It’s the roaring twenties, and San Francisco is a hotbed of illegal boozing, raw lust, and black magic. The fog-covered Bay Area can be an intoxicating scene, particularly when you specialize in spirits…
Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown’s illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act.
Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who’s more comfortable with guns than ghosts—unfortunately for him, he’s the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida’s supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her…
On the hunt for the curseworker responsible for the hex, Aida and Winter become drunk on passion. And the closer they become, the more they realize they have ghosts of their own to exorcise…
Interview with Jenn Bennett
1. Tell me about your new release, Bitter Spirits.
Thanks so much for having me on your blog! BITTER SPIRITS is the first book in my new Roaring Twenties historical paranormal romance series: in 1920s San Francisco, a scarred man known as the Viking Bootlegger falls wildly in love with a spirit medium when he’s haunted by the ghost of a dead prostitute in Chinatown.
2. How did you come up with the idea for the series?
I also write the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series, and originally, the Roaring Twenties also started as urban fantasy. But somewhere along the way, I realized that what I enjoyed writing best were the character interactions and their relationships. So I scrapped the first incarnation and started again, this time focusing on the romance between the hero and heroine. After that, all the pieces fell into place.
3. What made you pick this time period and what kind of research did you have to do for this or for Aida’s profession?
I’ve been fascinated with early 20th century culture since I was a teenager–the 1920’s in particular. Over the years, I’ve amassed a small library of research material, including maps, magazines, books, and photographs from that era. In regards to Aida’s profession as a trance spirit medium, that was rather fun to research. Spiritualism’s heyday lasted from the second half of the 19th century through the 1920s, and during that time, several mediums made splashy national headlines–like the Fox sisters or Cora Scott or Paschal Beverly Randolph. Even President Abraham Lincoln attended seances organized by his wife!
4. Have you had any experience yourself with ghosts?
Someone close to my husband’s family claims to be able to see ghosts. When she was a teenager, she walked into my husband’s childhood home and said it was teeming with ghosts and has since refused to step foot in there again. My mother-in-law often reports unexplainable things happening in that house–strange noises, lights flickering, objects disappearing and reappearing in different places–but I’ve never experienced anything spooky there myself.
5. What are you working on now?
Quirky young adult contemporary romance (which is an absolute joy to write), and a third book in the Roaring Twenties series.
Lightning Round
1. Favorite Food
This week, it’s Castelvetrano olives (bright green and buttery, from Sicily).
2. Favorite Scary Movie?
Either Susperia or The Shining.
3. Favorite Holiday?
Halloween, hands down!
4. What one thing would people be surprised to find out about you?
When my husband and I lived in the Los Angeles metro area, I had season passes to Disneyland and went, like, all the time. I knew every secret nook in the park, had a favorite hotel room that overlooked waterfalls (in the Bonita Tower of the Disneyland hotel), and rode Pirates of The Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion rides an obscene number of times. My dirty little secret is out!
About the Author:
Jenn Bennett is the author of the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series from Pocket Books and the Roaring Twenties historical paranormal romance series from Berkley. Born in Germany, she’s lived and traveled extensively throughout Europe, the U.S., and the Far East. She currently lives near Atlanta with one husband and two very bad pugs.
Jennifer’s Review of Bitter Spirits
Review (5 Stars): What an amazing book! I loved everything about Bitter Spirits from its fascinating characters to the intriguing supernatural world of the 1920’s. I loved having Winter and Aida together as a couple because they just fit so well together. Winter was a bootlegger haunted by the death of his wife in a car accident that left him physically scarred. He had such a towering presence that affected everyone around him, but Aida was the only one who saw him as handsome while the rest of the world labeled him a monster.
Aida was my favorite because she had this firecracker personality and made a living as a spiritual medium in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She was not only haunted by the spirits that she could see in her everyday life but by the death of her own family. Forced to survive at a very young age, it made her a strong interesting character, which is what I loved about her.
Bitter Spirits is an exciting supernatural mystery that will leave you spellbound. Ms. Bennett has created an amazing supernatural world that I can’t wait to visit again. Looking forward to her next release in the series, Grim Shadows, which features Winter’s brother, Lowe.
No comments yet.