Carolyn Marie Wilkins - "Mojo for Murder" - Camille Lattimer

Carolyn Marie Wilkins discusses Mojo for Murder: A Bertie Bigelow Mystery Vol. 2. She will be joined in conversation by Camille Lattimer.

At 57th Street

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About the book: There's a hex on Charley Howard's Hot Links Emporium, and Charley, a.k.a. the Hot Sauce King, is furious. He suspects that the Jamaican psychic who's been "advising" his gullible wife Mabel is a phony, and he asks choir director Bertie Bigelow to do a little amateur sleuthing to help him prove it. But Bertie's already got all the drama she can handle. The high-profile concert she's doing with The Ace Of Spades, an ageing (but still sexy) rap star, has Metro College in an uproar. Her on-again, off-again flirtation with attorney David Mackenzie has hit a dead end, and her best friend Ellen Simpson has been seduced and abandoned for the third time this year. When a Chicago Zoning Commissioner is rushed to the emergency room after filling up on the Soul Food Special at Charley's restaurant, Bertie is forced to take action. She doesn't need a crystal ball to know that there's trouble on the horizon. On the South Side of Chicago, a murderer lies in wait for Bertie Bigelow. To solve this case, she's going to need all the mojo she can get.

About the author: As a kid growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Carolyn Marie Wilkins dreamed of singing backup for Aretha Franklin while becoming the next Agatha Christie. Although she’s still waiting for Aretha to call, Carolyn is now the author of five books. Mojo For Murder and Melody For Murder feature the crime-fighting exploits of Bertie Bigelow, a forty-something choir director and amateur sleuth living on the South Side of Chicago. Carolyn’s nonfiction work includes They Raised Me Up: A Black Single Mother and the Women Who Inspired Her; Damn Near White: An African American Family's Rise from Slavery to Bittersweet Success, and Tips For Singers: Performing, Auditioning, Rehearsing. 

An accomplished jazz vocalist and professor at Berklee College of Music, Carolyn  has  performed on TV and radio with her group SpiritJazz, toured South America as a Jazz Ambassador for the US State Department, and played for shows featuring Melba Moore, Nancy Wilson, and the Fifth Dimension. When she’s not in the classroom or writing her next mystery novel, Carolyn can be found hanging out in the jazz clubs around Boston, MA.

About the interlocutor: At 80 years young, Camille Lattimer, knows a thing or two about books.  Her love of books spans several decades.  As testament, Camille has over 4,000 books in her library, an imposing dominance in her one - bedroom apartment.

The books are catalogued, sorted by authors and categories, including fiction, non-fiction, biographies, historical works and science books to name a few. As one might imagine, one of her favorites pastimes is browsing used bookstores during her many travels.

Her collection began when she first moved to Chicago after her freshman year at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Once in Chicago, she worked for Doctors Herbert & Ruth Lerner for the next 50 years, managing the office and being the front person for their thriving practice until the Lerners retired in 2007. However, while running the office, collecting books and traveling to Egypt, Africa, Japan, London, Paris and the four corners of the lower 48 states, she managed to obtain her Masters Degree in English Literature from Roosevelt University.  Her hobbies include reading, of course, playing Scrabble, swimming and traveling. And she is a member of two book clubs.

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Camille is also an active member of the Booker T. Washington High School Alumni, Chicago Chapter.  Through fundraising efforts, the group awards scholarships in $1,000 increments to qualifying students at BTW, as well as, relatives of the alumni.

Camille is single with no children.  “The books are my pride and joy”, she said.