Matthew Kemp receives widespread acclamation as an archaeologist of the first major civilizations in Guatemala and Mexico, known as the Olmecs. At the height of his career, he receives a message from a woman in New Orleans named Sandra Mayfair. Little does he know, her common name is Cold Sandra, and she is a member of the Mayfair witch family. She uses her magic to woo him to New Orleans to study the relics she receives from her Great Nananne’s older brother, Oncle Vervain, a Voodoo man. Her magic also woos him into marriage, making him the stepfather of her two daughters, the sixteen-year-old Honey in the Sunshine and her younger sister, Merrick, the future fledgling of Louis. Matthew teaches Merrick how to read the ancient words of old spells and sparks in her a fascination with ancient Olmec mysticism. He takes his new family to Guatemala, where they investigate a mysterious cave. It is in this cave that Matthew contracts an illness and dies shortly thereafter, in his will leaving his wife a small fortune, which she uses to try to escape her life of poverty in New Orleans with her older daughter, an escape that only leads to her and Honey in the Sunshine’s murder.
Matthew Kemp appears in Merrick (2000). For more perspectives on Matthew’s character, read the Alphabettery entries Cold Sandra, Great Nananne, Honey in the Sunshine, Merrick Mayfair, and Oncle Vervain.