Empress Helen / Strangeways Saga (ePub)

Helen Westmoreland was bored with her life of conducting seances and teaching Kiswahili classes from her mansion on Brattle Street near Boston. To reinvigorate her passions, she needed a change of venue. Ergo, she seizes the opportunity to take a sabbatical in Newport, RI, signing a three-month lease to dwell in the opulent Manner Manor. Recognizing that her life needs renewal, she sets out with her long-time boyfriend, Roddie Feyman, to win the hearts and minds of the residents of the hamlet of Belltone.

Her landlady, Miss Charity Manner, has other ideas. Though giving up her mansion because of financial straits, Charity has no intention of giving up her position in local society. As a direct descendant of Early Manner, a Quaker settler who came to Rhode Island seeking freedom (commercial, that is, not religious), she has been for many years the uncrowned queen. Until now, no one has tempted Fate by doing anything which might encourage the famous Mannerly temper, which was seen by her neighbors as a manifestation of an aristocratic nature. In deference to her refined pedigree, they granted to Charity the title of uncrowned Queen of Belltone. Unbeknownst to her subjects, however, Charity was going broke from the costs of maintaining the manor, as well as living up to her regal position within the hamlet's community. To conceal her insolvency from the Hamleteers, she spins it as an altruistic act on her part, bringing Helen, a renowned patron of the arts, to Belltone.

Helen's debut performance is a high-tech séance, using dual computers to receive and send messages via T-mail. "Thank god for this new technology," Helen says, then commences to summon the spirit of her dead husband. Not to be outdone, a jealous Charity conducts her own séance and contacts her ancestor, the Quaker oatmeal tycoon, Early Manner. And then Helen hosts an Arts Festival. And Charity retaliates with a beach party at the lighthouse where she now resides. Helen commissions a guru to teach yoga, Charity tries to expropriate the guru, and so on. The battle for supremacy is fought against a lovely seaside backdrop, where the warm summer sand runs blue with 'blood' and no quarter is given or expected.