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Sharon Virts, a New York Times bestselling author, joins David McClam to discuss her latest book, "Graves of Truth," which was released just before Halloween on October 29, 2024. This atmospheric historical mystery thriller delves into a series of suspicious deaths among Baltimore's elite during the Reconstruction era, exploring themes of deceit, mental health, and the societal constraints faced by women of the time. Sharon shares her unique writing process, emphasizing the importance of character development and the balance between historical accuracy and narrative engagement. The conversation also touches on her passion for historical preservation, her love for graveyards, and the inspiration she draws from the past. Join them for an enlightening discussion that blends true crime, history, and the art of storytelling.
Takeaways:
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Cover Art and Logo created by Diana of Other Worldly
Sound Mixing and editing by David McClam
Intro script by Sophie Wild From Fiverr & David McClam
Intro and outro jingle by Jacqueline G. (JacquieVoice) From Fiverr
00:00 - None
00:10 - Introduction to the Graves of Truth
09:18 - Restoration of Selma Mansion: A Labor of Love
17:42 - The Spirit of the House
21:02 - The Making of a Mystery: Unveiling the Characters
32:51 - Jane's Journey and Inner Demons
41:43 - The Fascination with Graveyards
45:34 - None
David McClam
Hey everybody, just a quick side note.
David McClam
Before we get into today's episode, you will hear reference to the book the Graves of Truth before it was released.
David McClam
This interview was shot back in September and Grays of Truth has been released.
David McClam
It was released October 29, 2024.
David McClam
So when you hear me say and talking to Sharon about, get your copy and when it comes out, it is already out.
David McClam
So let me say to Sharon Vertz, happy belated pub day.
David McClam
Hope you guys go and get your copies and please enjoy this episode.
David McClam
You will find Sharon Virts to be very enlightening.
David McClam
I'll catch you guys on the next one.
David McClam
You are seen.
David McClam
You are worthy.
Sharon Virts
You are not alone.
David McClam
The world loses one person to suicide every 40 seconds.
David McClam
Let's change the stats together.
Sharon Virts
We can say not suicide.
Sharon Virts
Not today.
Host
Welcome to True Crime Authors and Extraordinary People, the podcast where we bring two passions together.
Host
The show that gives new meaning to the old adage truth is stranger than fiction.
Host
And reminding you that there is an extraordinary person in all of us, here is your host, David McClam.
David McClam
What's going on, everybody?
David McClam
And welcome to another episode episode of True Crime.
David McClam
Marvelous and Extraordinary People, of course.
David McClam
I'm your man, David McLam.
David McClam
If you guys haven't already, make sure you follow us on all of our social media.
David McClam
One link to a link tree will get you every place you need to go pertaining to the show.
David McClam
All right, as you heard coming in, if you are someone that is considering hurting yourself or someone else, please leave this episode.
David McClam
Dial 988.
David McClam
You can do that by text or by voice.
David McClam
It is the suicide prevention hotline.
David McClam
They can give you all the help that you need.
David McClam
And if no one else has told you this today, let me be the first to tell you, I do care and we do need you to be here.
David McClam
All right, so if you're looking at your calendars, you know, once again, it is time for another fabulous author interview.
David McClam
And I do have a good one for you today.
David McClam
Let me tell you about our guest.
David McClam
She is a New York Times bestselling author of atmospheric historical mystery thrillers, each ripped from headlines and built from her own research and often with direct ties to her own historical home in Virginia.
David McClam
She is also the host of the Read with Sharon Book Club.
David McClam
She is a passionate historian, science buff, philanthropist, winemaker, and above all, a lifelong creator.
David McClam
Whether it be art in a wide variety of mediums or the written word.
David McClam
She has journaled since she was six years old and is compelled to write daily.
David McClam
She is the author of the Grays of Truth.
David McClam
Please welcome, Sharon Virts.
David McClam
Hey, Sharon.
David McClam
Thank you for coming on the show.
Sharon Virts
Hi, David.
Sharon Virts
Thank you so much for having me today.
David McClam
It is honor and pleasure for you to be here.
Sharon Virts
Oh, I am indeed honored to be here.
Sharon Virts
It's just a wonderful experience to be with you and all your guests.
David McClam
Well, I guess from that introduction, the question I begin every episode with is, is there anything else that we should know sharing verts that we don't know already?
Sharon Virts
Oh, I don't know.
Sharon Virts
I love to write.
Sharon Virts
I have three dogs.
Sharon Virts
I love my gardens, and I love graveyards.
Sharon Virts
Tell me I'm crazy, but there's something about walking in a cemetery that thrills me.
Sharon Virts
I don't know.
Sharon Virts
It's.
Sharon Virts
It's my thing.
Sharon Virts
Most of the sex sextons are the guys that run the cemeteries in my little town here, know me, and they think that I'm the strange woman that sits on graves and talks to dead people.
Sharon Virts
So I don't actually.
Sharon Virts
They don't talk back.
Sharon Virts
That's a good thing.
Sharon Virts
But I do spend a lot of time out there in cemeteries.
David McClam
We can get into that.
David McClam
Because I do know that there's a part here I want to talk to you about.
David McClam
Because you believe that your house was haunted, which also sparked you to release this book we're going to talk about today, right before Halloween.
David McClam
So I think it's interesting that you said that you like graveyards on that.
David McClam
But let's start here.
David McClam
You've been writing since you were 6 years old.
David McClam
That's an awful long time.
David McClam
We never ask a lady her age.
David McClam
You don't look a day over 19.
Sharon Virts
Thank you.
David McClam
How did you keep the passion to be writing all those years?
Sharon Virts
I think it's important for every person to express themselves, to take what's in their head and to end up and to get it out into the universe.
Sharon Virts
Right?
Sharon Virts
So it could be either through the written word or through art.
Sharon Virts
Art or through music or whatever it might be.
Sharon Virts
Because I think we hold back our emotions and what we feel and what we're experiencing, then it festers, right?
Sharon Virts
And then we think bad thoughts and we do things we shouldn't do.
Sharon Virts
To me, I think writing is like journaling.
Sharon Virts
I mean, it's like.
Sharon Virts
Like therapy.
Sharon Virts
Journaling is like therapy, you know, like you go to a shrink and you talk about all your problems.
Sharon Virts
Well, me and the paper have words about, you know, what is facing me in my life each day.
Sharon Virts
And it's a great way, I think, for me to cope with whatever stress, whatever, you know, God throws at me or the devil throws at me or whoever throws at me.
Sharon Virts
It's.
Sharon Virts
It's my way of relieving that tension and working my problems out for myself.
Sharon Virts
And I think that's a, a good thing that everybody could practice.
Sharon Virts
I also think it's wonderful for us to all capture our legacy.
Sharon Virts
If we don't tell our stories, who will?
Sharon Virts
And I really encourage my followers to journal every day to express themselves.
Sharon Virts
On Fridays, I give journaling prompts on my social media to help folks walk through what they might be thinking or feeling.
Sharon Virts
And we pick different themes, different topics, different approaches.
Sharon Virts
But it's really, really important, I think, for everyone to tell their story.
David McClam
So speaking of that, since you encourage people to journal every day, I kind of want to know your take on this because now there's a lot of companies like Apple that is honing in on journaling.
David McClam
You know, they've put articles out there stating is important for the mental health, kind of what you touched on.
David McClam
How do you feel about digital journaling apps versus writing things down?
David McClam
My wife is very old school.
David McClam
She will just write in a journal.
David McClam
She doesn't want to do anything with a phone.
David McClam
Do you think there's a vast difference in those?
Sharon Virts
I think it depends on the generation.
Sharon Virts
I mean, so for example, my stepdaughter, when she goes to a meeting, she brings her laptop and she types when someone's, you know, to take notes.
Sharon Virts
I could never in a thousand years do that.
Sharon Virts
I just don't work that way.
Sharon Virts
I grew up with paper.
Sharon Virts
You know, I got a new computer recently.
Sharon Virts
It's driving me crazy.
Sharon Virts
I had, you know, that one I had for eight years.
Sharon Virts
Now I got a new one.
Sharon Virts
I don't know how to use it very well.
Sharon Virts
So I think it's whatever fits your style, whatever is you're comfortable with, as long as you're doing it.
Sharon Virts
I mean, some people need photographs or need a picture to write about.
Sharon Virts
Some folks write letters, you know, to themselves or to the journal.
Sharon Virts
Dear Diary.
Sharon Virts
Everyone has a different approach and a different style.
Sharon Virts
I say to each his own, Whatever works.
Sharon Virts
I just think that the younger generation is going to have an easier time with digital as opposed to some of those folks who've been around the sun a couple of times.
David McClam
Good answer, Good answer.
David McClam
I tell my wife you said she should burn all her journals.
David McClam
I'm just kidding.
Sharon Virts
No, well.
Sharon Virts
Well, sometimes I do worry about if my, if my children see mine, some of them, I'm going, oh, my goodness.
Sharon Virts
But what's interesting is that you never know what, where they're going to.
Sharon Virts
So, for example, I'm working on a project now and I found a journal that a woman here in this local area, her name was Ida Lee Rust, she kept this journal for a journal from the 1880s until the 1920s.
Sharon Virts
And you know, I'm sure there's a lot of things that she wrote in there that she doesn't like people, like, wouldn't like folks like me to be reading.
Sharon Virts
But I also get a really good sense of what people were experiencing in that time period based on, you know, where they were in society and her viewpoints on, you know, events of the day as well as just day to day activities.
Sharon Virts
You know, her children not going to church enough or her, her son not being involved with a woman that she didn't particularly like, all the kind of things that we deal with, but how she addressed it or how that person looked at those problems, took on those challenges, you know, 100 years ago versus the way you or I might today, it's, it's a little different.
Sharon Virts
You know, we wouldn't, I don't know that I would go to church and pray over every day over who my son was dating, you know, but back then that was, you know, religion was really a big part of society that everyone lived in.
Sharon Virts
So it's just, I think it's just really important to capture your experiences, capture your feelings for the next generation.
Sharon Virts
And you know what, you'll be dead and gone.
Sharon Virts
So who cares what they tell your wife?
Sharon Virts
Who cares what she wrote?
Sharon Virts
You know, we'll just, we're just glad to have a piece of her left behind.
David McClam
Well, that was kind of my thing too.
David McClam
You know, everybody started coming with digital journals.
David McClam
I'm like, man, maybe I want some things to take to my grave.
David McClam
I mean, even to the point now to where Apple has gotten hit so hard with, you know, I'm sure the people's doing nefarious things, but, you know, why can't I hide this app and why can't I lock this app and now they just recently fix it where you can't exactly do exactly that.
David McClam
We've had recent people in our, in our lives pass away, and then some of the things you find out, you're like, whoa, you know, was I ever supposed to see this?
David McClam
But that's why I brought that up.
David McClam
So to each his own.
David McClam
Do your thing.
Sharon Virts
Exactly right.
David McClam
So before we get into your book, the other interesting thing about you is you had a passion project with the full restoration of your property, gardens and everything.
David McClam
You said it was a labor of love in Selma, Virginia.
David McClam
Can you Tell us a little bit about that.
Sharon Virts
Yeah, sure.
Sharon Virts
So it's actually.
Sharon Virts
It's called.
Sharon Virts
It's called Selma Mansion.
Sharon Virts
And it is in Virginia, Northern Virginia, near Leesburg.
Sharon Virts
And it was originally owned.
Sharon Virts
It was part of a large tract of land that was owned by the Mason family.
Sharon Virts
George Mason III drowned in the river.
Sharon Virts
He left three children and his wife behind, and he was a young man when he drowned.
Sharon Virts
And he had not really developed an inheritance for them.
Sharon Virts
So his wife, Ann Thompson Mason, bought 10,000 acres, if you can believe that, back in 1740 or some really early age, long, long time ago.
Sharon Virts
And she gifted this tract of land to her youngest son, Thompson Mason.
Sharon Virts
Another tract she gave to her older son, George Basin iv, which was now Gun.
Sharon Virts
We have a small piece of that land.
Sharon Virts
Originally, it was owned by the Masons.
Sharon Virts
And, you know, one Mason dies, and they divide it up among other Masons.
Sharon Virts
And so the house, originally Selma, was built in 1810, and it was burned, or most of it burned down in 1896, except for the domestic enslaved quarters, which is now attached to the main house.
Sharon Virts
And it's my favorite part of the house.
Sharon Virts
I'll tell you about that in a minute.
Sharon Virts
But it was rebuilt in 1902 by the whites after a long period of time.
Sharon Virts
They lived here and ultimately became abandoned in about the late 90s.
Sharon Virts
And so it had been abandoned about 20 years when we bought it.
Sharon Virts
And it spoke to me.
Sharon Virts
It was just a beautiful old home, you know, 18,000 square feet.
Sharon Virts
I mean, a hot mess.
Sharon Virts
I mean, we had vandals, varmints, and, you know, all kinds of stuff going on here.
Sharon Virts
We had, you know, groundhogs living underneath the house.
Sharon Virts
We had snakes in the basement.
Sharon Virts
We had, you know, birds living and nesting, vines coming inside, water coming through the roof.
Sharon Virts
So it took us about two years.
Sharon Virts
My husband and I, we restored it and we brought it back to life.
Sharon Virts
And for the old part, a tree had fallen on the old enslaved quarters, which is.
Sharon Virts
Which was the old kitchen.
Sharon Virts
At some point, the county wanted us to tear it down because they said that it had been compromised so terribly, it wouldn't be able to sustain anybody living in it.
Sharon Virts
So we brought in old masons, masons from Jamestown who were descended from the enslaved Masons themselves.
Sharon Virts
Great guys.
Sharon Virts
Their names, you'll love this, were Cheetah and Smoke.
Sharon Virts
And they.
Sharon Virts
They were wonderful men.
Sharon Virts
And they.
Sharon Virts
They taught our Masons here how to restore these old bricks in this old part of the house.
Sharon Virts
And it is gorgeous.
Sharon Virts
They have redone the whole thing.
Sharon Virts
We left it sort of like that new York loft, you know, brick and beams exposed and you know, it's not the sexy mansion that the rest of the place is, but it's where I do a lot of writing.
Sharon Virts
And I have, I've had moments where I felt like the house is talking to me, telling me to write certain things or to do certain things in that part of the house.
Sharon Virts
And I just really enjoy it.
Sharon Virts
So labor of love.
Sharon Virts
And I really do find that what inspires a lot of the things I write is not just an event that has occurred or a person that's been involved, but the sense of place.
Sharon Virts
You know, the place itself becomes a character almost.
Sharon Virts
And I don't know, when you're reading my new book, Grays, if you've, you've sort of felt that way as you've listened to Jane Gray talk about when she's walking down to the streets of Washington D.C.
Sharon Virts
and sees the half built Washington Monument begging the sky, the heavens for completion.
Sharon Virts
If you get a sense of that sense of place and that environment and it's important.
Sharon Virts
And I use this house sort of as that backdrop when I'm trying to envision what it must be like to live there.
Sharon Virts
I try to look at myself.
Sharon Virts
How would I have cooked in this kitchen if it was wood stove, you know, versus or how would I, how would we have heated it?
Sharon Virts
How would that have worked?
Sharon Virts
The house to me serves a lot of inspiration and sort of fuels my love of history and historical preservation.
Sharon Virts
I've received many awards from the Virginia Preservation Society and others for the work that we've done here.
Sharon Virts
And on another property that I have restored in Leesburg, an old Victorian that was in bad shape.
David McClam
So is this the same mansion?
David McClam
Because when you go and look up Selma, Virginia, a big article pops up that says that there was a mansion that had been restored.
David McClam
So is this the same mansion in which you speak of?
Sharon Virts
Yes, it is.
David McClam
Well, that's kind of awesome.
Sharon Virts
Yeah, we have a big following.
Sharon Virts
It used to be a wedding venue and I think the number is about 3,000 couples were married in a period of 30 some odd years, 35 years at this place.
Sharon Virts
So there's a lot of folks who have been married here and who have memories, some of them good memories and some of them, you know, didn't end up so well.
Sharon Virts
So they may be bad memories, but a lot of folks have been married here.
Sharon Virts
And so we have a lot, have had a lot of interest in the houses, like, and every year I put up about eight Christmas trees and I open it to the public and all the Proceeds from the ticket sales for that event goes to Loudoun.
Sharon Virts
Historical preservation, you know, preservation initiatives here in our county.
Sharon Virts
Whether it's, you know, a big historical house or if it's a small place, it doesn't really matter to us as long as we're taking care of the past so that we have it for future generations to learn.
David McClam
Now, this home before, I said, let me say this.
David McClam
I'm glad you said that, because as you probably know, there's been this big controversy over the last couple years about removing monuments, especially ones that deals with slavery and deals with my people.
David McClam
We never asked for that.
David McClam
I'm one of those people that believe that even though those monuments may be painful, it is a part of history.
David McClam
When I tell my children stories of this may happen here or in states that still have slave auction blocks, and I say, that's what biz used to be here, it's kind of hard for them to grasp that if I go, well, it used to be here, but now it's not.
David McClam
So I'm glad that you are restoring history and opening it up.
David McClam
Never be ashamed of the stories that was there.
Sharon Virts
Yeah.
Sharon Virts
And I want to tell you something about that in particular.
Sharon Virts
So I had a county administrator here.
Sharon Virts
We did an open house.
Sharon Virts
And when she was walking through, she said she didn't want to go into the enslaved quarter.
Sharon Virts
She just had.
Sharon Virts
She felt very uncomfortable with that.
Sharon Virts
And I said to her, her name was Phyllis.
Sharon Virts
And I said, phyllis, what I'd like for you to do is instead of thinking about all the bad things that happen here, look at the architecture, look at the brickwork.
Sharon Virts
The rest of the place is burned down.
Sharon Virts
This is still standing.
Sharon Virts
Those men and children built this building with their own hands, with their own sweat, and they took pride in it.
Sharon Virts
Look at the quality of the craftsmanship.
Sharon Virts
Go in there and rejoice that, because that's the only legacy that we have of them.
Sharon Virts
We don't know their names.
Sharon Virts
We don't know who they were.
Sharon Virts
We know nothing about them other than what we see in this building.
Sharon Virts
And we should be proud of that for them.
Sharon Virts
They want us to be proud of.
Sharon Virts
That's all they left behind or the things that they built.
Sharon Virts
I think we need to think about that in terms of, you know, that's the legacy.
Sharon Virts
That's all they.
Sharon Virts
They could leave.
Sharon Virts
So let's.
Sharon Virts
Let's at least respect that.
Sharon Virts
And when you go into my kitchen, you'll find thumbprints in the brick from the boys and the men who made the.
Sharon Virts
Molded the clay and picked those hot Bricks up as they were, and put them down to cool or to put them in the oven to bake.
Sharon Virts
And you find those thumbprints, and we've restored them.
Sharon Virts
I found three in that group, and I was working on a building downtown with my crew, and we were tearing down old plaster, and I found two thumbprints in those, and I point them out.
Sharon Virts
It was actually a historical building.
Sharon Virts
The museum is there now, and they have that on display so folks can see that and we can talk about it.
Sharon Virts
I think that's important for us to share.
Sharon Virts
It is shared history.
Sharon Virts
It's good and it's bad and it's ugly.
Sharon Virts
And the thing I want to do is rejoice.
Sharon Virts
Not rejoice, but at least celebrate those men and women who work so hard, they do have something to leave behind.
Sharon Virts
They have something to say, and they say it in the buildings that we see that they built.
Sharon Virts
We should not forget that.
David McClam
Now, you say that you feel that the house is haunted and has its own haunted history.
Sharon Virts
I say spirited, David.
Sharon Virts
Spirited.
Sharon Virts
Spirited is better.
Sharon Virts
Haunted seems bad.
Sharon Virts
Spirited is a lot easier word for me.
David McClam
Okay, spirited.
David McClam
So you fill the house with.
David McClam
Spirited has its own history with that.
David McClam
Now, this has also sparked you to release your book on October 29, two days before Halloween.
David McClam
Can you tell us why you feel that the house is indeed spirited?
David McClam
Have you experienced some of this yourself?
Sharon Virts
Oh, yes.
Sharon Virts
So there's a number of things, but the.
Sharon Virts
The baking bread.
Sharon Virts
So I've never seen a spirit here.
Sharon Virts
I felt them.
Sharon Virts
Them.
Sharon Virts
I've heard them.
Sharon Virts
I've seen stuff get moved.
Sharon Virts
And I swear to God, I.
Sharon Virts
You know, hand to God, I don't know how it moved across the table, how things happen like that, but I smell them more than anything else.
Sharon Virts
And every once.
Sharon Virts
How do I say this?
Sharon Virts
So a couple years ago, it was just recently, we heard it had it happen again.
Sharon Virts
We had a psychic person kind of go through, and she said there was four, she thinks, four spirits living in this house.
Sharon Virts
And one of them was a woman that was a little.
Sharon Virts
A little black woman, African American woman that lived, she thinks, in the.
Sharon Virts
In that old enslaved area.
Sharon Virts
And she was a cook or some sort of servant or something.
Sharon Virts
That's what she says.
Sharon Virts
And who knows, right?
Sharon Virts
So maybe it's just in your brain you're thinking this, but I got up one morning, and our dogs always sleep with.
Sharon Virts
We have three Labrador retrievers.
Sharon Virts
I open the door to my bedroom because they want to go downstairs with this routine.
Sharon Virts
I go into the morning room, which is right next door.
Sharon Virts
I put my teapot on to make tea.
Sharon Virts
There's dog biscuits and dog treats in there.
Sharon Virts
So I give them a treat every morning.
Sharon Virts
So they go beelining out of the bedroom into that morning room.
Sharon Virts
Every morning they get their dog biscuits and then they go outside.
Sharon Virts
That's kind of the routine.
Sharon Virts
So I get up this morning, that morning, it was August 1st a couple years ago, I open the door and I have the smell of baking bread everywhere.
Sharon Virts
You know that smell, that beautiful, wonderful, lovely smell of fresh baked bread.
Sharon Virts
And I'm going, well, that's strange.
Sharon Virts
And the dogs sort of stop and instead of going into the morning room, they hightail it downstairs and go into the kitchen.
Sharon Virts
So I wasn't the only one that smelled the baking bread.
Sharon Virts
They smelled it too.
Sharon Virts
And then just a few weeks ago, we were doing the.
Sharon Virts
The book trailer.
Sharon Virts
We were filming the trailer for the Grace of Truth and what we call our smoking room.
Sharon Virts
It's the old architectural plans and that's where they had a smoking room.
Sharon Virts
And the photographer, the actress, my marketing team, we were all sort of standing around and all of a sudden everyone smells it at the same time, the big smell of baking bread.
Sharon Virts
And I said, I'm telling you guys.
Sharon Virts
And they're going, oh, you're right, we smell it.
Sharon Virts
So it's an odd thing.
Sharon Virts
And I think this, this house loves to entertain.
Sharon Virts
It loves when we have parties.
Sharon Virts
You can feel it.
Sharon Virts
It's very positive energy.
Sharon Virts
It's not negative energy.
Sharon Virts
I've had experience with things being moved around and the doors being locked and doors opening and dogs being let in, the doors shutting and that kind of stuff.
Sharon Virts
But mostly in that back half with my little friend who likes to bake bread, I haven't got a name for, but I just know she's there.
Sharon Virts
But it's a lovely home.
Sharon Virts
And if anybody is in Virginia the second Sunday in December, we always have an afternoon open house where all the trees are lit.
Sharon Virts
We have Santa Claus here and lots of hot mulled cider and desserts for anyone who'd like to come.
Sharon Virts
So it's open.
David McClam
Well, now, that leads us into your book, the Grays of Truth.
David McClam
I'm going to read just a little bit of the synopsis just to whet the audience appetite, and then we'll dive into it.
David McClam
In reconstruction area Baltimore, members of the city's elite keep turning up dead.
David McClam
Below the polished surface of high society.
David McClam
There are illicit affairs, jilted lovers, financial hardships, and countless motives for murder.
David McClam
When Jane Gray Wharton's husband Ned dies unexpectedly while overnighting at his brother Hank Wharton's home, Jane has no reason to question the circumstances of his death.
David McClam
But as a visit to the same home a few weeks later, both Jane and her daughter fall gravely ill.
David McClam
And Jane begins to suspect foul play.
David McClam
If that doesn't whet your appetite, nothing will.
David McClam
So as intriguing as out, this is historical fiction, but that sounds like something that can very well happen today.
David McClam
Tell us a little bit of how you came to write the Grades of Truth, and can you go a little bit into the characters of the book, starting with Jane?
Sharon Virts
Sure.
Sharon Virts
So I was researching, working on another book that.
Sharon Virts
My book that came out last year, the Veil of Doubt.
Sharon Virts
And it's a sort of like a historical fiction, John Grisham kind of legal sort of thriller.
Sharon Virts
And when I was looking at the history of the professor who was a chemical analysis.
Sharon Virts
I'm sorry, the chemical analyst in that book, in that story, in real life, I became very interested in him because he married Susanna Surratt, who was the daughter of Mary Surratt, who was tried and hanged for the assassination of President Lincoln.
Sharon Virts
So that sort of intrigued me.
Sharon Virts
So I thought the book might be about him.
Sharon Virts
You know, he's like a forensic scientist in 1870.
Sharon Virts
How cool is that?
Sharon Virts
And I learned that he had testified in a trial before the one that I was writing about in my.
Sharon Virts
In my second book, Veil.
Sharon Virts
And that trial was about the Wharton family.
Sharon Virts
And I became really intrigued.
Sharon Virts
And so I started researching.
Sharon Virts
And lo and behold, members of the Wharton family in Baltimore, every time they went to Hank and Ellen Wharton's house, they wouldn't come out alive.
Sharon Virts
I mean, six, seven people.
Sharon Virts
So it's a little strange of a story.
Sharon Virts
And so the more I dug into it, the more I realized that something truly was nefarious going on.
Sharon Virts
But I didn't know from whose perspective to write it from.
Sharon Virts
Was I going to write it from one of the victims?
Sharon Virts
Someone had been killed, was going to write it from maybe the sheriff or the police captain, Jake Fry, who was investigating, but then, of course, was thwarted by the governor and other political folks above him in terms of the pecking order in Baltimore.
Sharon Virts
Whose perspective would it be?
Sharon Virts
And then when I was looking at trial notes, I saw several letters from a woman named Jane Gray Wharton who had written these letters that said, ellen has been killing, you know, members of my household, and somebody needs to do something about it.
Sharon Virts
And the more I researched Tort, the more intrigued I became.
Sharon Virts
She.
Sharon Virts
Her father was a brilliant chemist and a brilliant doctor, and she had an interest in chemistry.
Sharon Virts
She had gone to university.
Sharon Virts
It was unbelievably rare for someone in her world, you know, born in 1819 to go to a four year college and get a degree.
Sharon Virts
She was married to a man she didn't want to be married to.
Sharon Virts
And she spent long stints in hospitals, Quaker hospitals for debility.
Sharon Virts
That is code word in 1860, 1870, for she's crazy.
Sharon Virts
So mental illness.
Sharon Virts
So she had been sent away and that's the reason no one was believing her accusations of her sister in law.
Sharon Virts
So I was compelled to write a fictionalized version of the story.
Sharon Virts
To write nonfiction to me is boring.
Sharon Virts
As you and I probably spoke.
Sharon Virts
We spoke about in the green room before we had this discussion.
Sharon Virts
I wanted to make this interesting and exciting and I wanted to make you feel for the victims who were dying.
Sharon Virts
And so having her having a relationship with most of the people who were impacted by what was happening at Hamilton Place in Baltimore, I thought, you know, that would make you as a reader feel more empathy for what was happening and more sympathy and just be more, you know, more involved and more connected to the story.
Sharon Virts
And I love Jane Gray.
Sharon Virts
I think she's a great, you know, a very pathetic protagonist in the beginning.
Sharon Virts
And with all that's thrown at her, she grows.
Sharon Virts
And she may not get what she wants at the end of the book, but she gets what she needs.
Sharon Virts
And I think that's what's most important not only in fiction, but in real life.
David McClam
Well, yeah, like we said off the air, you know, I am not a huge historical fiction person.
David McClam
You're the second historical fiction author that I like because of the detail of the book.
David McClam
It makes me feel like it could happen today.
David McClam
It's not drawn out right.
David McClam
So we really get into the book and we get to know right away what's going on and getting invested in it.
David McClam
The detail of your book is often done so well that you really can't tell between what's real and what's not.
David McClam
So what is your writing process with that?
David McClam
You know, how do you research all your characters beforehand and things of that nature?
Sharon Virts
So, you know, a lot of folks focus on the event when they research.
Sharon Virts
I like to focus on the people.
Sharon Virts
So of course I want to know about the event and I get what I need to have about that.
Sharon Virts
But then my big tool is ancestry.com.
Sharon Virts
i go into ancestry and try to figure out birth order, you know, mother, father, when they lived, when they died, did they die when, you know, a character was 2 or did they die when she was 12 or did they die when she was 30?
Sharon Virts
What about brothers and sisters?
Sharon Virts
What about husbands?
Sharon Virts
What about children?
Sharon Virts
The.
Sharon Virts
All the things you can find out.
Sharon Virts
There's so much you can find out in terms of how life's events would have impact on an individual to kind of paint pictures about what that person might be like.
Sharon Virts
And then, of course, I try to get writings, any writing I can find from them.
Sharon Virts
If it's a woman, it's very difficult because women didn't get published very often.
Sharon Virts
So I'd look at the fathers and the brothers and the husbands and the cousins and the folks that related to them and how they were to understand what I might need to know about a particular character.
Sharon Virts
And then I sort of.
Sharon Virts
I basically put up a whiteboard or a butcher paper and kind of go through what they look like, what characteristics, what trauma there might have been in their past that would impact their present behavior.
Sharon Virts
I oftentimes work with a psychologist who's a very good friend of mine, Julie Fender.
Sharon Virts
She and I will sit down and we will come up with sort of a diagnosis, if you will, especially for my very damaged characters in my books.
Sharon Virts
And then making sure that once I sort of develop that personality for each person that I'm going to be, each character that I'm consistent, that, you know, I'm going to write Hank Wharton as he was.
Sharon Virts
You know, he's not a sentimental old guy as much as he is a rake.
Sharon Virts
So he's going to have a whole different set of ways he reacts to something that would be different than, let's say General Scott Ketchum or Mars Stanton or whoever it might be that I'm profiling.
Sharon Virts
So, you know, trying to keep with how they would be acting and how they would be conversing based on their personalities.
Sharon Virts
And that's really important to me.
Sharon Virts
And then you place them in a timeline, and I am a whiteboard kind of gal.
Sharon Virts
And I get sticky notes, like these little things, post it notes, and I put dates and events and things that are important, and I put them on a timeline and then introduce my characters into those and then look at my overall timing that says, okay, what's going to happen?
Sharon Virts
Where am I going to start?
Sharon Virts
Where am I going to end?
Sharon Virts
Number one thing is the most important thing in writing is to know how the book is going to end before you even start.
Sharon Virts
If you don't know how it's going to end, then you really can't get there and you're all over the place.
Sharon Virts
And so I always write my ending first.
Sharon Virts
And that came to me from advice I received from a really good friend of mine.
Sharon Virts
Anthony McCartan.
Sharon Virts
Anthony wrote the Darkest Hour.
Sharon Virts
He's screenplay writer.
Sharon Virts
He wrote Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic on Whitney Houston.
Sharon Virts
He did that as well.
Sharon Virts
The Theory of Everything.
Sharon Virts
Two popes is a great man.
Sharon Virts
And so he always said, you got to know that ending and where that ending is going to take you, so you know where to go and how to get there.
Sharon Virts
And so I just sort of lay it out and then I outline and then just start writing and I write the first three chapters.
Sharon Virts
I gotta get those done.
Sharon Virts
And that sets the tone for the rest of the book.
Sharon Virts
Oftentimes I'll skip chapters.
Sharon Virts
I'm like, I don't like this character.
Sharon Virts
I'm not going to read that.
Sharon Virts
I'm going to sort of go.
Sharon Virts
I'm going to go here and here.
Sharon Virts
Right now in the book I'm writing, I'm.
Sharon Virts
I'm writing two women, as opposed to the men who are really driving things.
Sharon Virts
The women are much more interesting in this book.
Sharon Virts
So I've been writing their pieces now that I'll go back and fill in later.
Sharon Virts
So it's just, you know, however that that strikes me.
Sharon Virts
But I'm relatively organized.
Sharon Virts
I have a hard time with structure, but once I get my structure down, it's just writing, you know, as it.
Sharon Virts
As it flows to me.
Sharon Virts
And your characters do evolve over time.
Sharon Virts
I mean, Jane Gray became more and more interesting as I wrote her, and she became less and less like Axa, who.
Sharon Virts
I love Axa in that book.
Sharon Virts
Axa became her sort of sidekick.
Sharon Virts
You know, the person that, you know, that tells you the truth, whether you want to hear the truth or not.
Sharon Virts
Everybody needs one of those.
Sharon Virts
She's also the person that she probably.
Sharon Virts
Jane probably would get in trouble with if she was, you know, left alone in today's society.
Sharon Virts
You know, they were sort of two peas in a pod, but different.
Sharon Virts
Different people in this book.
David McClam
Anyway, I don't like to give a whole lot of the book away because it's not out yet.
David McClam
Part of my job I love the most is I get to read people's books before they come out.
David McClam
So I already know what the order is getting into besides will be read and safely so that we get people to go buy your book.
David McClam
What can you give us about the book?
David McClam
The intricacies, a little bit more about the characters.
David McClam
What was going on during that period of time that you wrote your book in?
Sharon Virts
Okay, so the book is set, it starts in 1867, and mostly in Washington, D.C.
Sharon Virts
and Baltimore and a little bit in Philadelphia.
Sharon Virts
And it's right after the Civil War.
Sharon Virts
And Jane Gray has served as a nurse at Armory Square.
Sharon Virts
Armory Square is the hospital that was set up next to the Armory Armory on the Washington Mall.
Sharon Virts
And it was next to the train station.
Sharon Virts
You know, they were bringing him back from Alexandria or wherever it might be in the south.
Sharon Virts
And it was the stop.
Sharon Virts
It was the hospital closest to the train.
Sharon Virts
And only the patients that were the most severely injured would stay there if they were too severely injured to travel to any other hospital any further.
Sharon Virts
They stopped right there at Armory Square.
Sharon Virts
So she saw some of the worst of the casualties on the Union side from the Civil War.
Sharon Virts
So that's kind of her background.
Sharon Virts
So she's pretty numb in a lot of ways.
Sharon Virts
And she's in an abusive marriage.
Sharon Virts
And she hears voices.
Sharon Virts
She hears voices in her head.
Sharon Virts
And I'm not going to tell you where the voices are coming from or why they're.
Sharon Virts
Why they're in her head, but that's one of the reasons she talks to herself.
Sharon Virts
And people think that she's odd and that she's strange, but she's also very smart, but she's also very withdrawn, an introverted kind of person.
Sharon Virts
So she is.
Sharon Virts
Starts in 1867 and the first chapter is available for anybody who wants to read it online.
Sharon Virts
And pretty much every clue you need for how that book's going to go is in that first chapter.
Sharon Virts
A lot of questions about why her best friend is dying and what's the background, what's causing that.
Sharon Virts
And it leads to a lot of other sort of clues throughout the book in terms of why people continue to die when they visit her sister in law's house in Baltimore.
Sharon Virts
The book is really about that.
Sharon Virts
And Jane's trying to discover the truth, and not just the truth about what was happening to her family, but also her truth, what's happening to her, why she is so traumatized and forcing her to face her demons and basically learn to live with them.
Sharon Virts
And as she moves through and accomplishes what she wants for herself, that's what this book is really about.
Sharon Virts
It's really Jane's journey.
Sharon Virts
And I think we all have that right.
Sharon Virts
David.
Sharon Virts
Every one of us have demons that we have to wrestle with.
Sharon Virts
And unfortunately we can't just cast them away.
Sharon Virts
They live within us.
Sharon Virts
And it's a matter of how we manage them and how we learn to coexist in a way that, you know, we all are all on a positive trajectory.
Sharon Virts
And we don't allow those demons to pull us down into the past or pull us down into things that we don't want to be or people we don't want to be, behaviors we don't want to continue.
Sharon Virts
And that's really what Jane's journey is about in a lot of ways.
Sharon Virts
And you get the true crime in there too, right?
Sharon Virts
The who done it.
David McClam
Always got to have one of those.
Sharon Virts
You know, my books are really never about what they're about.
Sharon Virts
They're, you know, my last book was about a woman who went on trial for murdering her children and her husband.
Sharon Virts
But it wasn't about that.
Sharon Virts
It was about the lawyer and his journey.
Sharon Virts
You know, this is about people dying in Baltimore, but it's not about that.
Sharon Virts
It's about Jane and her jury.
Sharon Virts
And I think most authors that are.
Sharon Virts
That are worth their salt will have that.
Sharon Virts
You know, there's two.
Sharon Virts
There's two things going on in every.
Sharon Virts
In every good book, right?
Sharon Virts
The plot.
Sharon Virts
But then what's really going on with that character?
David McClam
Well, it's going to be a good read for sure.
David McClam
We'll come back to that.
David McClam
I have one more question to ask you about the book for the audience.
David McClam
Hope you guys are paying attention because it is going to be a good book.
David McClam
But I did want to touch on this because I think it's very good.
David McClam
You run your own historical book club called Read with Sharon.
David McClam
It has a passionate group of followers.
David McClam
Can you tell us about the book club?
David McClam
Can anybody join?
David McClam
Tell us about your book club.
Sharon Virts
Sure, I can tell you all that great stuff.
Sharon Virts
So I first off, I started this book club five years ago.
Sharon Virts
Oh, five years ago in January.
Sharon Virts
Five years.
Sharon Virts
I can't believe it.
Sharon Virts
Right before the pandemic.
Sharon Virts
So there you go.
Sharon Virts
And I did it because, A, I love to read, I love historical fiction, and two, B, I wanted to develop an audience for what I was writing.
Sharon Virts
And how better to do that than to share what I like to write, read with people so that they, you know, will become passionate along with me as they, as they discover my.
Sharon Virts
My own writing.
Sharon Virts
So it is.
Sharon Virts
We meet.
Sharon Virts
It's via Zoom.
Sharon Virts
I have 2300 members right now.
Sharon Virts
I was shocked when I looked at the numbers yesterday.
Sharon Virts
We read only read current release historical fiction.
Sharon Virts
When I say current release, I'm talking about within the last year.
Sharon Virts
So it's current release authors that are writing great books.
Sharon Virts
I pre read each book and then if I like the book, I invite the author to join us.
Sharon Virts
And I'd say about nine times out of ten, the author will join us for our monthly discussions, which are on Thursdays, the fourth Thursday of every month at 7pm Eastern, which is probably a Little early for you folks in the west coast, but it's, it's, it's a great book club and you don't have to, you don't have to necessarily come in on the Zoom call.
Sharon Virts
We do post the videos of the calls on YouTube.
Sharon Virts
I also have.
Sharon Virts
Each person will get.
Sharon Virts
Every month you'll get a book club kit which includes a summary of the book, my take on the book, my, my review of it, recipes that we come up with that sort of go along with the book theme.
Sharon Virts
Cocktails both non alcoholic and alcoholic for those who don't want to imbibe, and a list of questions that you can consider to ask the author or to ask yourself or to explore.
Sharon Virts
And when the author comes on, it's pretty intense.
Sharon Virts
I mean, we don't let the author get off lightly.
Sharon Virts
I mean, I've got some great gals and guys that are in the book club that join us.
Sharon Virts
I've had about 60 folks that come in on Zoom every, every month.
Sharon Virts
Sometimes more, sometimes less.
Sharon Virts
I've had the most interesting author I had was Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.
Sharon Virts
She joined us with one of her books that she had written.
Sharon Virts
I've had Mark Sullivan, who writes with James Patterson.
Sharon Virts
I've had Stephanie Dre last month.
Sharon Virts
I have this month, Amanda Skenendor, her book Menace Woman of Galveston.
Sharon Virts
And it's free.
Sharon Virts
Anybody can join and get on that list and you'll get all those book club materials.
Sharon Virts
I do lots of giveaways.
Sharon Virts
We do contests, we do special readings.
Sharon Virts
We have all kinds of activities.
Sharon Virts
I even send, what I call, you know, merch.
Sharon Virts
You get swag.
Sharon Virts
Sometimes I send bookmarks.
Sharon Virts
I've sent book bags to our followers.
Sharon Virts
And so it's a great club and I'm just happy that it's going as well and people are enjoying it.
David McClam
Wow.
Sharon Virts
So it's at my website, David, which is really easy.
Sharon Virts
It's just Sharonverts.com and then you just go to read with Sharon and join the book club and just sign up.
Sharon Virts
All I need is your email and your name.
David McClam
That's it, huh?
David McClam
That's all it takes?
Sharon Virts
That's it.
David McClam
So now that you have this club, I have to ask because, you know, it's virtual.
David McClam
I'm sure they exist, but yours is the first I've heard that is actually virtual.
David McClam
That's actually working out really well because, you know, the joke has been we all get lazy behind a camera at home and we close the shade on the camera, fall asleep.
David McClam
Have you met any of the people that's in Your book club in person at this point?
Sharon Virts
Absolutely.
Sharon Virts
So when I was on my book tour last year, I drove up to Philadelphia and had a number of book club folks in that area join me for a reading from the new book.
Sharon Virts
I went up to Boston and met folks there.
Sharon Virts
San Antonio.
Sharon Virts
I've met folks there.
Sharon Virts
Out in California.
Sharon Virts
I've met them there.
Sharon Virts
I've had folks.
Sharon Virts
You can believe this.
Sharon Virts
I have a huge party, release party, November 2nd.
Sharon Virts
This year will be for the greatest truth.
Sharon Virts
But last year, I had it right after the release, and I had folks from Canada, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Louisiana fly in to be part of that book club party, the big party that we had.
Sharon Virts
I had a champagne reception for book club members before we did the release.
Sharon Virts
So I've had folks come from all over the country.
Sharon Virts
Plus there's a large contingent of folks that have members here.
Sharon Virts
And then I do like to go to talk to other book clubs.
Sharon Virts
So, for example, I have a meeting tomorrow.
Sharon Virts
Someone has asked me to come in and meet with their in person here in my local area with their book club about my book from last year.
Sharon Virts
And then I have another one on Saturday with folks from another part of the country on Zoom.
Sharon Virts
So, you know, I'm happy to join book clubs, you know, in terms of talking to folks about a book, if they're using my reading my book for that month.
Sharon Virts
But I'm also just pleased that folks are so excited about, you know, what we read and how we approach what we read that they're willing to drive or fly all the way here to meet me and spend a.
Sharon Virts
Spend an evening, you know, in our house.
Sharon Virts
So it's just a lovely experience.
Sharon Virts
It's lovely people.
David McClam
Well, as an author, that's got to make you feel good at least you know that you're reaching people through your.
David McClam
Through your books.
David McClam
And you never know, really.
David McClam
I mean, I don't know if anybody's really expressed it to you, because a lot of people are really shy about it, but who knows how many lives you could have saved during the pandemic right after that?
David McClam
Because it was a lonely time.
David McClam
You know, nobody knew what was going on with the world.
David McClam
You just chalked behind four walls.
David McClam
You can't do anything right.
David McClam
It was the biggest podcast boom ever.
David McClam
In 2000 or in the pandemic, we had all of these podcasts.
David McClam
I think over a million podcasts was created in four months of the pandemic.
Sharon Virts
Right.
Sharon Virts
Well, and I did things like I would go out to a graveyard, surprise, surprise, and do a live video thing on Facebook.
Sharon Virts
You Know, for folks that wanted to follow along.
Sharon Virts
And then I would do.
Sharon Virts
I went to an old home here, an old plantation home, and we visited the enslaved burial grounds, and we had a video there, and we're talking about some of the names of the folks that were buried there.
Sharon Virts
And then we went up to the house and looked at the house and talked about the folks that had lived there and the kids.
Sharon Virts
It was for kids.
Sharon Virts
But a lot of folks got sort of the dichotomy in terms of how different.
Sharon Virts
Different sides lived back in that time.
Sharon Virts
And so during the pandemic, I tried, you know, to get myself out there.
Sharon Virts
It was outside, so I could have done it.
Sharon Virts
It was just me and my son with.
Sharon Virts
With his phone, you know, but it was.
Sharon Virts
It was.
Sharon Virts
It was a time that was stressful.
Sharon Virts
And I do hope that the book club has helped folks.
Sharon Virts
I do know that a lot of the members that I have, that core group, were there in the beginning.
Sharon Virts
We had 30 members when I first started this.
Sharon Virts
It's shocking to me that it's 2300.
Sharon Virts
And these are folks that are just really loyal.
Sharon Virts
And as I said, they're constantly asking me questions or asking me for advice on a book to read or giving me advice on something I should select.
Sharon Virts
So I'm just grateful for them and hopefully hopeful that they are enjoying it as much as I am.
Sharon Virts
I think they are.
David McClam
So you have to tell us, what is the fascination with graveyards?
Sharon Virts
I don't.
Sharon Virts
I just don't know.
Sharon Virts
I just.
Sharon Virts
I go to a graveyard and I envision the people that live there in their lives.
Sharon Virts
I can.
Sharon Virts
I just look at a family and go, here's a whole family.
Sharon Virts
And then I wonder, is that the end of this family?
Sharon Virts
Did they have, you know, did they all die out, or do they still have descendants and how they live?
Sharon Virts
And you can look at the tombstone and some of the things that are written on them and.
Sharon Virts
And get a sense of, you know, how, you know something about them.
Sharon Virts
I just said, it's an imagined thing.
Sharon Virts
And I.
Sharon Virts
I find peace there.
Sharon Virts
It's quiet.
Sharon Virts
No one bothers me.
Sharon Virts
You know, I don't have.
Sharon Virts
Although I have to tell you, this is a.
Sharon Virts
I was actually in the graveyard not long ago, and someone saw my car drive in, and she followed me, and she goes, hey, Sharon, I need to talk to you about something.
Sharon Virts
I'm like.
Sharon Virts
Like, this is my time.
Sharon Virts
I'm in the graveyard.
Sharon Virts
Can I have some peace?
Sharon Virts
But usually that's.
Sharon Virts
With the one exception.
Sharon Virts
I find peace in the.
Sharon Virts
In there.
Sharon Virts
And I find it a Time for reflection.
Sharon Virts
I have not done the nighttime graveyard things, though, David.
Sharon Virts
I'm not quite that brave yet, but because I think that Tony, who runs the one down here, Union Cemetery, would probably have my head if you saw me in there after dark.
Sharon Virts
He's already threatened me that if I, if I stay too long, he's going to lock me out.
Sharon Virts
But whenever we go on a trip, I'm always taking my husband, dragging him through the graveyard, looking at the tombstones and the ages of people and how they were buried and just anything about them.
Sharon Virts
He's come to realize that it's just a thing I do.
Sharon Virts
But back in the 1880s, people used to have sunny picnics in the graveyards.
Sharon Virts
They would take their children and go lay blankets out on the graves of their other relatives, and they share Sunday afternoon picnics with them.
Sharon Virts
So maybe that I'm an old soul that's just, you know, reborn into a new body or something, I don't know.
Sharon Virts
But I do have a fascination with them.
Sharon Virts
I enjoy them.
Sharon Virts
I tell all your followers, your listeners, please go visit your local graveyard.
Sharon Virts
You know, you'll find some peace there and some reflection.
David McClam
So I assume that you are a fan of the film Beetlejuice.
Sharon Virts
Indeed, yes.
Sharon Virts
I haven't seen the new one yet, but that's.
Sharon Virts
That's coming up soon, right?
David McClam
We haven't either.
David McClam
We, we never go in the first week or so because it's always crazy.
David McClam
And it's so big that they did down here at a number of the California theaters, a pre show, so you could get tickets to go two or three days early.
David McClam
The last time I did that was with a friend of mine when Michael Jackson was releasing May He Rest in Peace, this is it in the theater.
David McClam
And I was like, it was crazy then.
David McClam
And Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice has been talked about.
David McClam
Say, no, wait, we gonna skip it this year.
David McClam
But we're looking forward to seeing it, what Tim Burton has come up with after all these years.
Sharon Virts
So, yeah, I like a little quirky.
Sharon Virts
My stepdaughter and I had that in common.
Sharon Virts
We both like quirky.
Sharon Virts
I paint quirky stuff and she likes quirky stuff.
Sharon Virts
And I'm not afraid of, you know, I'm not afraid of ghosts.
Sharon Virts
Not yet, anyway.
Sharon Virts
So.
David McClam
So now that you've described the book, can you tell us why you think somebody should go out and read the Grace of Truth?
Sharon Virts
Well, I think if you like true crime, if you like true things that happened, I mean, this is not something I just conjured up out of my head.
Sharon Virts
It actually did Happen.
Sharon Virts
But if you like those kinds of things and you like a good mystery, and you like a little bit of forensic science, 1870s style, okay, it's not the.
Sharon Virts
The new thing, but if you like CSI and those kinds of programs, this is the kind of book you're going to love.
Sharon Virts
And I find that there's something about reading a book that a film just doesn't portray.
Sharon Virts
Now, yes, you get all the beautiful effects in a film, but I do find that reading, I learn a lot more.
Sharon Virts
I can do it at my own pace, and I can have my own vision of what's happening.
Sharon Virts
And I just find, I think that's just.
Sharon Virts
Is a great way to understand, you know, sort of the world around us in general, but specifically in this case, to understand exactly how women and crime was investigated 150 years ago.
Sharon Virts
And it's frightening, especially when you look at, you know, in real life, some of the statistics, the statistics on, you know, crime and who was being accused and what sentences were coming down.
Sharon Virts
It's.
Sharon Virts
It's pretty shocking.
Sharon Virts
And you can see why when you look at some of the science in this book.
Sharon Virts
Who's getting off, who's not getting off, how people are being treated.
Sharon Virts
And women weren't being treated terribly well in the 1870s either.
Sharon Virts
So it's.
Sharon Virts
It's a lesson in that.
David McClam
In closing, is there anything you would like to say to the listeners or to your fans out there that could be listening today?
Sharon Virts
Well, I think that it's important for everybody to read.
Sharon Virts
I think we've.
Sharon Virts
We've kind of lost that in our instantaneous society.
Sharon Virts
We tend to want to watch a TV show and then be done for two hours.
Sharon Virts
But there's something, I think, unique about and wonderful about getting engrossed and going into another world for 8, 10, 12 hours, depending on how long it is in a book.
Sharon Virts
And with that, I think, you know, there's a lot of great fiction out there, a lot of great historical fiction out there and try it.
Sharon Virts
I think my books, if you like Things that Move Quickly, will be a great introduction to historical fiction in a way you haven't experienced before.
Sharon Virts
Trust me, I'm not boring.
Sharon Virts
My books aren't boring.
Sharon Virts
I don't want to live a boring life.
Sharon Virts
I don't want to waste your time.
Sharon Virts
I want you to fall in love with reading again.
Sharon Virts
And I think you'll fall in love with Jane Gray and the Grays of Truth.
David McClam
Well, Sharon, thank you for coming on today.
David McClam
It has been enlightening.
David McClam
Definitely not boring.
David McClam
Everybody should make sure they get a copy of this book even if you don't like historical fiction.
David McClam
And I think if you try this one out that you will definitely enjoy it.
David McClam
It's been a pleasure.
David McClam
Anytime that you want to come back on the show, you know my information, please get a hold of me.
David McClam
Be honored to have you come back.
Sharon Virts
Well, thank you so much David.
Sharon Virts
It's been wonderful joining you and your and your fans this afternoon.
Sharon Virts
Thank you so much.
David McClam
All right guys, that was the great Sharon Vertz.
David McClam
You can get your copy of the Grades of Truth when it's released release on October 29, 2024.
David McClam
You can pre order it right now over at Amazon wherever books are sold.
David McClam
I want to thank you guys once again for joining us today.
David McClam
I know that you do have many choices in True Crime Interview podcast and I am grateful that for the last two and a half years you have chosen me.
David McClam
You have been listening to the only three faceted podcast of its kind.
David McClam
Be good to yourself and each other and always remember, always stay humbled.
David McClam
An act of kindness can make someone's day.
David McClam
A little love and compassion can go a long way.
David McClam
And remember that there is an extraordinary person in all of us.
David McClam
I'll catch you guys on the next one.
Host
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