A Note from the Author
Thank you for spending time in 1895 London with Violet Abrams — and with Bernie, when the occasion demanded it.
The Empty Chairs is the first book in what I hope will be a long series of cases for Violet, Detective Flanahan, Artie, and the rest of the Carter Square household. The Victorian world they inhabit is one I've fallen completely in love with — the fog, the gaslight, the photography studios and police stations, and East End streets where Yiddish mingles with cockney. There's so much more of it to explore, and the dead, as Violet would tell you, are rarely finished talking.
Book Two, The Arranged Death, is already waiting for you — and it's winter now, the cases are darker, and Violet's secrets are becoming considerably harder to keep.
If you have questions about the world, the characters, the history behind the fiction, or anything else that caught your attention, I'd love to hear from you.
Head over to the Camera Macabra Discussion Board right here on World Anvil. I'm there, I'm reading, and I genuinely enjoy talking about this story with the people who've found their way into it.
The next case is just around the corner. Violet's already at the camera.
— Julian
I took a look and I really like how the scene with the empty chairs already feels charged with atmosphere the way the quietness reflects deeper tension and mystery makes it compelling right away. The characters’ reactions to the emptiness hint at layers of past events and unspoken history. What do you want readers to feel or discover next about why those chairs are empty and what it means for the people connected to them?