Ask Preston & Child! discussion

I was wandering around the web, as I so often do, chasing down some photos from an incredible old and quite historic cemetery in Chicago, called Graceland.

While looking at this site I found a Pendergast who is NOT listed on the Family Tree that Corrie has put together on her website, http://www.agentpendergast.com/

Here is the link:

http://graveyards.com/IL/Cook/gracela...

Carter Henry Harrison Sr
Born: February 15, 1825
Murdered: October 28, 1893

Carter Henry Harrison Sr was elected to four consecutive two-year terms as Mayor of Chicago. Then, after an unsuccessful run for Governor, he was reelected in 1893 and served as Mayor during the World's Columbian Exposition - a significant cultural event that brought Chicago to worldwide attention. Shortly before the scheduled closing ceremonies of the World's Fair, Mayor Harrison was shot and killed in his own home by Patrick Pendergast, a delusional young man who believed Harrison owed him a political appointment.

His son, similarly named Carter Henry Harrison, became Mayor four years later.

So Patrick Pendergast evidently had that murderous Pendergast family gene...

Just found it interesting. The rest of the cemetery is incredible and I suggest you take the 'tour' through the gallery of photos - several of my family are buried there amongst the "greats". :)

I believe the Pendergast name was also
linked to some very shady politicins
some years ago.
I believe in the midwest.

Heh... I would not be surprised. Lord knows why this fellow Patrick had the idea that Harrison owed him an appointment - but maybe he's connected to that "shady politicians"-connected Pendergast. It would explain a lot.

I stumbled upon this quite by accident! I was NOT looking for Pendergast things, although I would imagine that would be a very interesting search. One day when I'm casting about for something to do, I may try it, just to see what comes up. I'm no Eli Glinn, but I could probably coax a little something out of the search engines. (my friends think I'm a google wizard, LOL!)

I believe Harry Truman was connected
to the Pendergast crowd but got away
from them.

What I mean about that he disconnected
from them so he could run for office.
He made it a point to get away as they
were pretty notorious in their day.

O.O Interesting!!! I will have to check that out someday. :)

That was fascinating! I was born and raised in Chi Town and never made it out to that cemetary. Although I have been out to Mt.Olive. I used to stop at old cemetaries all the time. The one out at Deadwood is awesome.

"Deadwood" - could they have named it any better? LOL!

Cheri, were you born in the city, or a 'burb? I was born in Elmhurst IL, grew up in Northlake. When I got out of college I lived in the city in Edgewater, and then Humboldt Park.

In 1983 I moved to Los Angeles, and that was the year that L.A. tipped the scales and Chicago was no longer "The Second City" - population-wise. I always thought that was an amusing coincidence. XD

I was born in Hinsdale, my brother in Berwyn and the sis in Lagrange. I went to school till the third grade in LaGrange and then moved to Logan Square. In HS lived at North and Pulaski. Went to Orr HS. Married and lived in Schiller park at first but then later to Hoffman Estates and Schamburg. The sis lives out at Round Lake Beach and works in Gurnee. The bro and mom are now in Kingman Arizona and I and the kids and grankids live in Las Vegas Nev. I had an aunt who lived in Elmhurst and another in Lincolnwood. All the aunts are passed away now though. I went down to Humbolt Park all the time and in fact was there when the riots broke out during the Democratic convention and the National Guard camped out in the park. First time I saw tanks and guns, lol. My oldest daughter was born in Edgewater Hospital which the sis says was torn down. I loved the old neighborhood down Addison street especially going to see the Cubs.

Ohhhh, yeah, they tore down Edgewater hospital. Man, that was some place, too! Lived in Edgewater for about four years, had some great friends and great times.

My goodness what a blast from the past to read all those place names! My parents grew up in Humboldt Park, and my father's parents house is still there.

I miss living in Chicago. Loved it, just don't miss the snow and cold weather - although while I was healthy, in the winter I used to cross-country ski on the lakefront in Edgewater. LOL!

DIANE!!! LOL I thought you were gonna say you were related to AXLP ... LOL ... omg I am gonna hurt something I am laughing so hard ... thought I was gonna have to remind you that he is a fictional character ... I live just outside of Chicago ... all those places sound familiar. OK now I am just procrastinating ... I gotta study ... LOL TTFN

LOL, Twainy. No, I'm not related to the Pendergasts, however with your deep-seated desire to knock off Helen, Viola, and now maybe LAURA, I'm beginning to think you're related to the murderous side of the Pendergast family - which seems to be ALL of them!!! XD We can make you an extremely distant distant distant cousin, so when you finally knock off all the competition and have Aloysius to yourself, it won't be considered incest. ;)

Laura? Is Twainy after Laura too?
I think Laura gets a bit uppity
once in awhile. How long will Vinnie
put up with that?
He is always going to leave when he
knows that Pendergast needs him.

Gawd. I think Twainy wants to like Laura, but she's so ready to toss anyone in the wood chipper... LOL.

You're right, Joyce, Vinnie will back Pendergast up, no matter what.

I had an awful thought... If the Gents decide to kill off Vinnie, I will scream, throw all their books into a big pile, and have an angry bonfire. Vinnie is so rock solid. They wouldn't. They can't.

And poor Proctor! I REALLY hope he was wearing body armor.

What's going to shock AXLP??? What's the big trigger that will be pulled to unleash his white hot fury?

And we won't know until Dec. 2012. Torture. This is TORTURE!!!

LOL Laura has potential ,, she just needs to take a good firm grip on the stick and remove it with a quick tugg ... she could toss it in the wood chipper ... hmmmm no killing off Vinnie ... AXLP needs someone to keep him grounded ... when I am annoyed by AXLPs uppity side I need more characters to pull him back to earth. Sometimes I think AXLP is similar to Constance ... OLDER than 40-ish ... old time money snob ...

But Twainy we love him none the less!
And that uppity side is what makes him so
interesting.
I loved it when he used to make that small
bow and bring a lady's hand within an inch of
his lips. I miss the Pendergast of the early
books.
I agree Diane. NO KILLING VINNIE!!!!
And I also like Proctor.
December 2012 is WAY too far away.

Joyce I was reading your post and it really just now hit me that according to all the powers that be December 2012 is supposed to be the end of days etc..Yes I watch the History Channel...

I wonder if Doug and Linc realize that? Is this a coincedence or purposely planned. I appreciate them giving me something good to read I just hope that I can read that fast.

I hate to see them kill off any of the characters that I feel that I have gotten to know, but when Bill bit the dust I realized that no one was safe

Somewhere in Mayan heaven, the guy who designed that calendar is snickering because he just ran out of space to put in more years and had no intention of portending the end of the world (LOL!). ;)

Actually, the Mayan calendar (and the 5th epoch) comes to an end on Sunday, December 23, 2012, but other epochs have come and gone (the 4th in August of 1987) with little catastrophe. There are supposed to be two more "age of man" epochs. Hopefully we WILL have something good to read through to the 24th. :)

I watch too much of the History Channel as well. The other night it was their take on the 2012 thing again only matching with the Mayan calandar was the I Ching and also some Native American forklore to match the 2012 prediction. Geez, does this mean I don't have to buy Xmas presents? Lol, we can read our new Pendergast novel as the world crashes around us. What a way to go!!

Cheri wrote: "I watch too much of the History Channel as well. The other night it was their take on the 2012 thing again only matching with the Mayan calandar was the I Ching and also some Native American forklo..."

Cheri, we must have caught the same show....Is that book gonna be released the first of the month?????? Should I forget about buying the Nook?

Diane wrote: "I was wandering around the web, as I so often do, chasing down some photos from an incredible old and quite historic cemetery in Chicago, called Graceland.

While looking at this site I found a..."
I went on the Cemetary Tour that you posted for us and it was something. We don't have anything close to that around here. But we do have alot of Civil War history, I wonder what the Pendergast family was up then and how far they went....I believe I am off to do some research

Heh, this is fun stuff! I was just idly looking at some photos from Graceland and look where it got us!

I have some small curiosity about the Esterhazy name. It's Hungarian, as am I (father's side), so in reading "Fever Dream" where Vinnie goes to find out more info about the Esterhazy family in Maine, a conclusion was reached that there were no more Esterhazys in that area anymore.

It got me to wondering how the Gents figure all this stuff out - I mean, I understand the power of the internet for research - this story with Judson and Helen and her twin sister (OMG) and Audubon and the bird flu &tc is so CONVOLUTED!!! Imagine the conversations that go on between Doug & Linc in trying to hash this stuff out!

Mysteries that have SUBSTANCE - that cannot be figured out by the reader before they reach the conclusion of the book - that are a real MYSTERY - this is a true art form! I love these guys and their books!

(enthusiastic fangirl gush over with, kindly return to your regularly scheduled Goodreads page) (haha!)

You said it for all of us, at least for me, I too love the substance and not being able to figure out who don it before the second chapter.
I will add a little fangirl gush with yours, there are few writers that can really hold my interest and make me crazy at the same time.
Any word on the book title winner yet?

Melody wrote: "...Any word on the book title winner yet?"

ARGH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! >.<

LOL... I'm a bit more understanding than I was a week ago. What with Amanda Knox being set free, Doug's likely to have been a bit busy... And we can't expect Linc to make the decision on his own! (heh!)

Well if we are all going to hit the grit
in December 2012 than the gents better release
that book several months ahead as we want to
be around to make comments!!!!!

Joyce wrote: "Well if we are all going to hit the grit
in December 2012 than the gents better release
that book several months ahead as we want to
be around to make comments!!!!!"

My thoughts exactly

Ladies, if my memory isn't too fried, the Leng on the family tree was the same one that was the mad scientist right???? The one that experimented on Constance. If not please help me to get the characters correctly identified. It's a shame Corrie didn't do a tree for Helen or maybe that is still to come..hint hint

Yes, the Leng on the Pendergast family tree was the one who experimented on Constance.

Considering Helen, her twin sister, and Judson, not to mention the abusive father (who it seems was ALSO a mad scientist), I'm almost afraid to wonder about the Esterhazy family tree. Certainly some Nazis in the past, I'm thinking... Even though the Hungarians were considered "untermenschen" by the Nazis, if they were blond and blue-eyed, they could "pass"...

Aloysius sure seems to attract the oddballs, freaks, and degenerates, doesn't he? Maybe Nora did the right thing by moving back to Arizona. Gawd...

If H3 isn't out by the time the world ends, I will be MIGHTY PUT OUT! (LOL!)

I second that Diane!
I wonder why the publishers made
the third book's date so late in
the year?
Usually you only have to wait a year
but this time it is 16 months.
Waaaay too long.

Yes, I know, I was wondering that myself, Joyce!

I'm now into my second reading of CV - and trying to put together the mystery that is Helen...

I'm thinking more and more that there is a LOT more going on behind the scenes with this mysterious Nazi group and Helen & Judson's involvement with them. It's beginning to look like there is a HUGE plot afoot to completely destroy the Pendergast family - and it goes WAAAAAY back to that strange connection with Wolfgang Faust and Dachau... Maybe even before. "Cold Vengeance" may have nothing to do with what Pendergast has planned for the killers of Helen (or her sister, gawd!).

I'm also beginning to think my title of "A Can of Whoop-Ass" may in fact be a pretty darned good title for this next book. Because this goes far beyond Helen, for AXLP. This goes back to the burning of the family mansion in New Orleans... And before that.

The Most Devious Gents have set a mighty mysterious kettle on to boil... Heh... It will be interesting to see what they have in store for our dear Special Agent...

I fear for his sanity... And ours!!!

I hear the Nook is good, however I don't know the details as to how it runs or works. I have the Kindle 3G and now they are coming out with the new Kindle that is supposed to work like the IPad. Haven't really looked at the new one as to how that works either. My Kindle will be a year old at Xmas and just don't want to spend the money when this one is not that old. I like using Amazon to get my books and order through the mail as well. You will have to do the homework as to the differences. I know that the new Kindle is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying an IPad.

"ACan Of Whoop Ass" just might be the
right title!
The third book is going to have so many
twists and turns.
i am so glad that corrie will be with him
in the book after that.
She will bring some sanity back to AXLP.
The Oscar Wilde bit intrigues me no end.

Yes, the Oscar Wilde tidbit has me wondering, as well. Now, there was the bit with Diogenes and Constance where they drink absinthe and he quotes Oscar Wilde. I'm thinking it may have something to do with absinthe. MAYBE...

You could be right Diane.
They did drink that absinthe didn't they?

On a new track I would love to see Nora Kelly
and Pendergast work together again. I like her
a lot and she works well with Aloysious.
And the two of them share a lot of tragedy in
their lives.

Nora ROCKS! The latent archaeologist in me just LOVES Nora. However after what happened to Bill AND her career at the Natural History Museum - and Margo - I would think Nora would just like to forget Pendergast ever existed. If we encounter her in the Pendergast book after H3, I will be very surprised.

I'm not sure I would like to experience Nora's reaction to seeing AXLP again. Actually, I think her honest reaction to seeing him again might just be visceral - to throw up. Repeatedly. And quite understandably.

I ache for Nora... Poor Bill, but even more, poor Nora...

Nora knows that Pendergast did not have
anything to do with Bill's death.
Pendergast liked Bill even if he did not
always show it.
I think Nora and Pendergast could work things
out. She is highly intelligent and a far better
match for him than Viola.
At any rate I guess we will have a long wait.

Oh, I know she knows AXLP did not have anything to do with Bill's death. It's just that I feel his mere proximity would cause all that horror to come rushing back. If I was her, I'd do what she's done, go back to the beginning - somewhere the demons aren't shouting at her - and stick my head in a hole...

Awwwwww.

I sometimes wonder why people don't run screaming away from AXLP - he seems to be a magnet for disaster.

I'm more of a Vinnie type, though. In for a penny, in for a pound. If Aloysius needs me, I'm there. If my s.o. doesn't understand, well, sobeit. In the end, if the bad guys are caught/stopped dead (pun!) in their tracks, then it's all good. Intrepid crusader.

I am a Vinnie type too.
Count me in if it will do some good.
Rember Bill Smithback when he knew
Pendergast was in town?
He knew things would start to boil up.
I miss him so much.

Aw, me too. There is a part of me that wanted to be a crackerjack journalist like Bill. I can totally identify with his desire to eat everything in sight at those fancy premieres he attended. Loved the scene when the museum was falling down over him as he hid under a table, still stuffing his face. GAWD!!! And all that with Hurricane Deck, in Thunderhead...

Yeah Bill was such a great character.
Like i said, I miss him a lot.

I can definitely relate to Bill Smithback. Until recently, I was a journalist for a daily newspaper and like Bill I always took advantage of the food! Some of the clubs I covered fed me weekly (shame on me ; ) ) but I especially enjoyed when the art society would recognize a new artist. They put on quite a spread! ;)

Oh yeah, Janice! I THOROUGHLY identify as well. I used to travel about with different musicians taking photographs, building their websites, and sometimes even running their sales table - and yeah, I got the benefits - the great food, a nice hotel room, &tc... A great deal to someone who drove a cr@ppy car and sometimes had to struggle to pay the rent - but the FOOD!!! YEAH!!! I definitely know all about that. Haha...

I'm going to guess the Gents also had that kind of existence until they "made it" - so Bill was their homage to it all. :)

I think we all enjoy a good spread.

I'm a little sad hearing that Bill gets killed. I haven't read that far yet. I've certainly enjoyed his character, and relate to his rivalry with another journalist! The "Gents" made him likeable, for sure!

ARGH, so sorry to have "spoiled" it for you, Janice! :(

P&C have told us it was one of the most difficult decisions they had to make - and a difficult part to write - as they also loved Bill. They wanted, however, to make it clear to all of us that NONE of the characters in the stories were "safe"...

Oh geez Janice. I did not know you had not
gone that far in the books.
Oh boy. When the gents say that no one is
safe in these books makes me shiver.

That's OK. No problem. Yes, no one is safe. Not even Pendergast. That's what worries me!

I think that if AXLP were to be "killed" he would likely to be "resurrected" by his fans, ala what happened to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. He tried to kill Holmes but his fans wouldn't let Holmes die.

Seriously, though. The Gents wouldn't kill off AXLP unless there was a worthy successor ready to step up... Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast Jr. ??? ;)