SALT LAKE CITY, December 16, 2019
Christine Fraizer’s novel, contracted with WiDo Publishing’s hybrid imprint E.L. Marker™ this month, is part mystery, part ghost story, part period drama and all engrossing. In this richly detailed and thoroughly-researched novel, readers are introduced to the characters of Agnes Davenport and Viola Tripleton, who meet by chance on a train.
The year is 1917 and Agnes Davenport, an aspiring detective writer, is headed to Salt Lake City looking for a story. Viola Tripleton is a bootlegger who makes a killing selling tax free alcohol in dry states. Agnes needs a story. Viola needs a place to store her goods. When Viola tells Agnes of an abandoned Scandinavian church in Salt Lake City purportedly haunted by the ghost of a woman murdered there, Agnes agrees to help with Viola’s bootlegging business in exchange for help with the investigation. Agnes lands a story worthy of famed detective writer Nick Carter, and Viola operates a booming business under the cover of Agnes’s address.
At least that’s the plan. Agnes’s research uncovers grisly details of the woman murdered at the Scandinavian Episcopal Methodist Church and of the man who killed her. The more Agnes learns, the more she questions what she thought she knew. At the same time, Viola’s plans are disrupted by the sudden appearance of her estranged daughter. What began as a mutually beneficial business agreement, ends up changing the lives of Viola and Agnes in ways they couldn’t have imagined.
Fraizer’s initial inspiration for her novel came from an article on a series of murders committed in Salt Lake City over one hundred years ago. In 1895, the wife and newborn child of Rev. Francis Hermans both died under unusual circumstances, and Henrietta Clausen, a Scandanavian immigrant and parishioner of Hermans’s church, mysteriously disappeared. When asked about Henrietta’s absence, Hermans claimed she had left the city in humiliation. The reason? He had refused her advances. No one questioned Hermans’s story. After all, he was a man of God. Henrietta was a household servant. Hermans was charismatic and attractive. Newspapers described Henrietta as gangly, unattractive, and awkward. Shortly after Henrietta’s disappearance, Hermans left town. Months later, Henrietta Clausen’s remains were discovered in the church furnace. Rev. Francis Herman was never found.
With her novel, Fraizer gives life to the tragic Henrietta Clausen, and through the characters of Agnes and Viola examines questions of gender roles, faith, cynicism, and voice. It is Fraizer’s desire to give voice to the voiceless that drew her to WiDo Publishing™. “WiDo Publishing attracts a diverse group of writers… such unique voices,” she says, “and I am truly grateful the WiDo family is giving me a chance. I want to give women voice, particularly during periods when their voices were denied and ignored.”
This new addition to WiDo’s E.L. Marker imprint tells the story of two strong women determined to establish lives independent of the times and search for something beyond the expected.
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Christine Fraizer is managing editor for a non-profit in the field of emergency medical services. This work is where she gained an appreciation for telling stories of the vital but often unappreciated contributions of emergency medical personnel. Writing allows her to enter a world of discovery.
Fraizer’s first book describes her son’s relationship with her father. Her son has Down syndrome, and her father was a renowned mechanical engineer at Argonne National Labs near Chicago. During her father’s later years, he developed dementia, which put him on a cognitive collision course with his grandson. As Fraizer’s father’s abilities declined, her son became the cognitive equal of her father. They shared a space the rest of the family could only observe, yet neither recognized what was happening. The book took third place in a state writing competition.
Fraizer’s education background is in science and journalism. She worked in news for many years, covering government, school boards, fire and police, leaning toward human interest and feature stories, rather than straight news reporting. She enjoyed interviewing the people behind the story, how the actions of government affected their lives or how they rebuilt their lives following unexpected events. Interviewing people remains a major part of her work. Rather than follow a list of questions, she lets the conversation develop.