmeline and Gregory’s next adventure. Visit www.daniellabernett.com or follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008802318282 or on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/40690254-daniella-bernett.