Spirits to Enforce: A Magical Mystery...With a Ghost

by Flo Fitzpatrick

Charlee Maguire is providing a group of bankers through the Chufih Street Theatre, with entertaining tales of hauntings during the worst storm to hit Shelby County, Alabama in fifty years. After the rains and wind die down, she discovers the body of a magician known as Odilo, who performed at a casino down the street. With the help (or hindrance) of Lady Val Baudin, a 19th Century spirit who used to perform (and ply another trade) at the theatre, and a handsome suspect, Charlee searches for answers she hopes will lead her to Odilo’s killer. But someone has other plans. In keeping with the traditions of magic, the murderer is determined to keep from revealing any secrets, including identify, even if Charlee ends up joining Lady Val as another Chufih Street Theatre ghost.

284 pages, Paperback

Published May 29, 2016

About the author

Flo Fitzpatrick’s first attempt to enter the field of literature was a work of science fiction called “The Bug on the Wall.” It consisted of two sentences. “There was a bug. It was on the wall.” She was five at the time, so perhaps the brevity of this piece was understandable.

She grew more adventurous and at age eight wrote two chapters of what was intended to be a full-length novel entitled, “The Skinner Family goes to Ireland.” The plot consisted of the Skinner family heading over to Ireland to visit their Aunt Donna who lived on a potato farm and owned a swimming pool. Flo’s older brothers, twins, were somewhat skeptical that the Skinners would make it to Ireland traveling across the Atlantic from New York to London by train. (Flo has since pointed out that the English Channel now boasts an underwater transportation system leading from England to France and that she was just ahead of her time.)

She earned a B.F. A. in Dance and an M.A. in theatre, then spent her years after college shuttling back and forth from New York to her native Texas working as a dancer/singer/actress, teaching dance and acting, and choreographing for various theatres and community colleges. During her career in theatre, Flo has played nice ladies (Nellie-South Pacific), not-so-nice ladies (Lily St. Regis-Annie), funny ladies (Jane-Fallen Angels) singing ladies (Cherie -Bus Stop), dancing ladies (Vibrata - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) and even dead ladies (three murdered hookers in Jack the Ripper!) The last, she claims, was tough. She had to spend the first ten minutes of the show lying on the floor not breathing. Flo still loves wacky characters both on and off stage.