Book review: "Death on a Longship" by Marsali` Taylor

The first novel of Marsali Taylor’s Shetland Mysteries, Death on a Longship, is a cozy mystery which takes place on a remote Shetland Island.  Taylor fills her story with local color, culture, and the indigenous people of the area, to create a vibrant backdrop for her story.

Her main character Cassandra Lynch, while in Bergen, Norway, gets a job of her dreams, being the skipper of a Viking longship for a film.  The downside is she has to return to the Shetland Islands, where she escaped some fourteen years earlier.  Now she must face all the ghosts and skeletons she left behind.

During the movie shoot, Cassie finds the starlet of the film dead on the deck of the Viking longship.  Usher in a tired trope of identical twins.  We’ve seen it before.  Favelle, the actress had a twin sister Maree, who routinely fills in for the star for certain shots.  And has mysteriously disappeared.

The questions begin quickly.  Was Favelle the intended victim? Or was someone trying to kill her stand-n sister Maree? Was Favelle mistaken for Maree?  Where is Maree? As moldy as this trope is, Taylor does manage to keep it new and not tedious. 

Another breath of fresh air is the array of characters. First, we meet a group of hardened sailors and fishermen in Shetland.  Then in a slight dig at Americans (which we probably deserve), the movie production crew descend upon the small village, rather oblivious to the local customs and ways, giving the natives much to laugh about.  The crew includes the starlet diva Favelle, her husband-director Ted, his guard-dog assistant Elizabeth, and the twin sister Maree.

Albeit later in the novel, Cassie’s internationally famous opera singer mother minces back into the scene, trying to wrest control of the situation.

Taylor keeps the plot convoluted and confusing to the readers to keep them guessing to the last minute.  In a scene, straight out of a Scooby-doo cartoon, Cassie is able to unmask the killer. 

If one enjoys cozy mysteries with a modern setting in a colorful location, Taylor’s first foray into the mystery genre is a good read.  For fans of the grittier, rougher stories, one might find this one a bit tame.           

Elaine Massacre, Arkansas 1919

The summer following the end of World War I in 1919 became known as the Red Summer, in which mobs of white men attacked and killed black men in dozens of cities across the United States.  In Arkansas, landowners used the black man's ability to read or write to their advantage and ensured the black population remained mired in debt.  

Robert Hill, a black farmer from Winchester, Arkansas, founded the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of American (PFHUA) to help farmers get fair pay for their crops and negotiate for better conditions.  

Whites saw this as a prelude to insurrection.  On September 30, 1919, the PFHUA met with about 100 black farmers at a church near Elaine to discuss their options.  They placed armed guards outside to protect the meeting.  When two deputized, white men and a black trustee showed up, shots were fired.  One of the white men was killed and the other wounded.  It has never been determined who fired the first shot, but it ignited a powder keg.

The sheriff called for a posse to capture the suspects and prevent a black insurrection.  As many as 1000 men were estimated to have answered the call.  They attacked and killed black people on sight.  Arkansas Governor Charles Brough called it a Negro uprising, saying black people planned to kill white leaders. 

Official records at the time count eleven black men and five white men killed.  Other estimates claim up to 237 black men killed.  An investigation resulted in indictments against 122 blacks for the murders of the white men.  

Twelve defendants, known as the Arkansas Twelve (or Elaine Twelve) were eventually convicted by all-white juries and sentenced to death in the electric chair.  The NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court, who overturned the death sentences since they determined the men's convictions lacked due process.  In 1923, the Arkansas Twelve were released.

Celebrating Pride Month - Remembering the victims of the Upstairs Lounge arson attack, 1973

The arson attack on the UpStairs Lounge June 24, 1973 was the largest mass-murder of gay men until the Pulse nightclub attack in 2016.  The UpStairs Lounge was on the second floor of a building on Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.

On the last day of Pride Weekend, the Metropolitan Community Church held services inside the club and then the club hosted a dinner party with free beer for their patrons.  Sixty people were inside when the fire was discovered.  Some people managed to make it to the roof from where they could access the nextdoor building and escape.  Others were trapped on the second floor.

Thirty-two people died from either smoke inhalation or fire.  The only suspect was a gay man who had been kicked out of the bar earlier, but there hasn't been any evidence that the murders were motivated by hate or homophobia.

Afterwards, several families refused to claim the bodies of their relatives.  Three men were unidentified.

South Dakota jury sentences man to death because he is gay

I have no words for this, but the closest ones I can come up with are 'disgusting' 'horrific' and 'evil'.  The jurists in this case convicted a gay man of murder, but when it came to deciding on his punishment, they opted for the death penalty, because...get this...they thought he would enjoy being in prison.  The jurists had "a lot of disgust" for Charles Rhines because it was known he was gay.  So they thought prison is just where he wanted to be.

They asked questions such as:

Would he “be allowed to mix with the general inmate population?” Would he be permitted “to discuss, describe or brag about his crime to other inmates?” Would he “have a cellmate?”

The hatred, stupidity and bigotry is clear. 

The Supreme Court has ruled that jury deliberations aren't necessarily sacrosanct if there is evidence of racial bias in the jury room.  The reporter Ms. Tabacco Mar cited a case  where evidence existed that the jury decided to convict an accused man of unlawful sexual contact and harassment because “he’s Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want,” in the words of one juror.

Although the Supreme Court has said states should prevent the harms of discrimination against LGBT people, they have decided not to step in.

Do straight people really think this is what we want? 

If that was the case, why aren't gay men committing heinous crimes to be sent to prison every day?


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/opinion/charles-rhines-gay-jury-death-row.html

Celebrating Pride Month - Remembering the victims of the Pulse Nightclub massacre

June 12, 2016, a security guard who had pledged allegiance to ISIL walked into the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida and killed 49 people with a semi-automatic rifle.  Fifty-three more were injured.  The club was hosting a Latino night so most of the victims were Latin.  It is the worst attack against the LGBT in history.  It was the deadliest mass shooting until the massacre in Las Vegas the following year. 

So many young beautiful lives cut short by hate.

You can find a list of the victims here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_nightclub_shooting