Charlotte Van
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Charlotte Van
The Phaedra Chronicles
by Charlotte Van
This third book in the Phaedra Chronicles series takes Phaedra, Tyler and his band on the road, launching his new musical project. All goes well until they run into an unscrupulous producer and Phaedra takes it upon herself, using her private investigation experience to take care of the situation.
Then the past rears its ugly head when Nick persuades her to go with him to see their dying mother, whom Phaedra has hated most of her life.
Back home, she and Ty have an argument and he leaves. How will they save their relationship?
What are you supposed to do when the career you chose for yourself when you were still
a kid dwindles into near nothingness? You turn those damned lemons into lemonade -
one of my lover Tyler Powell’s favorite sayings.
As Ty prepared to release his new music and start along his new path, I decided to
become a VLOGer and turn the adventure he and I had experienced in the chronicle I call
“The Box” into a series of videos telling the story of the mysterious Flamel box and how
we’d solved the mystery. It turned out to be a hit, for history buffs and Tyler Powell fans
alike.
When Ty told me that he wanted me to be with him on the tour that had been set up to
promote his new EP, I knew I couldn’t just tag along. I needed to be useful. So I decided
to be the band’s tour VLOGer, posting on-the-fly videos showing the fans what goes on
behind the scenes of a rock and roll tour, up close and personal. It would drive EP and
concert ticket sales.
My idea worked well, and I was actually having fun doing it. But things hit a snag when
we reached Evanston, Illinois. I came across a situation that called for me to don my
private investigator hat, and bring the hammer of justice down on a couple of jerks trying
to do damage to Ty and his band.
Then when my brother Nick got word that our mother was dying of cancer, he and Ty
badgered me into going with Nick to see her. It was the very last thing I wanted to do, but
the two of them were pushing me to make amends with her - a woman who made my
childhood hell.
And there was Tyler’s and my relationship. I had to come to grips with my hard reticence
about taking us deeper, knowing that my attitude could cost me the only man I’d ever
allowed myself to become so completely close to.
What was I going to do?
A San Francisco native, I pulled locations for these books from the experience of growing up in the Bay Area
I was fortunate enough to have been born in San Francisco at just the right time to be starting college when the whole Haight-Ashbury/Hippie thing began. While I was never deep into all that, I ended up married to a guy who was working in the music biz there as the music equivalent of back-of-house. As a result, as the saying goes, I got to see all the cool bands. That experience, coupled with learning a lot by osmosis about how the music business works from my husband’s subsequent years in the world, gave me the insight I’ve put into “The Phaedra Chronicles” stories. And my own years-long love of detective fiction and the “Thin Man” movies gave rise to making that love the inspiration for Phaedra’s choice of careers. Beyond “The Phaedra Chronicles” books, I have several projects in the works. One of them is a legacy project - the updating and editing of a fantastic manuscript written by my father back in the late 80’s and left to me when he passed - with a main character who is a tribal police chief as well as a powerful hereditary medicine man. I look forward to completing this project and publishing it before year’s end. Writing is what keeps me busy from day-to-day, and I love that I’m able to share what I’ve transferred from my head to the written page. Follow me here and on my Facebook author page (https://www.facebook.com/CMVan88) to see backstories, to keep up on what’s coming when, with maybe a few extra tidbits here and there. And I’d like to hear from you, too.
The Phaedra Chronicles
The Phaedra Chronicles are first person stories of the adventures of Phaedra McCaffrey, a young private investigator in San Francisco.
The books follow not only her investigating experiences, but also her personal love life with her first real client, rocker Tyler Powell. Two stubborn, headstrong people, their relationship alternates between passionate interplay and passionate arguments, creating friction neither of them quite knows how to handle.
While the first book, "The Spandex Murders", deals with, obviously, murder, the other two books, “The Box” and “The Road” deal with mysteries and situations that are much closer to home for Phaedra, and test her skills and emotions.
The Phaedra Chronicles
"The Box" is the second book in the "Phaedra Chronicles" series, and follows main characters Phaedra McCaffrey and Tyler Powell as they navigate their new relationship and at the same time try to solve a mystery that arrives to Phaedra in an inheritance from a great-aunt.