Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 80

Out with the Old: New Worlds

Wickeds, remember our theme “out with the old”? Let’s talk about world building. We’ve all written several series. When you’re creating your new world, what’s out to make it new?

Jessie: I love the topic of world-building, Julie! Thanks for asking about it! I find myself starting most of my novels in a place that leads me to a time and then to the sorts of people who would be there. All of that is fed by research into the time and place. I like to build my worlds based on the small details of daily life and so I spend a lot of time reading primary source materials, looking at advertisements and art from the time and place of the novel, and reading novels written during that time. I find that a familiarity with all of that ordinary stuff makes a world build clearly in my mind with far less deliberate effort than it would otherwise require.

Barb: It must seem like world-building is very simple for me. I have three series, all contemporary, all set in fictional versions of real New England towns. The Death of an Ambitious Woman is set in a town very like Newton, Massachusetts, where we brought up our kids. The Maine Clambake Mysteries are set in a town very like Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where my mother-in-law owned a bed and breakfast in a Victorian house we eventually owned. And the Jane Darrowfield Mystery series is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We lived for fourteen years in adjacent Somerville. But the worlds have given me more than enough to sink my teeth into. Fictional Busman’s Harbor is rural and highly seasonal. In densely-populated Cambridge, Jane and her friends drive two miles to a restaurant and pass through five distinct, named neighborhoods.

Liz: For my first two series, I drew heavily on both what I knew about communities like Frog Ledge and Daybreak Island, then filled the rest in with how I wanted it to be. Like Barb, Daybreak is seasonal and it feels like building a new world for every season there. But the real challenge has been in my latest series where I’m building not only a small town world but a world in a whole other realm at the same time. It’s fun because I get to use my imagination in ways I haven’t yet in my books but also kind of daunting because there is so much to think about! And once you make a decision, you can’t really go back so it better be the right one.

Sherry: Almost everything I’ve written has been set in a place I’ve lived in or visited — even the unpublished manuscripts. They aren’t places I’m from and so I can explore that whole “new to a place” thing that can create so much conflict. Like Liz, I tend to use the real place as a jumping off point and then give it fun new things. Like in the Chloe Jackson books, I’ve added the Redneck Trolley and all the heritage businesses. I remember Barb’s advice when I was writing a proposal for a series. She said, “Make the world as big as you can.” It’s great advice so you don’t limit your place that your writing about.

Julie: When I first started writing, I didn’t understand the complexity of it, and how important decisions are. The logistics like geography are where I start. I love that Jessie and Edith world build from history. Historical fiction readers demand accuracy, so you can’t make it all up. Liz’s new realm fascinates me–she can make up the rules, but she has to remember them from book to book. And Barb uses her world as a character, especially Busman’s Harbor, which is so different depending on the season. I tend to start with a place I know, and build from there. When I wrote the Clock Shop series, I was driving through a town in Western Massachusetts and stopped the car–this was the place where I could start. Goosebush is based on Duxbury, MA, where I grew up. I’ve changed the geography to suit the story, but that’s where it started.

Writer friends, what do you toss when you create a new world? What did you learn that you moved forward? Readers, when you’re reading a new series, how do you enjoy learning about the world?

A Wicked Welcome to Alexis Morgan **plus a giveaway**

by Julie, working on my niece’s afghan in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome Alexis Morgan back to the blog today! I love this post about her characters, and how they get to know their author.

GETTING TO KNOW HER…

It seems almost impossible that my new release, DEATH BY THE FINISH LINE, is already the fifth book in my Abby McCree Mystery series. Seems like the first book just came out. Having said that, I’ve had a great time following Abby on her adventures and getting to know her better with each book.

People often wonder how an author creates their characters. I can only speak for myself, but they often start moving around in the back of my mind long before they actually step out of the shadows to introduce themselves. I have a plaque in my office that describes it best: Madness does not always howl. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “Hey, is there room in your head for one more?”

My answer to that question is almost always yes, especially when we’re talking about a fun character like Abby McCree. When I first started on this journey with her, I thought I knew a lot about her. In my mind, she was at a point where she was starting over on several important fronts. She is in her early thirties and recently divorced. She’s also unemployed because her husband bought out her half of the business they’d built together.

If she wasn’t already reeling from all of that, her beloved great aunt died and left Abby her entire estate. Abby now owns a three-story Victorian home in Snowberry Creek that she shares with a furry roommate—a ninety-five pound mastiff-mix named Zeke. She also inherited the tenant living in the small mother-in-law house at the back of her property. Her aunt always rented it to a college student, but this time he’s a handsome former Special Forces soldier named Tripp Blackston.

I liked the idea of turning a big-city woman loose in a small town and waiting to see what happens. And what better way to kickstart the action, than to have her get suckered into taking on all kinds of committee work? Right off the bat, her aunt’s elderly friends strong-armed her into taking charge of their quilting guild’s annual fundraiser. While the ladies really needed the help, it’s actually their way of getting Abby involved in the community.

It simply isn’t in Abby’s nature to take on a project without making sure it is done right. News of the hugely successful garage sale spread like wildfire, and she is quickly swamped with invitations to take on all kinds of new ventures. Everyone wants to take advantage of Abby’s ability to get things done. As much she tries to resist getting drawn into each new project, she finds she can’t say no to helping out with the Halloween festival, to the veterans group that Tripp belongs to, or the movie-in-the-park night. In DEATH BY THE FINISH LINE, Abby agrees to take charge of the town’s annual 5K run, partnering with a biker named Gil.

Tripp says she’s a soft touch, but there’s more to why she keeps getting involved in things. Over time, strangers have become friends, and Snowberry Creek has become home. And along the way, I’ve gotten to know a lot more about Abby. I don’t know who was more surprised to find out that she’s a whiz at pool—Tripp and his buddies or me. It’s just one more example of how a character often tells their own story. I just write it down.

I can’t wait to see what committee Abby will get “volunteered” for next, and what kind of new trouble she’ll get into along the way. So I’m curious. Have you ever gotten “volunteered” for something? How did it turn out for you? I’ll give away a copy of Death by the Finish Line to two commenters.

BIO:   

USA Today Best-selling author Alexis Morgan has always loved reading and now spends her days imagining worlds filled with strong alpha heroes and gutsy heroines. She is the author of over forty-five books, novellas, and short stories that span a variety of romance genres. Currently, Alexis is writing her first cozy mystery series, The Abby McCree Murder Mysteries from Kensington Publishing.

BLURB:

When a dead body turns up on a race route, Abby McCree hits the ground running to catch a killer…

Overcommitted Abby has once again been drafted to use her organizing superpowers—this time for a 5k charity run that’s part of the Founder’s Day Celebration in Snowberry Creek, Washington. At least she has help, albeit from an unlikely source: Gil Pratt, a member of her handsome tenant Tripp Blackston’s veterans group and co-owner of a motorcycle repair shop with his brother. Abby and Gil may seem like an odd couple, but they work great together.
 
The event seems to be running smoothly—until city council member James DiSalvo is found murdered in a ravine along the race route. Unfortunately, Gil’s brother Gary had a very public argument with DiSalvo minutes before the race, making him the prime suspect. Now the two race organizers must again team up to prove Gary’s innocence—before the real killer makes a run for it. But one wrong step and Abby may be the next one to come in dead last…

WEBSITE LINK: (WHICH HAS AN EXCERPT AND BUY LINKS:

https://www.alexismorgan.com/books/deathbythefinishline.html

Death in a Blackout

Jessie, in New Hampshire, grateful for a drawer filled with wool socks!

Back in September, I sent out a newsletter to my subscriber list announcing the sale of a new series, The WPC Billie Harkness mysteries. I am delighted to be able to share a bit about the first novel, Death in a Blackout, and the cover here today!

Billie Harkness grew out of my ongoing interest in exploring the lives and roles of women throughout time and to imagine the sorts of individuals who helped to push societal boundaries and to expand opportunities into the ones we are familiar with today. Adversity calls many things into question and war is more efficient than most other circumstances for reinventing business as usual. My heroine, Billie, finds herself at a place and time where the world is in flux, and her desire to have a larger life is made possible by global suffering.

I am always drawn to creating characters who make the best of the situations in which they find themselves and I wanted to make the circumstances direr than any other I had attempted thus far. As I delved down the research rabbit hole I came across information concerning the city of Kingston-Upon-Hull, UK, during WWII, and knew I had found what it was that I sought. Hull was a city that managed to keep soldiering on despite massive air raids that left 90% of its housing stock damaged or destroyed. Who better to explore perseverance in times of difficulty than the people of that city at that time?

While the subject matter and circumstances were darker than my Beryl and Edwina novels, Billie was enormous fun to write, as was her partner on the police force, Peter Upton. The supporting characters tickled my fancy as well, particularly Avis Crane, Billie’s superior in the department, and Lydia Harkness, Billie’s older and more sophisticated cousin. The first book in the series, Death in a Blackout, will release in February in the UK and in May here in the States. I hope you will enjoy reading about these new characters as much as I have enjoyed making them ready for you!

Here’s the back cover copy to pique your interest:

The first in a brand-new WWII historical mystery series introduces WPC Billie Harkness – a female police officer who risks her life to protect the home front in the British coastal city of Hull.

1940. Britain is at war. Rector’s daughter Wilhelmina Harkness longs to do her duty for her country, but when her strict mother forbids her to enlist, their bitter argument has devasting consequences.

Unable to stay in the village she loves, Wilhelmina – reinventing herself as Billie – spends everything she has on a one-way ticket up north. Hull is a distant, dangerous city, but Billie is determined to leave her painful memories behind and start afresh, whatever the cost.

The last thing Billie expects on her first evening in Hull, however, is to be caught in the city’s first air raid – or to stumble across the body of a young woman, suspiciously untouched by debris.

If the air raid didn’t kill the glamorous stranger, what did? Billie is determined to get justice, and her persistence earns her an invitation to the newly formed Women’s Police Constabulary. But as the case unfolds, putting her at odds with both high-ranking members of the force as well as the victim’s powerful family, Billie begins to wonder if she can trust her new friends and colleagues . . . or if someone amongst them is working for the enemy.

DEATH IN A BLACKOUT is a perfect pick for fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Rhys Bowen and Susan Elia MacNeal.

Readers, do you enjoy books set in times or places different than your own?

A Wicked Welcome to Gabriel Valjan! **plus giveaway**

by Julie, warm and cozy in Somerville

Gabriel Valjan is a wonderful member of the crime writing community, constantly supporting and promoting other writers. He’s also a terrific writer. I’m delighted to help him celebrate his most current release, Hush Hush, which was released this week.

The Cockroach Left A Note

There’s the old chestnut that every story has been told, and that everything is a variation on a theme. Good riddance, because Shakespeare died at 52, and he damn near broke the language. Will added 1700 words to the lexicon, and then there’s the breadth and depth of humanity throughout his works. Writing anything of substance after him seems daunting.

Which leaves us then with the matter of style, that distinctive quality without a name.

I write mysteries.

Crime fiction is a harrowed acre, the subject as old as Cain and Abel. There are only so many ways to commit homicide, and motivations are as basic and complex as the human psyche. I’ve concluded that in the effort to distinguish him or herself in the endeavor before the blank page, the writer is a cockroach.

Allow me to explain.

I believe that what will come to mind to most of you is the image of Kafka’s iconic character, but there is another cockroach that describes the writer who wants to make their mark. His name is Archy, or when he’s writing, archy, in lowercase. Like most writers, archy tries his best to tell a story. He pounds on the keys all through the night and tries to communicate his vision of imagination, which he leaves inside the typewriter for his friend in the morning. Archy, however, has one unique problem that writers and musicians understand. Archy is unable to hit the sweet note, incapable of capitalization, until one day he lands on the shift lock key. Archy’s friend and coconspirator is a cat named Mehitabel. As humans, we writers don’t share archy’s difficulty with dexterity, but the metaphor is the same.

We each strive to be unique, different on the page.

I write the Shane Cleary mysteries, set in 1970s Boston. Corruption and murder are my trade. What makes my mysteries different is that I lace them with humor. It’s not the ha-ha brand of wit, or the banter popular in film noir. I can’t describe it, but it’s there. I use humor to defuse tension and to expose a wry view of the world. If I didn’t do that, the world would devour Shane Cleary like Goya’s painting of Saturn Devouring His Son. In my latest episode in the series, HUSH HUSH, Shane confronts issues that remain relevant today: racism, social injustice, and moral bankruptcy.

All is not dark, though not cozy either. Shane’s conscience is Delilah. He almost always listens to her, though he sometimes misunderstands her.

Delilah is a cat. Shane, like most writers, hammers away at the keyboard.

She, like Archy’s friend the cat, helps him strike the right key.

CAPITALS AT LAST.

Writers, what do you do to make your writing unique? Do you use humor, and how? Readers, do you enjoy humor in your mysteries? I’ll give away a copy of Hush Hush to a commenter.

About the Book

Shane Cleary is living a comfortable life. He has money. He has a girl.

But a visit from a friend shakes up his status quo. Chess may be the metaphor, but the case is one that lifts the lid on problems nobody in Boston wants to talk about.

Murder. Race. Class. It’s all Hush Hush.

Neither the crime nor the verdict is simple, and yet it is Black and White.

Shane will need more than a suit of armor if he wants to play knight. Can Justice be found? And at what cost?

About the Author

Gabriel Valjan lives in Boston’s South End. He is the author of the Roma Series and The Company Files (Winter Goose Publishing) and Shane Cleary Mysteries series (Level Best Books). His second Company File novel, The Naming Game, was a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best Historical Mystery and the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original in 2020.

Web: http://www.gabrielvaljan.com/

Twitter: @GValjan

Instagram: @gabrielvaljan

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/38FvxSn

Shifting to the New **plus a giveaway**

By Julie, warm and cozy in Somerville

Shifts go beyond goals. They are about making changes that alter the path you’re on. They may or may not be permanent. Like all of life, they require constant reevaluation and course corrections.

For whatever reason, I already felt that 2020 was going to be year of shifts. New decade and all that. But I, like everyone, had no idea.

At the beginning of the pandemic, in 2020, I’d given up drinking for Lent. I’m a lapsed Catholic, but some things stay with me, including reflection and change during the forty (forty-six including Sundays) days before Easter. Anyway, I’d given it up, and decided to stick with it throughout the pandemic. This may not be a forever choice, but it’s working for now.

I also had a goal of getting stronger, and started working out at least three days a week. Mid 2021, I wanted to lose the weight I’d put on, and decided to focus on getting healthy. I upped the workouts, changed eating habits, you know the drill. Instead of temporary changes, I shifted into making them part of my life. It’s working. And It’s fun. My recent workouts have been “Let’s Get Up” with Shaun T. It’s a hoot, and a great workout. Imagine me doing this in my living room six days a week. The cats run.

Then there are the shifts in my writing life. I’m still figuring those out. I’ve been wrestling with writing something different from my series. Towards that end, I’ve been reading (and rereading) some craft books, and really thinking about how to “up” my writing game. I’m doing some research, and enjoying exercising my brain. My tenth book (The Plot Thickets) will be out this fall, so it’s a good time to reflect and make shifts. What will my next ten books be?

In sorting my considerable yarn stash (anyone else a yarn junkie?) I’ve committed to projects for the nieces and nephews AND not buying more yarn till they’re done. They’ll be warm, since scarves, hats and afghans are my current go-tos. Mindless enough, but with some challenge. I’m also doing a “stitch a day” embroidery project to teach me more techniques and help me get better at basics like French knots and chain stitches. The shift toward making my knitting part of a daily meditation has been very rewarding.

Since March 2020, out with the old has been sort of my theme. Like many others, it’s also been a time of reflection. The question for 2022 is, what’s the new? I don’t do new year’s resolutions anymore. Instead, I try and make shifts. What does healthier look like? How can I be a better writer? What brings me joy? How can I best take care of the people I love, and myself? Like so many others, I’ve been navigating some significant challenges and searching for elusive balance. I’ve come to realize a lot of it is about choices.

So here are some of my shifts for 2022:

Continue my dates with Shaun T. A half hour of dancing a day has done me a lot of good both physically and mentally. Refill my creative well. That means writing, knitting, going to museums. I may even sign up for an online painting class or two.Be comfortable with down time. I work from home, and tend to keep going or keep busy. My mind whirs with worry when I’m quiet. One shift is working on that. The knitting helps. So does reading, or taking a walk.Be better about my daily reading, email, and social media time. I tend to be online ALL THE TIME. It isn’t good for me on so many levels. So how can I be better about not automatically checking my phone, or jumping on social media, or going down dark rabbit holes? This may be the toughest shift, but the most important.

I love my life, but need some of these shifts in order to bring in the new. Embracing joy, and figuring out how to do that, will be the biggest shift. But since life is not a dress rehearsal; it’s show time. Understanding that on a cellular level is the most important thing I can do this year.

Readers, how do you make changes in your life? Working on any now? Let’s celebrate the new year by me giving away a book to three commenters.

Out with the Old: Fresh Starts for Our Characters

This month the theme is “out with the old”. What do your characters do to spice things up? When they need a fresh start? How do they usher in the new?

Sherry: In both the Garage Sale mysteries and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon mysteries my characters start new lives in new places with new jobs — talk about a fresh start. Chloe is always up for trying something new — especially when it comes to water sports. Sarah would more likely tackle a project and organize something for someone else to shake things up.

Edith/Maddie: Mac Almeida in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries starts reading a new cozy with the book group every week, so that’s a kind of starting fresh. And Robbie and her crew in the Country Store series have to think up new breakfast and lunch specials all the time. And of course a new murder comes up in each book in both series, too!

Barb: Readers of the Maine Clambake Mysteries will know that my main character, Julia Snowden, made a very fresh start at the end of my most recent novel, Shucked Apart. I’m still getting emails about it!

Julie: Barb, I love that your readers are so invested! Sherry and Edith, I love the way your characters keep it fresh. The Garden Squad is a group effort towards keeping it fresh. Tamara, Warwick and Ernie move. Lilly’s journey to shake things up is part of the series–she’s falling back in love with life. But rethinking Alden Park is keeping it fresh across the board.

Liz: Violet Mooney’s fresh start is finding out she’s a witch and learning how to move in that world. For Maddie James, moving home to the island and starting her cafe cafe was definitely her fresh start – what was old becomes new again!

Writer friends, how do you keep it fresh? Readers, do you like fresh starts in series?

A Wicked Welcome to C. Michele Dorsey **plus a giveaway**

by Julie, wintering in New England

Michele Dorsey and I have known each other for a long time. We met through Sisters in Crime New England, served on the Crime Bake committee together, and had our debuts the same year. I’m delighted to welcome her back to the blog to talk about the third book in her series, Tropical Depression, and Saving Sabrina.

SAVING SABRINA

What does a writer do when a publisher tells her they don’t want the next installment of her mystery series? I wish I could tell you this is a rare occurrence but alas, it’s fairly common. I had already written a rough draft of the third book in the Sabrina Salters series when I got the news. I had been spending winters on St. John in the US Virgin Islands where the series is set constantly harvesting new ideas. My agent gently suggested I move on to something else. So, I did. Sort of.

I had developed a following of readers who kept contacting me. They wanted to know when the third Sabrina was coming out. I felt guilty disappointing them when I said I didn’t know. Although one publisher had declined to continue the series, I wasn’t convinced someone else might feel differently.

Around the same time, I noticed other authors were in the same bind having series “dropped” as it’s called, as if a lover suddenly stopped calling. A few writers found new homes with traditional publishers, while others opted for hybrid publishing. I decide not to give up on Sabrina so quickly and to examine my options. I learned about the revision of rights, which simply means you can’t do squat with your series until the publisher relinquishes the rights you signed over in your contract.

Readers and a few reviewers who missed Sabrina continued to inquire when the next book was coming.  I missed her too. I’ve never shared this before, but the inspiration for Sabrina, who is the survivor of childhood trauma, was a young child I represented during my career as a family law attorney. I didn’t give up on that kid and I found I didn’t want to give up on Sabrina.

I began working on getting the rights to the series back with the generous help of the agency that represents me. Just as things were looking brighter, two massive hurricanes struck St. John with days of each other. The island was decimated. I wasn’t on island when the category 5+ storms hit but quickly learned about the devastation, including the property where I stayed each winter. When I traveled to salvage a few belongings, I saw first-hand how the island I love had been impacted. I knew in an instant that book three in the series could not ignore an event that would forever change it.

Tropical Depression became the new book three. I interviewed people who survived the storm and were committed to remaining on St. John and rebuilding. Their stories are woven into the mystery that happens during Hurricanes Irma and Maria

I finally got the rights back and have republished No Virgin Island, Permanent Sunset, and added Tropical Depression. Saltwater Wounds, book four will be out June 1st, and will answer questions readers have been asking about.

Writing is about not giving up. The Sabrina Salter series is about survival: Sabrina’s, St. John’s, and mine.

Readers, do you have a mystery series you miss and wish had continued? I’ll be giving away a copy of my books to a commenter!

About the book:

Sabrina Salter returns home to St. John in the Virgin Islands after a disastrous vacation in New England where her grandmother rejected her and her boyfriend, Neil, betrayed her. She discovers an employee at her villa rental agency has been murdered with a machete and her best friend and business partner, Henry, is the prime suspect. If that isn’t enough, Hurricane Irma, a category five-plus hurricane, is racing toward St. John, and her grandmother is on-island to make amends. Reluctantly, Sabrina must enlist Neil and his rusty legal skills to save Henry and help find the murderer while a killer, a massive hurricane, and her grandmother are charging her way. Can Sabrina survive the compounded forces of nature, family, and evił on an island that should be paradise?

Bio:

C. Michele Dorsey is the author of the Sabrina Salter series, including No Virgin Island, Permanent Sunset, and Tropical Depression. Michele is a lawyer, mediator, former adjunct law professor and nurse, who didn’t know she could be a writer when she grew up. Now that she does, Michele writes constantly, whether on St John, outer Cape Cod, or anywhere within a mile of the ocean.  

A Visit to the Biltmore Estate

by Barb, first post of 2022, first post from Key West

Hi All. Bill and I enjoyed a meandering trip to Key West this year. We planned to spend Christmas in southern Virginia with our son’s in-laws in their brand new house. (So new they had only slept there for four days before we arrived. Now that’s brave.)

The timing meant we would need to kill a few days before we could get into our rental in Key West. Plus it was late in the year to be making plans. We couldn’t commit until we knew if the house where we were spending Christmas would actually be done in time. Plus, you know, omicron, holiday traffic, the whole deal.

Bill took the planning in hand and we decided to spend a few days in Asheville, NC. We had a beautiful day at the Biltmore estate and I am sharing Bill’s photos below.

We began our day with a tour of the gardens, fallow now for winter of course. But it was a gorgeous day, perfect for strolling, and the greenhouse was amazing.

A replica of the greenhouse in the greenhouseA bed of…not roses…but…?Biltmore House, the largest private home in the United StatesThe mountains beyond. The estate once encompassed 125,000 acres. Now it is about 8,000. Frederick Law Olmsted designed the grounds, which are full of gardens, water features and winding roads. (More on that later.)

After the gardens we went to see the interactive Van Gogh show which was in an big open auditorium on another part of the estate.

Bill took a lot of photos of these shadows. I am trying to persuade him to publish a whole series.

in Van Gogh’s bedroom as he painted it.

We had a lovely dinner at the restaurant in the stables on the grounds and then a nighttime tour of the house, which was fully decorated for Christmas.

The two-story library. There’s a door on the second story which leads to the third floor rooms where guests like Edith Wharton and Henry James stayed and were encouraged to find books to enjoy during their stays.Formal dining roomChandelier in the main stairway with a four story dropGingerbread replica of the house in the main kitchen. The tour included the upstairs and downstairs, which was very like Downton Abbey. Or should I say Downton Abbey is very like it?

We had a perfect day. And then, as we drove the miles of dark, meandering roads out of the park, our check engine light came on and the car threw about seven error messages.

Dun-dun-DUN.

And our perfect day turned into a horror movie.

No, not really. But we did spend the next two days at a creative and friendly Volkswagon dealership in Spartanburg, South Carolina. And, despite it all, we stayed on schedule for the trip and arrived in Key West on January 1.

Readers: Tell us about a trip that didn’t go as you expected.

A Wicked Welcome to John Copenhaver! **plus a giveaway!**

by Julie, finishing week one of the new year!

I am delighted to welcome John Copenhaver to the blog today! I interviewed John for the Sisters in Crime podcast, and loved talking about writing with him. Now it’s time to celebrate his new book!

Challenging Archetypes:
Finding a New Story for the Femme Fatale

Set in 1948 Washington, DC, my new historical mystery, The Savage Kind, features two teenage girls, Judy and Philippa, who are crime solvers à la Nancy Drew and femmes fatales whose actions thrust them headlong into dangerous moral territory. With these characters, I wanted to challenge the femme fatale stereotype that haunts mid-century American detective fiction. What if, I asked myself, the femme fatale who slinked through hardboiled detective fiction or across Golden Age movie screens had been misunderstood? Of course, she was a misogynistic construction: Men of the time brimmed with existential anxiety about losing their dominance in the workplace and at home, fearing the assertive and independent woman and casting her as conniving and treacherous. But what if the femme fatale weren’t innately evil as she is so often presented, but instead just pissed off.

Frankly, she has many reasons to be. During WWII, women found more opportunities in the workplace and consequently greater independence, which led to their increased sense of purpose. When the war ended, those doors of opportunity swung closed: what women could do or be significantly narrowed. Even how housewives were defined became strictly codified: women must aspire to polished-chrome-and-waxed-linoleum suburban perfection, a throwback to Coventry Patmore’s Victorian self-sacrificing and subservient Angel in the House that Virginia Woolf famously challenges in her 1931 essay, “Professions for Women.”

Seventeen, single-minded, and queer, Judy and Philippa see a possible future for themselves embodied by their intelligent and prepossessing English teacher, Miss Martins. Miss M, as Judy calls her, bonds with them through a shared love of literature and music, frank talk about gender dynamics, and sisterly emotional guidance. She is a professional, a single woman who treasures her freedom and asserts her opinions without apology.

When Philippa witnesses her teacher being savagely attacked and, shortly after, a fellow classmate who had been behaving in a threatening manner toward all of them disappears, the girls plunge into the mystery. However, it’s more than an amateur detective’s curiosity or a sense of justice driving them; it’s a deep concern for what their teacher represents: the agency they seek, but which, according to all the cultural signposting, is becoming increasingly unacceptable. By solving the crime and avenging Miss M, they are protecting their futures.

So why did I, a gay cis-gendered man, decide to write about Judy and Philippa? Why was I drawn to two young women growing up in the late 40s? Of course, the most obvious answer is that I love the texture and mood of the time, especially as it shows up in crime fiction and films noir. That’s true, but that’s not quite it. Another possibility is that my mother, like Judy and Philippa, came of age in the postwar era. Unlike these girls, though, she capitulated to her father’s and my father’s wishes to conform to the traditional role of mother and wife, a role she’s never felt entirely at ease in. Perhaps that’s why Judy and Philippa called to me, but I think it’s because, as a gay man, I’ve always felt like an outsider. I understand their anger, and I can identify with their desire to find adults to model, something I struggled with when I was their age. As young women in the 1940s, their struggles are different than mine when I was a teenager in the 1990s, but the resonance continues to fascinate me—enough for me to write a trilogy about them!

I’m curious: as readers (and writers), what literary archetype would you like to see challenged or refreshed in a new way? I’ll giveaway a copy of The Savage Kind to a commenter!

About the Book

The iconic femme fatale has been misunderstood. The Savage Kind is the sympathetic coming of age story she deserves. Judy and Philippa, two lonely teenage girls in post-WWII DC, form an intense and passionate bond, discover they have a penchant for solving crimes—and perhaps an even greater desire to commit them. On their journey to catch a killer, they may become killers themselves. Buy on Bookshop.org, Amazon, or wherever you purchase your books.

Bio

John Copenhaver’s historical crime novel, Dodging and Burning (Pegasus), won the 2019 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel and garnered Anthony, Strand Critics, Barry, and Lambda Literary Award nominations. Copenhaver writes a crime fiction review column for Lambda Literary called “Blacklight,” cohosts on the House of Mystery Radio Show. He currently lives in Richmond, VA, with his husband, artist Jeffery Paul. The Savage Kind (Pegasus) is his second novel. Website: www.johncopenhaver.com

What I’ve Been Reading

I’ve been reading a lot! I have throughout the pandemic, but have heard a lot of people have had trouble reading these past couple of years. Reading has always been a way to escape from problems and it continues to be. Books are my drug of choice. I thought I’d share some of the books I’ve read.

Last week I read A Moment After Dark by Janet Raye Stevens who did a guest post on Monday. While it has some paranormal elements it didn’t feel like a paranormal to me. Great characters and great suspense!

Over the weekend I read Law of Innocence. I love Michael Connelly’s books and am so grateful my sister told me to read them years ago. I started this book around Christmas but it felt too dark so I set it back down. I have to say I had to suspend belief just a little to accept the premise, but I enjoyed the ride.

I’m now reading two books. My day reading is an early copy of Mint Chocolate Murder, the second Ice Cream Shop Murder by Meri Allen aka Shari Randall. I love her protagonist Riley Rhodes and Meri always packs so much into her stories. You can scoop it up (pun intended) by preordering! It comes out on July 26th! Update — I finished the book last night! Wow!

My before I go to sleep book is Slow Horses by Mick Herron. I bought it for my husband last summer because I’d read good reviews and it sounded interesting–washed up MI5 agents get sent to Slough House. My husband needed a new series to read. Not always an avid fiction reader, he’s caught up on the series now.

I’ve also been reading in fits and starts a YA novel The Project by Courtney Summers. I saw it on a list of best books somewhere. It’s about two sisters one who joins a cult and the other who wants to save her. I’ve been fascinated by cults since college when I took a psych class and ended up a reading a book called Snapping: America’s Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change.

Over Christmas I had a brief period where I just couldn’t read any crime fiction so I turned to romance. It’s pure escapism, but apparently I needed an escape. But all three have great character development and didn’t feel formulaic.

Readers: Have you been reading a lot? Do you ever change up what you’re reading?