Upas Street: Shocking Specter (The Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries) - Softcover

Joseph, Sherrill

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798986509228

Publisher: Quince Street Press, 2024

Synopsis

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

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!

About this title

About the Author

Sherrill Joseph was a shy kid whose BFF was Nancy Drew. From her, the author learned to read well, seek adventures, be kind and fair, help others everywhere, and become a mystery author someday.
 
Convinced early on that she was an architect in a former life, Sherrill was receptive to the magic of her Southern California neighbor­hood's historic houses. To this day, she dramatizes those old "castles," filling them with captivating mysteries, conspicuous staircases, a ghost or two, and exaggerated occurrences.
 
The author graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from San Diego State University. Once retired in 2013 after teaching kids for thirty-five years in the San Diego public schools, the inner child in Sherrill created the award-winning Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries series so her grandkids and all kids can gallop with her and her four forever-thirteen-year-old sleuths in their standalone cases after clues to nab the bad guys.

From the Inside Flap

My heartfelt thanks to Universal Pictures, its atmospheric horror films, and its stable of immortal monsters for their pro­found influence on my life and writing. Wrapping a mystery around those magical elements was a glorious obligation fulfilled. So, if I may tweak Dr. Frankenstein's words, "Upas Street: Shocking Specter, you're alive!"

I also thank the entire movie industry from The Golden Age of Hollywood that spanned the decades of the 1930s and '40s. Some of the most iconic films, with their glamorous stars and talented production crews, poured out of the studios and into theaters everywhere. Thank you, film pioneers, for your technological advances in sound, visuals, and color that we expect and, perhaps, take for granted today.

Films then were a tonic of hope and entertainment to many unemployed, war-weary Americans dealing with the Great Depression (1929 to 1941) and World War II (1939 to 1945). Citizens of all ages, including children, packed theaters at the whopping rate of 85,000,000 per week! People were united across huge regions because of shared experiences in front of "the silver screen." A mass cinematic culture was born. Applause to the motion picture industry for all those gifts and my love of popcorn.

I hope you will enjoy this book from my heart to yours. Then, see you at the movies! Please remember to salute our brilliant film pioneers. And don't forget to pass the popcorn.

Edition details

• Publisher: Quince Street Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798986509228
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 213