The Sky-High Witness Book Release!

PA Cozy Mystery Writers
Oct 6
5 min read

Updated: Nov 9

For those of you who are new to this author...

Sarah Ickes has a devoted passion to art, a love for reading and writing, and has an old soul when it comes to television and films. Though she has a degree in Fine Arts, her life is not as simple as a piece of paper. She has worked in retail management, web designing, and marketing to name a few of the realms of her experiences. The pets in her life take precedence, as anyone with animals knows. Her interest in historical America comes vividly to life in her Murial Robertson mysteries, following the adventures of a woman in the 1880s. Currently, she also has the "Vectra Tillerman Adventures" (action/adventure/greek myth/steampunk), the "Cybil Lawson Mysteries" (cozy/light-hearted traditional mystery), and her latest release, The Sky-High Witness (historical/cozy/novella).

What is this new book about, you ask? Check out the back blurb here:

On May 27th 1843, a man by the name of John Wise took to the air in a balloon for the fortieth time. To celebrate, the people of Carlisle, Pennsylvania put together a celebratory afternoon…until it wasn’t so jolly.

Excited to see Mr. Wise in-person, Margaret Everton can barely contain her excitement when her father, Thomas, brings her into town to see the ascension take place. Upon reaching the Mansion Hotel, her mother’s friend, Kathleen McKnee, agrees to watch her for the day so that Margaret’s father can conduct some business. Much to Margaret’s displeasure, however, they end up talking with a host of other people before even reaching the centre square. But when she catches a glimpse of the same man in both the hotel and near the balloon, she suspects something is awry just as a little girl tells her that he is a pirate in search of treasure; especially after the bank gets robbed in broad daylight.

From that moment on, Margaret will have the adventure of her life as a chain of precarious events have been unleashed upon the quiet town. Will she be able to deduce who is a friend, who is a foe, and who is the one behind it all? Or perhaps the events are pieces to entirely different puzzles? For when the shadows creep in after the last light of dusk has vanished, there is only one’s own self to keep safe until the next dawn breaks.

Now Onto the Interview...

The Sky-High Witness (currently a standalone)

What was the inspiration behind this new mystery?

When I was doing research for another book, that is unfinished at the moment, I stumbled upon ballooning in the Civil War. Some people might already know this, but I had no idea that our Union Army had a Ballooning Corps for a brief span during the war. Just before Gettysburg, however, it was dismantled and the supplies sold off as surplus (imagine how different that battle would have been!).

During my findings, I came across a lot of information on John Wise. He was one of three main famous aeronauts who helped to establish America’s venturing spirit toward the skies, and he also happened to be from Lancaster, PA. Inside his book, Through the Air, which was published in the late 1800s, Mr. Wise dedicated a section to the various ascensions (aka balloon flights) that he conducted. One such flight happened in the square of Carlisle in 1843. That was the seed that eventually blossomed into my most recent mystery, and continued to grow the further I dove into my research.

Who is your main character and what to do you like about him/her?

Margaret Everton is a young girl, about the age of eleven, who has been following Mr. Wise’s journey and his balloon experiments with great admiration. She dreams of someday becoming an aeronaut, just like him, and takes a trip into Carlisle to witness him fly into the heavens with her own eyes. But once she makes it into town, things start to take shape, and she soon finds herself in the middle of a bank robbery that needs solved before the thieves escape for good.

I really like Margaret because she longs for adventure, but is really an introvert inside. She has stayed within the confines of her hometown of Meyer’s Bend for most of her life, adding to the mounting fear of being sent off to a private school in the fall of that same year. Although she realizes her parents are trying to give her the best education possible, Margaret can’t help the feelings of uncertainty that comes with going to a new place. In my opinion, this classic dilemma of having to embrace the unknown is one of the reasons her character is so relatable.

**As a side note, women aeronauts had been flying for over fifty years before my story happens! (Another part of my research that was a delight to uncover 😀)

Does your book take place in Pennsylvania? (If so, please describe a little)

My story takes place on a specific day in Carlisle, PA and because of that, I knew I had a LOT of research ahead of me to ensure that many of the smaller details were as accurate as possible. For instance, during the 1840s, Carlisle had the train coming straight through town and had a market place on the southeastern corner of the centre square.

According to one source, which was comprised of a thorough look into policing over the course of Carlisle’s history, there were no records of street lights during this time and the police force was extremely small. Anyone could run for the position of sheriff, resulting in roughly twelve different names being mentioned in the local newspaper for that year’s election alone! It was also legal to buy votes by handing out free alcohol on the eve of voting.

Now, I would like to note that despite the 1840s being a time of riots and unease in parts of the country, Carlisle mostly dealt with cases of rhowdysim. There were a few incidents of arson as the decade progressed, which might come up in a potential sequel… 😉 (so there was no real bank robbery).