Flood Waters Rising
Chloe Ellefson Mystery #12

"Flood Waters Rising pits irreplaceable history against the mighty Mississippi…and it pits museum curator Chloe Ellefson against a killer. This compelling story is soaked in nature and evocative history, the perfect milieu to showcase Chloe’s twin gifts of historical expertise and supernatural connection with the emotional traces of people long-dead. Working to save irreplaceable artifacts at a historic site endangered by fast-approaching floodwaters, Chloe weathers two shocks in rapid succession: the sense that something terrible has happened at a secluded spot inundated by the Mississippi and the knowledge that a young woman has just been murdered at the nearby historic site, setting up a dual plotline story that cleverly juxtaposes the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her husband, Police Sergeant Roelke McKenna, rightly worried for Chloe’s safety, arrives, only to find that he too is in danger, setting up fast-moving events that will require them to find a killer, preserve history, and save themselves. Mystery fans who crave an intelligent story fed by deeply researched history and embellished by a touch of the mystical will love Flood Waters Rising." Mary Anna EvansBenjamin Franklin Award-winning author of The Dark Library and the Faye Longchamp Archaeological Mysterieshttp://maryannaevans.com

French businessmen began trading furs in Wisconsin in the 1650s. The lucrative trade also came under English, and later American, control. Prairie du Chien, on the upper Mississippi River, was a major rendezvous site between traders and local Native Americans. Wealthy traders hired canoe men called voyageurs to haul furs to trading posts and later return with jewelry, weaponry, fabric, and other items prized in isolated areas. Hoping to strengthen alliances with local Indian tribes, French traders often married indigenous women. Their mixed-blood children were known as métis, the French word for anyone with mixed ethnic or racial heritage. Delphine, the main character in Flood Waters Rising’s historical timeline, is a métis young woman of French and Meskwaki descent.

The timeline in Flood Waters Rising begins in 1811. Written resources from that period are rare, making the bits of material culture that have survived especially important. Folk arts are often featured in the Chloe books.  This time, the focus is on fingerwoven sashes. Centuries before anyone began weaving with looms, industrious people around the world began using their fingers to weave fibers into cloth.  The only tools needed were two hands and a stick to anchor the strands. The tradition of fingerweaving sashes became important during the fur trade era, when voyageurs considered them vital to their kit. In the story, Delphine makes a gorgeous sash as a gift for the man she loves.