June Trop – Ladies of Mystery

Meet Miriam bat Isaac

I’ve modeled my heroine, Miriam bat Isaac, on the woman known as Maria Hebrea, who probably lived in Roman-occupied Alexandria (Egypt) during the first century CE. I encountered her work when taking a course on the Historical Development of Concepts in Chemistry.

Ordinarily chemistry is taught from the perspective of what we know now without delving into how the concepts evolved over the millennia. So, when the professor assigned a paper on a historically significant concept, I had no idea of a topic. That is, until in desperation, I went to the university library to roam the stacks.

I don’t remember exactly how it happened—did I bump into a bookcase while looking to the heavens for inspiration?—but a moment later, a weighty tome fell on my toe and opened to a page about Maria Hebrea. And so, I began to wonder how a Jewish woman from Ancient Alexandria became the legendary founder of Western alchemy and held her place for 1500 years as the most celebrated woman of the Western World.

Sixteenth Century Depiction of Maria Hebrea

In the alchemical literature, Maria Hebrea is also referred to as Mary the Jewess or Miriam the Prophetess, sister of Moses. Like her, all alchemists wrote under the name of a deity, prophet, or philosopher from an earlier time to enhance the authenticity of their claims or shield themselves from persecution. Although the tradition among all the crafts and mystical cults was to guard the secrecy of their work, persecution was a real risk for alchemists, who could be accused of and summarily executed for conspiring to debase the emperor’s currency.

Accordingly, Maria Hebrea worked anonymously. Hundreds of years later, however, another alchemist, Zozimos of Panopolis, celebrated her contributions. And so, with just a little tweaking, I had enough information to resurrect the once famous Maria Hebrea and create Miriam bat Isaac, my sleuth extraordinaire.

Miriam bat Isaac’s Adventures

Published in paperback and e-book by Level Best Books in February 2024

Miriam bat Isaac has recorded her nail-biting adventures in novels, novelettes, and short stories. Her most recent volume, The Deadliest Returns, is a book of three novelettes about returning, whether it means going back or giving back. In the first, “The Bodyguard”, Miriam’s brother, a renowned gladiator, returns from the dead to serve as a bodyguard back home when his employer retires Alexandria.

In the second, “The Beggar”, an old man disguised as a matronly beggar, returns to Alexandria to learn the fate of the lovechild he was forced to leave behind to escape the wrath of Roman law. And in the third, “The Black Pearl,” Miriam, having come into possession of the cache of jewels heisted from the Temple of Artemis, sails to Ephesus to return the treasure. The prized gem, however, a uniquely lustrous black pearl, disappears. With the power to heal the brokenhearted and restore the health of the one possessing it, could the pearl’s mystical properties be the motive for murder?

If, like Miriam, you thrive on uncovering the guilty longings, secrets, lies, and evil deeds of others, then as Miriam’s deputy, you will have ample opportunity to indulge your fancies. So, escape the monotony of everyday life and plunge into that rousing world of adventure in three of her most daring exploits.

To purchase The Deadliest Returns from Amazon

For the e-book, click here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV4TTX3T

For the paperback, click here: https://www.amazon.com/Deadliest-Returns-Collection-Miriam-Novelettes/dp/1685125859

As an award-winning middle school science teacher, June used storytelling to capture her students’ imagination and interest in scientific concepts. Years later as a professor of teacher education, she focused her research on the practical knowledge teachers construct and communicate through storytelling. Her first book, From Lesson Plans to Power Struggles (Corwin Press, 2009), is based on new teachers’ stories about their first classroom experiences.

Now associate professor emerita at the State University of New York, June devotes her time to writing The Miriam bat Isaac Mystery Series. Consisting of short stories, novelettes, and several books, some have won modest recognition, such as being named a finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award.

June, an active member of the Mystery Writers of America, lives with her husband Paul Zuckerman, where she is breathlessly recording her plucky heroine’s next life-or-death exploit. She’d love a visit at www.JuneTrop.com or on her Facebook page, June Trop Author, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044318365389, where she publishes a blog every Tuesday afternoon about writing, the history of science, or life in Roman Alexandria.

Ancient Roman Forensics

As the author of the Miriam bat Isaac Mystery Series set in first-century CE Roman-occupied Alexandria, I regularly research the investigative techniques used in Roman times. In writing my latest book, The Deadliest Deceptions, a collection of short mysteries ranging from cozy to noir, I found myself focusing on Roman forensics. No, the Romans didn’t know about fingerprints and DNA, but in time, their courts accepted evidence based on blood spatters, dental characteristics, and pattern recognition.

Perhaps the most famous case based on blood spatters was “The Wall of Handprints”, in which a blind son was accused of killing his father for his inheritance. The prosecution argued that the father was asleep with his wife, his son’s stepmother, when his son stabbed him to death. Furthermore, the father died instantly without having awakened his wife, and the son left a trail of intermittent handprints and blood spatters on the wall from their room back to his own.

On the other hand, the defense attorney claimed that it was the stepmother who killed her husband. Upset that she would lose the inheritance, she framed her stepson. The lawyer successfully argued that the son, being blind, would not have left intermittent prints. Rather he would have dragged his hand along the wall. So, despite their lack of knowledge about the components of blood, the Romans used its prints and spatters to reconstruct the crime.

Julia Agrippina, a.k.a. Agrippina the Younger, used dental characteristics to confirm that Lollia Paulina was dead. Having ordered Paulina’s suicide, Agrippina confirmed her rival’s death by asking for Paulina’s head and inspecting the teeth herself. She must have been satisfied because she did not have anyone else killed for five more years.

Pattern recognition marks convinced the Roman emperor Tiberius that his praetor’s wife died by murder rather than suicide. He saw drag marks and other signs of a struggle to contradict the husband’s claim that his wife had jumped out the window while he was sound asleep. Tiberius referred the matter to the Senate, but alas, the praetor opened his veins instead.

Roman forensics may date back two thousand years, but even modern evidence from blood spatters, dental characteristics, and pattern recognition can be wrongfully interpreted. Just not in my stories. You can depend on Miriam bat Isaac and her assistants to look at wounds, loss of body heat, skeletal proportions, blood spatters, foot prints, and disturbed foliage to assess a crime correctly.

THE DEADLIEST DECEPTIONS

Enter the world of first-century CE Roman Alexandria and participate in the perilous adventures of Miriam bat Isaac, budding alchemist and sleuth extraordinaire. Join her and her deputy Phoebe as they struggle to solve nine of their most baffling cases beginning with the locked-room murder of a sailor in which Miriam is baffled by not just who killed the sailor but how he could have died and how the killer could have entered and escaped from the room.

But be careful as you accompany them into the city’s malignant underbelly. Whether or not you can help them solve the crimes, your blood will flow faster as you escape to that world of adventure we all long for.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon for Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Deadliest-Deceptions-Collection-Miriam-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0BT3W7V1B

Amazon for Paperback https://www.amazon.com/Deadliest-Deceptions-Collection-Mysteries-Mystery/dp/1685122752

June Trop and her twin sister Gail wrote their first story, “The Steam Shavel [sic],” when they were six years old growing up in rural New Jersey. They sold it to their brother Everett for two cents.

“I don’t remember how I spent my share,” June says. “You could buy a fistful of candy for a penny in those days, but ever since then, I wanted to be a writer.”

As an award-winning middle school science teacher, June used storytelling to capture her students’ imagination and interest in scientific concepts. Years later as a professor of teacher education, she focused her research on the practical knowledge teachers construct and communicate through storytelling. Her first book, From Lesson Plans to Power Struggles (Corwin Press, 2009), is based on the stories new teachers told about their first classroom experiences.

Now associate professor emerita at the State University of New York, she devotes her time to writing The Miriam bat Isaac Mystery Series. Her heroine is based on the personage of Maria Hebrea, the legendary founder of Western alchemy, who developed the concepts and apparatus alchemists and chemists would use for 1500 years.

As an award-winning middle school science teacher, June Trop used storytelling to capture her students’ imagination and interest in scientific concepts. Years later as a professor of teacher education, she focused her research on the practical knowledge teachers construct and communicate through storytelling. Her first book, From Lesson Plans to Power Struggles (Corwin Press, 2009), is based on the stories new teachers told about their first classroom experiences.

June, an active member of the Mystery Writers of America, lives with her husband Paul Zuckerman, where she is breathlessly recording her plucky heroine’s next life-or-death exploit.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044318365389

Website https://www.junetrop.com/