Ron Strutt: Hops Garden Syndale Farm, Kent UK   Some things I have never thought to ponder: Hops by Pixnio Hops Hops plant growth Harvesting hops Post World War I economy Low income Londoners These are all things I learned about in The Hop-Pickers Murders , the latest crime mystery featuring forensic  genealogist, Morton Farrier.   Author Nathan Dylan Goodwin once again displays his genius by immersing his readers in a distinctive time and place.  This 11th novel in the Morton Farrier series introduces us to the unique time and place of hop-pickers in Kent, England after WWI before mechanization became the method for mass production.  Morton solves a mystery of theft, disappearance and murder for a client who discovered her aunt's journal. We catch up with Morton's personal life as well; he struggles to concentrate despite his 3-year-old's drum kit "practice" and the unknown menace bent on destroying his career.  Morton always gives a lesson in genealo...

  by Katie Hanzeli “If it wasn’t for coal, there never would have been a Black Diamond, Washington.” 1 About 1885, the Black Diamond Coal Company of California sent Morgan Morgan, their superintendent and Mr. P. B. Cornwall, the company’s president up North to check out the prospect of moving its entire operation from Nortonville to what is now Black Diamond, Washington. Coal, good quality coal, had been discovered in Newcastle, just North of there and explorations showed that even more was to be had. Morgan and Cornwall liked what they saw. The mostly Welsh and some Italian employees, their families and all the equipment were packed up, lock, stock and barrel, and moved to Washington. Even before coal became king, there were homesteaders nearby, who had to go to Seattle via Covington to get supplies. Everything else they grew themselves, including tobacco. 2 They had been settled in the area since the early 1870’s. Welsh, Italians, Slovenians, British and other national...