How did you become interested in Absinthe?
I learned of it a long time ago while reading a biography of Oscar Wilde. They claimed it was his favorite libation and that he was particularly fond of the ritual that went with drinking it. I was intrigued, but many years passed before I got around to researching what that ritual was.
Absinthe was very popular among the artists and writers of the 19th Century and is particularly associated with the Belle Epoch café society in Paris. Its legendary fans include Degas, Van Gogh, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Picasso, and of course, Wilde.
Hemingway also drank absinthe. My favorite quote from him is, "Got tight last night on absinthe. Did knife tricks."

Describe the Absinthe drinking ritual.
Because the herbal ingredient called wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) was so bitter, the liqueur needed sweetening in order to be palatable. Because sugar does not readily mix with alcohol, the
absinthe ritual was born. A sugar cube was placed on a slotted spoon over the glass containing a shot of clear peridot green absinthe. When icy water was drizzled through the sugar to melt it, it begins to louche. That is, the clear liqueur becomes cloudy and palest jade in color. This signals it is ready to drink. My main character in the book calls this ritual "watching the clouds come out."

Isn't Absinthe illegal today?
Classic absinthe made with wormwood was banned for sale in the U.S. in 1915 as part of a general temperance crackdown on all intoxicating beverages. Wormwood was thought to cause hallucinations and is still prohibited as a food additive by the FDA. The active ingredient in wormwood is thujone which is chemically similar to the THC found in marijuana. It is important to note, however, that the DEA has never designated Absinthe as a controlled substance and wormwood is not classified as a drug.
Today, modified versions of absinthe can be found here. Pernod, for example is simply absinthe without the wormwood. Another absinthe taste-alike is called Absente which contains a mild form of wormwood approved by the FDA. If you want to drink the real thing, though, you will need to travel to England, Spain, or the Czech Republic.

What were the historical underpinnings for The Second Glass of Absinthe?
Leadville was hit by its first labor strike in the May of 1880 and many of the details presented in the book actually happened even though the Eye Dazzler mine was a fictional creation. That summer also saw the arrival of the railroad and former President U.S. Grant was the celebrity "first passenger" on the train. The event I describe was taken, in large part, from actual news stories in the Leadville Herald.

How did you become interested in Leadville?
I lived in Frisco, Colorado, for nearly ten years and visited Leadville often. It was only a half-hour drive from my home. So much of Leadville's astonishing history has been eclipsed by the Tabor-Baby Doe story that I longed to write something else, anything else. Tabor's influence so dominated the Leadville landscape that it was impossible to ignore him, but I did not make him a main character, at least.

How did you go about researching Second Glass?
A wealth of information exists about this time period in Leadville. I was even able to look at old tax maps to know where everything was situated and the names of all the hotels, music halls, mines, restaurants, and saloons. Leadville was a wild place in 1880. Anything could happen and usually did. I was lured there for the same reason as my main character, Kit Randall: the promise of sex, drugs, and rock n'roll.
What fascinated me most was the collision of Old West and New West–for example, they already had telephone service by 1879, yet still routinely lynched people on those omnipresent telegraph/telephone poles.

The occult plays a large role in the book. Why is that?
The Victorians were obsessed with the occult. Spiritualism had been on the rise since the end of the Civil War. I think the unprecedented loss of life in that conflict wounded the soul of the entire nation and there was a great hunger to make contact with all those lost loved ones.
Bella Valentine's idol, Madame Blavatsky, was a real person. Some credit her with starting the movement we now loosely refer to as "New Age." Her books are still in print.
Spiritualism was not considered a legitimate calling by some, but they had national organizations and held conventions, just like any other profession. Séances were popular, sometimes as mere parlor entertainment, but more often taken quite seriously by many including captains of industry like Cornelius Vanderbilt and novelist Arthur Conan Doyle.

Is it true you have a wolf tattoo just like the one you describe Lucinda Ridenour wearing in the book?
Absolutely! It was a case of life imitating art. I wrote about it and then decided I wanted one for myself. Why should my characters have all the fun? The tattoo is based on the logo of my former bookstore, Wolf Moon Books.

Was Solomon Spring a real place?
Yes, I learned about the Waconda Spring in north-central Kansas while researching An Uncommon Enemy. The mineral waters of the spring were thought to hold wondrous healing properties by the Indian tribes who made pilgrimages there. When white populations moved into the area, they bottled and sold the waters as a miracle elixir. A health spa was opened at the site in the early 1880’s and continued in operation until the 1950’s. The Spring was dredged in 1895. They found countless Indian offerings and artifacts, plus one item they did not expect– a human skull. What mystery novelist could resist this setup?

Was Eden Murdoch, the main character of AN UNCOMMON ENEMY and SOLOMON SPRING, based on a real person?
Eden Murdoch is a fictional creation, but was inspired by two separate events. Custer mentioned in his field report, filed the morning after the battle, that they found the body of a white woman in Black Kettle's camp. He did not identify her and never mentioned her again, though he wrote extensively of the Washita Battle in later years.

The identity of this mystery woman has never been solved by scholars, but it must be assumed that it was not the body of another white captive, Clara Blinn, who was found a week later in another location. Despite this lack of documentation, General Sherman, Sheridan's superior, used it as conclusive proof that Custer struck a hostile camp, when he testified before Congress on the matter.

My novel poses the question, what if that woman had been found alive, and what if she did not tell the story the Army longed for her to tell? What if she instead gave an articulate report of the battle from the Cheyenne point of view?

Eden's character was inspired by the story of another white captive, Cynthia Ann Parker, a woman "captured twice," as Eden was. Parker was captured by the Comanches, lived among them, married into the tribe, and lived there for more than two decades before being "recaptured" by the Army and forced to return to white civilization against her will. She was never able to see her children again, one of whom grew up to be the great Comanche chief, Quannah Parker.

What historical resources did you utilize?
I found the Congressional Record from 1868-9 to be invaluable. Each of my chapters begins with an actual quote from some real-life person who was involved in the conflict. Most of those quotes were from the Congressional Record since Congress held extensive hearings into the Battle of the Washita. Custer wrote about the Indian Wars in a number of magazine articles that were later published in book form called, "My Life on the Plains, or Personal Experiences with Indians." It's still in print after all these years. Plus Custer's personal correspondence is available on microfilm from the New York Public Library.
In addition, I strongly recommend Stan Hoig's "The Battle of the Washita," and Jeffrey Wert's Custer biography.

Will Eden appear in any future novels?
Yes, she shows up in THE SECOND GLASS OF ABSINTHE. She must save Brad’s nephew Kit Randall, when he is suspected of killing the wealthy woman with whom he lived in Leadville. Colorado.

What prompted you to write fiction and not practice law?
I moved to Colorado in 1993 and was not licensed to practice law in that state. I did not plan to get licensed because the town I lived in was too small to support a practice.
I was raising two sons who were quite small at the time and I used to take them on hikes in the mountains. Because I lived near Breckenridge in what used to be an active 19th century mining district, the surrounding countryside was dotted with old ghost towns. I loved to explore them with my sons, collect old square head nails and fantasize about what life must have been like there a hundred years ago.

I began to study the histories of these old towns in earnest and soon found stories and characters churning in my imagination. That first summer, I started writing Never Come Down. The first line of that novel was actually inspired by a then-popular bumper sticker: “There are no rules above ten thousand feet.” That slogan was taken very much to heart by the locals and its theme would probably have suited the nineteenth century residents as well.

Both UNCOMMON ENEMY and SOLOMON SPRING contain murder mysteries as part of the plot. Are you experimenting with a Western mystery crossover?
I love writing mysteries. They impose such a strong discipline on the plot. A single misstep can spoil the whole book, so it’s a technical and creative challenge. But I don’t actually think of my books as “mysteries” per se. I try to tackle many themes in my novels. If a book has only one layer to it–whether it be mystery, romance, suspense or whatever–I come away feeling unfulfilled. I try with every book I write to gain an additional measure of depth. I hope that each of my novels is more complex than the last or I will feel that I have failed.

I am actually trying to create my own “genre.” I call it the “Victorian West.” These are stories set in the American West of the 19th century that are peopled with more than the stock characters of gunslingers, cowboys, and mountain men. There’s nothing wrong with such characters, I just want to explore new areas. The West was a fascinating and diverse place. And still is, of course!

Give me a 'picture' of a typical Michelle Black day, including when you write, where, for how long, etc.
I spend very little time writing, but think about the story I am working on almost constantly. I even dream about it and have woken up in the middle of the night with new plot twists. I keep a special notebook on my bedside table It is a terrific little device that lights up when you remove the pen. This is kinder to my spouse than turning on the light. He only wakes up a little.

Like everyone else, my life tends to race along. There seldom seems to be enough hours in the day, but that is good. I hate boredom worse than anything My newest hobby though is horseback riding. I bought a horse with the book advance I got for Solomon Spring, so I named the horse after the book. I ride with an Australian saddle. I wish I could met more people who favor an Australian saddle, because I have no idea if I am using it correctly. I’ve never found a riding instructor familiar with Australian forms of equitation.

I recently bought my “dream home.” All my life, I have wanted to live in a little log house in the Rocky Mountains and now I finally do. It is located just west of Pike’s Peak, near Divide, Colorado. The town is called Divide because it literally sits on the Continental Divide, at about 9,000 feet above sea level.