A recent news article's headline notes that "the earth gives off a relentless hum of countless notes, completely imperceptible to the human ear, like a giant exceptionally quiet symphony, but the origin of this sound has remained a mystery. Now unexpected powerful tunes have been discovered in this hum. These new findings could styleshed light on the source of an ancient enigma."

In the wake of this news release, meet the Barrington dynasty in a DA VINCI CODE meets ATONEMENT meets KING LEAR generational saga titled: THE SPELL OF VAUGIRARD. The story follows the manifest destiny of the Barrington dynasty as their members reveal knowledge about the music of the earth. The story of the Barringtons is told as a psychological thriller with a science fiction bent that takes us as an audience into the wonder and perils of access abounding in the wireless world.

Throughout a five book thriller series, the Barrington dynasty seeks to wield world power through their knowledge and manipulation of their secret royal ancient musical language. The language transforms the hum into a clock work of melodies written down by the Barringtons over the ages. The dynasty members each have different roles in the encrypting and archiving of data for the next generation's historical reference.

The saga opens in the 21st century when we meet the Barringtons in the first book: MELODY FOR MURDER. The protagonist, musicologist Lily Barrington, arrives at the Library of Congress and stumbles onto the dynasty's hidden secrets and language encryption. She unfolds lies that have been fed to the public about how the language originated. The Barrington dynasty is momentarily changing leadership, and is embroiled in a global fight over ownership and access to a new invention and multimedia platform called MEND-musical encode decode.

MEND has its origins in the Barrington's secret musical familial language, and the special familial connection is revealed in a young star's song cadence. The song spells out how the dynasty is wound into a constellation of notes that connects the characters as one force field that keeps the earth humming on its axis. The star, daughter of Lily and granddaughter of the dynasty matriarch, is brutally murdered just before she releases the secret cadence to the song-a song that has been heard before during a time of great challenge in the lives of the Barringtons. As the events surrounding the star's murder unfold, all human life is threatened when the Barrington fight escalates into a war of epic proportions over access to their lies and secrets. Lily soon finds herself at the center of a plot that threatens the security of the United States. As Lily seeks the truth, the stakes are going up exponentially and one wrong move could endanger the planet and all humans forever.

Introduction to the Book Series: First Book MELODY FOR MURDER In the first book of the series, we learn along with protagonist Lily Barrington about the time clock nature and powerful roles assigned to the family members and how their extraordinary musical and other gifts of genius give them instant access on the world map. The largest property owners in the old French village of Vaugirard, the family stems from an ancient royal lineage. It has immense ambition for world power, and the means to gain it through its musical genius. A lovely melody is transferred through the ages to a special member of the family who can sing the tune, and give secret familial commands through the tones and their meaning. The family, likewise, has devised a carefully-crafted plan of genetic management to retain both the genius and power. This strategy proves successful until the Middle Ages, when the family is jeopardized by a public blight on its name.

The unknowing culprit is a cherubic Barrington offspring living in Vaugirard. It is the year 1347, and the black plague is threatening to wipe out much of Europe including this extraordinary clan. This young child alone possesses the ability to save the family through his unique ability to change the character of sounds by echoing, trilling and breaking apart the family members' musical tones, thus binding them all together within one familial heartbeat. He uses this technique with the family's signature melody as a call to arms that they all recognize - a warning to consolidate their affairs and leave town. Plague is upon village and there is serious danger!

But the town villagers believe this child's powers are omens of evil, and out of ignorance and fear, they capture and brutally murder him. His death breaks apart the family's musical connection, causing them to lose both their power and the deed to their Vaugirard land. The family's name is desecrated and its fortune lost. The cadence chord resolving this crime will not be heard until the child's voice is rerouted, nearly 700 years later, when his genes reappear and are heard by all Barringtons throughout the world.

The first book concludes with Lily proving her ability to take over the family reigns from the presiding Matriarch. Upon taking on her mission impossible challenge and uncovering the Barrington's secret powers Lily learns many shocking details about her family's past and about her own complicated loves. This knowledge leads her to uncover how MEND was conceived and the diabolical plan used to hide away the Barrington genetic remake of the child of the Middle Ages. It is this plan that indirectly causes the death of the American family star. The remake ancestor hidden in Paris is used to program MEND and to control the family's private character Arcade and store front in Paris.

Lily's personal journey in this opening coming of age story saves us from disaster and protects the Barrington family data from falling into the wrong hands. Finding the 21st century child remake reveals the character clockwork of the formation of the signature melody. The timely revelation brings us into a new era in history and gives access to MEND to all people around the globe as they are welcomed into the Barrington dynasty fold.

The five books in the Vaugirard series chronicle the family's quest to regain its prominence, thwart take over and define their territory around the globe in order to maintain their powers and secrets to the world's origins as the character formation of MEND is encoded daily and powered by the regenerative force of music.

© 2008 Mardi-Ellen Hill