Forms of Things Unknown is Book Three in the Backstage Mystery series, and like the previous two, this one can also be read as a standalone story, but, it’s so much more fun to read them all. Lillian Nolan is back and, along with her spirit guide, Robert, she’s ready to solve another murder, whether she wants to or not. Make sure you check out my review of Book One, A Walking Shadow, and my interview with the author, Elizabeth Ireland.
Title: Forms of Things Unknown
Author: Elizabeth Ireland
Series: A Backstage Mystery #3
First Published: March 22, 2019
Categories: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Acquired: from blog tour organiser Rachel’s Random Resources
*** Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Actress Lillian Nolan is back and more in touch with the spirit world than ever before
Recently returned to Chicago after a successful tour of Hamlet, Lillian Nolan is awakened in the dead of night by a strange voice. She is shocked to learn that well known and admired actress, Louise Hawthorne, has fallen to her death from the sixth floor of the Tremont House. Was it an accident? Did she jump or was she pushed? Louise’s former lover, and the main suspect, pleads with Lillian to uncover the truth and clear his name.
In the process of learning to trust her intuitive abilities, Lillian attempts to find balance between relying upon her gift and uncovering the truth in her own way. But the menace of death pursues her and soon her own life is at risk. When she finds herself in a trap from which she cannot escape, her only hope of survival is to call upon the metaphysical world.
Forms of Things Unknown is based on an actual event which occurred in June of 1876 in Chicago. It is the third standalone book in the Backstage Mystery Series.
The series just keeps getting better
Lillian, now aged 96, is back with another memoir for her great-niece, Agnes.
Lillian’s memories take her back to the summer of 1876. She’s an accomplished actress with her own wealth and independence. However reluctantly, Lillian is quickly embroiled in another murder mystery when a fellow actress is found dead of an apparent suicide. Helping her track down the murder is her spirit guide, Robert Armin (a 16th century actor), who she communes with mainly through a form of trance called spirit writing (which I found fascinating).
I found this third book in The Backstage Mystery series my favourite of the three. As I mentioned earlier, each book in the series reads perfectly well as a standalone, but reading them together is just a treat. You really see Lillian develop – as a person, a spiritualist and as an actress – throughout the books.
I also enjoyed that this book now steps away from the theatre and more into Lillian’s personal relationships with her friends and family. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the author’s wonderful descriptions of theatre life, but seeing Lillian away from her chosen profession added another facet to her personality and character, which made her much more interesting.
As with the previous books, Elizabeth Ireland has managed to fill this one with an abundance of intriguing characters – each with distinct personalities that almost leap off the page. Her characters always seem like real, breathing people, and it makes the story much more enjoyable.
In true historical fiction fashion, the backdrop of Chicago could be a character in itself. The city comes to life in this book and the sprinkling of actual historical figures and events gives this book a realistic touch that makes you almost suspend belief that it’s a work of fiction.
I’m not sure if Elizabeth has more books planned for Lillian but I sure hope so!
THE BACKSTAGE MYSTERY SERIES
Tagline: Life upon the wicked stage can be deadly.
Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, the Backstage Mystery Series stars Lillian Nolan, an unconventional member of Chicago’s upper class who dreams of a career of fortune and fame in the theatre. Talented and ambitious, she possesses a hidden skill which she is extremely reluctant to use—the ability to communicate with those who have died and now live in the world of “The Beyond.”
The series chronicles her adventures in which she continually becomes enmeshed in solving mysteries which often require her accessing the realm of the paranormal. Filled with an incredible cast of characters—factual, fictional, and sometimes non-physical—who either help or hinder her quest for the truth, the stories take place during a a period considered to be the golden age of both acting and spiritualism in America.
Elizabeth Ireland discovered her passion for theatre early. After receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in Theatre, she accepted a teaching position in a vibrant performing arts department at a college in northern Illinois. For ten years, she taught, directed and ran front-of-house operations. American Theatre History—particularly that of the 19th century—has always been of particular interest to her.
She has been a quarter-finalist and a semi-finalist for the Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Two of her screenplays have been optioned, but remain unproduced. Her nonfiction work, Women of Vision: Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives, was published in 2008. Her work has also been published in a collection of paranormal short stories, Paramourtal: Tales of Undying Love and Loving the Undead. She lives in metro Atlanta with her ever-patient husband, and two quirky dachshunds.
You can follow Elizabeth online on the following:
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