The first of my "Mission Mysteries" is out. Ask for it at your local bookstore "A Convenient Death at San Diego."

Don't have a local bookstore? (They are an endangered species) You can get it on Amazon.

Also have finished "Stone Wondrously Hewn" The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Looking for a publisher on this one.

San Juan Bautista

Did she fall? Or was she pushed? Or maybe the question should be which time?

This is the mission where Kim Novak fell from the tower in Alfred Hitchcock's classic movie "Vertigo." Not once, but twice! How is that possible? Well you got to see the movie.

But look closely at this tower. It is not a tower at all, but a Campanero. Mission San Juan Bautista has no tower. Alfred Hitchcock used clever editing and splicing to create that memorable scene of James Stewart and Kim Novak climbing up those stairs.

 

Mission San Diego

Mission San Diego is the first of the California Missions built so it is an appropriate setting for the first of my "Mission Mysteries."

The historical facts, which serve as the basis for this mystery are that Captain Fernando Rivera, of the Spanish army had imprisoned several of the local natives for their part in a revolt at the Mission. Much to Captain Rivera's chagrin, the Franciscans prevailed on the governor of California to have the prisoners released.

On the day the last prisoner was supposed to be released he was found dead in his cell. Suicide was given as the cause of death. For over 200 years there has been a lingering suspicion that the Spanish army was in fact the cause of his death.

With these facts in hand I have created a mystery involving not just one but two deaths. Who is responsible? The Spanish army? A falling out among thieves? Revenge on the part of some of the Natives for wrongs previously committed.

The protagonist of this mystery is a Franciscan Friar who is also a physician. He is called upon to use his unique set of skills in unraveling a very tangled set of facts

 

Mission San Diego

The first of the "Mission Mysteries" A Convenient Death at San Diego  will be released in Mid June. Watch for it. It is based on an actual incident in the very early history of the mission. There had been a revolt and several Indians were imprisoned. On the day the last one was to be released he was found dead in his cell. Suicide was given as the cause of death. Foul play has been suspected for over 200 years.

Mission Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is the only mission named after an object (Holy Cross) and not a saint, angel or religious event.

 

Although the original mission building was destroyed by a combination of Nature and Man many of it's artifacts were saved. The three statutes on the altar, Our Lady of Sorrows, Saint Joseph and Saint Michael were originally in the old church. The painting of our Lady of Guadalupe on the left rear wall of the church was done in Mexico in 1791 and came to the Mission in 1797.

Santa Cruz was the site of a somewhat spectacular and gruesome death of one of the Franciscans. Father Andres Quintana was known as a cruel disciplinarian and shortly after he died under mysterious circumstances some of the Natives claimed that they had not only killed, but in the process castrated the priest. The facts are still murky and likely the truth will never be known.

Who is buried in Serra's tomb??

Hint; it is not Junipero Serra.

Actually no one is buried in this tomb.

Junipero Serra died in 1784 and was interred under the floor of the main altar "on the Gospel side." (The left side from the congregations perspective)  In 1924 this Cenotaph was dedicated with the thought that Serra's remains would be interred in it. Public sentiment was overwhelmingly opposed to removing Serra's remains from under the altar.
The monument was placed in a side chapel at the mission. The figures represent the four monks who are buried beneath the altar. Father Serra, Father Crespi, Father Lasuen and Father Lopez.

The Death of Serra

Visitors to San Diego are struck by how narrow it is and by how high and narrow the windows are.

The mission is so narrow because, the Franciscans had no practical way to string longitudinal supports together. The mission could only be as wide as the tallest trees which could be harvested.

The placement of the windows, and their width were also dictated by the crude building techniques employed. The lower the windows were, and the wider they were, the more weight their horizontal sills would have to bear.