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THE GOLDEN FLUTE

Adventures of Lilli and Zane

by Catherine Lanigan

The secrets of the past are their only hope of saving the future...

Arlette Mitchell is in Cairo while her husband JC is in Houston meeting with his private investigators.  Arlette is being followed as she attempts to locate Jericho's horn. But when Zorav's men find her and ransack her room, she dies while trying to escape from them.

Five years have passed since Lilli's mother died in Cairo. And she is again dreaming the same dream, the dream she knows is offering her clues to her mother's death.  But this time she sees something different in her dream - a symbol that has never been there before.

Next door live the McAllister's - eight year old Teddy, fifteen year old Zane, and their parents. Zane has grown up next door to Lilli and JC Mitchell is Zane's hero.

As Lilli prepares to head to London and her father, the Crystal Skull has been stolen from the British Museum. Zorav's men are behind this theft and the resulting four deaths. Zorav and Bishop Carrington have plans for the skull and the spring solstice in four days!

The night before he is to leave Cairo for London, JC's apartment is ransacked. As he searches for a book with a symbol like Lilli saw in her dream he hears car doors close – Zorav's men have found out he is in Cairo. But worse two thieves have found out about the flute that Arlette mailed to Lilli just before she was murdered and they are headed to Houston and Lilli.

When Zane and Teddy see two men breaking into Lilli's house minutes after she and Nancy head to the airport, they determine to protect her. Booking tickets on the same flight as Lilli, they escape notice until they arrive in London. As they head to their hotel the three see a symbol on a bookshop that slows time for all three, but Nancy doesn't notice anything strange.

As JC heads towards the airport, he feels lead to stay in Cairo and to search the Sphinx and the truth of Lilli's dream. When Zorav discovers that JC hasn't left Cairo, he and Bishop Carrington head to Cairo determined to steal Great Canary Diamond from JC when he retrieves it after proving that he is pure of heart!  

When Lilli, Zane and Teddy sneak out to the bookshop, they find that the shop keeper Barak knew Arlette before she married JC.  Barak tells them that if Arlette's theory was right Zorak was behind all the strange events happening around the world.  He directs them to Stonehenge and tells them that Lilli's flute is important to stopping Zorav. 

But time is running out and soon all their lives are in danger.  But tomorrow could bring the end of the world if they don't succeed.  Can they stop Zorav and Bishop Carrington before it is too late?  This will be one Spring Break never to be forgotten!

I received a digital ARC for the purpose of this review from the publisher.  

~~~~~~ Q / A Session with Catherine Lanigan ~~~~~~

1) How did you come up with the idea for the Golden Flute?

The Adventures of Lilli and Zane as a series was born during the time I was writing their story as adults in At Long Last Love which was published by Avon in 1994. I was inundated with intriguing, mystifying archeological research. There was so much I wanted to use, but could not due to the constrains of the theme I was using for At Long Last Love. As I was writing about Lilli and Zane and how they met as children, I thought, Why not a young adult series? Lilli was and is so much of myself when I was her age. I wanted to go all over the world and search out the mysteries of the universe. For years I kept gathering research and coming up with idea after idea. I actually did have a dream of the symbol that Lilli sees in her dream when her dead mother comes to visit her in the dream.

2) Do you have a favorite character? And if so, why?

Though Lilli is me at that age, it is Teddy whom I love to pieces. He is so fun and so outrageous as only a nine year old can be. Because he is a genius, he sees a great deal about the world and people that his older brother, Zane does not. Teddy is fearless, yet he defers to Lilli’s wisdom.

3) Are there any of the characters or scenes based on anything in your life?

Lilli and Zane live next door to each other in Houston where I lived for over thirty years. The

scenes in the London Hotels were out of my real life when I went to London and the Dorchester

Hotel. I haven’t been to Cairo, but I’m hoping. In the sequel to The Golden Flute, book two of the

series is titled The Adventures of Lilli and Zane: The Hunt for the Olismocchi Treasure and the

general theme of stolen Spanish Doubloons is a situation right out of my own life. At one time I

had a secretary who found a pouch of Spanish Doubloons in her laundry basket. She knew her

husband had stolen them. She came to my house and very mysteriously asked me to keep the

pouch for her while she went out of town and begged me to promise her that I would not look

inside. I was leaving for Los Angeles the next day and did not look. Two days later the Houston

Police and FBI showed up on our doorstep and started asking my thirteen year old son about the

stolen Spanish Doubloons. That was a story!!

4) In The Golden Flute what is your favorite scene?

I have so many it is hard to choose, but I would have to say when Lilli, Zane and Teddy are at

Stonehenge ruins in England and they are able to focus their minds and thoughts so strongly that

they make the earth disappear and an entry into the earth between the energy grids is opened

up. Lilli and Zane then have to lower Teddy into the earth so that he can retrieve the Green

Emerald.

5) As a writer is there a question that you have never been asked about your writing that you wish

someone would ask? If so, how would you answer them?

I think I have been asked every question under the rainbow, but it still surprises me how most

people have no idea how very, very difficult writing is. It is a lonely job. There is no boss to pat

you on the back and give you encouragement. When a writer turns in their work, they are either

met with a rejection all together or a long list of everything that is wrong with the manuscript.

Even after the book is out, everyone who reads the book can criticize it, tear it down, rip it to

shreds and yet, real authors just keep going. I believe it takes a deep faith in the talent that

God has given to those of us in the creative arts to keep going, especially when no one seems to

want us or our works. I know so many authors who have given up and I don’t blame them. The

rewards in writing come from the writing, from the moment when our minds and souls are one

and we are filled with “ inspiritu” …inspiration. It is as close to being in heaven as I can imagine.

Like other writers, I just hope I have been worthy of the talent God gave me.

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Want to learn more about Catherine Lanigan and her work?  Check out her website, Facebook page, and Twitter page.  


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