Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
Each of Murder at the Elms and Murder at Vinland by Alyssa Maxwell intertwines a mystery within an historical novel. The setting is the turn of the century Newport where during the Gilded Age there is vast income and a power disparity. The main character, Emma Cross, is the “poor Vanderbilt” having inherited some money from the famous family. But she is an anomaly because she is independent and a working journalist who owns the newspaper The Newport Messenger along with her wealthy husband, Derrick.
In Murder at the Elms one of the wealthy families, the Berwinds, invite those high in society to view their newly completed Bellevue Avenue estate. It is a modern mansion, that has been wired for electricity, generated by coal from Berwinds own mines. Yet, days before the party the servants go on strike, hoping to negotiate better working conditions since they work seven days a week with no time off. They are all fired and replaced with new staff. At the party there is fine dining and music but the evening ends tragically when a chambermaid is found dead in the coal tunnel and a guest’s diamond necklace is missing. Because Emma and Derrick were there, they are asked by the police to help in uncovering who is the murderer and what is the connection between the necklace and the murder.
Murder at Vinland is the most recent book in the series. Vinland is the Viking themed home of Florence Vanderbilt Twombly. There she is having a fundraiser for the local Audubon Society attended by the wife of Theodore Roosevelt and Harriet Hemingway. The following morning one of the guests is found to have been poisoned. However, more poisoned desserts are sent to socially prominent women who had attended the luncheon, and tension increases even as the dangerous toxin used is identified. Asked her to help to find the person sending the poisons is Emma’s good friend, police detective James Whyte. Emma and Jesse must sort through possible motives because now more than the birds are in danger.
Maxwell brings turn-of-the-century Newport to life by taking readers into the mansions and how the wealthy lived. Combining mystery with real-life personalities and events from the Gilded Age makes for an entertaining and informative read.
Elise Cooper: What about the TV series?
Alyssa Maxwell: It is not a TV series. Hallmark Mystery made the first book, Murder at the Breakers into a movie. We do not know if any new ones will be made. They do tend to move a little slowly. I have no say in anything.
EC: Why make your heroine, Emma, a woman journalist in the early 1900s?
AM: She is independent. It is unusual, not the norm, but not out of the question. There were other female journalists at that time and other women in other occupations. They did have their own business and made their own money. I always refer to Nellie Bly as the inspiration for Emma, a Gilded Age journalist who took a lot of risks. At the beginning of the series as a society journalist she was able to get into the balls and the wealthy activities in Newport. Now she is more of an investigative reporter. Jesse, her detective friend, relies on her insight because she knows the wealthy and the ordinary Newport people.
EC: Has Emma changed since she married?
AM: She has come to see there is still strength in depending on others. In the beginning she tended to be a lone wolf, that in accepting help there might be strings. With her husband, Derrick, she realizes it is possible to be a team. She is more confidant in herself and her relationships.
EC: Since Emma is pregnant will that jump the shark?
AM: Emma needed to settle into her married life and in the early 1900s that would include having a child. Nanny and Katie will help in looking after the baby as well as having her work from home. I think it is a natural progression of her life.
EC: Will Jesse ever get a love interest?
AM: I have hinted in an earlier book that Jesse and one of the maids of a mansion had met and were striking up a friendship. I need to get back to it, but have not since I have been so focused on Emma and Derrick’s relationship
EC: What would you say is the historical part of Murder at The Elms?
AM: The mystery and the historical wrap around each other in all my books. I do take some historical events and wrap them around the mystery. There was some backstabbing, with societal climbing but there was also female friendships and relationships that I explore. There is also yellow journalism with the sensationalism and embellishment. One of the journalists, Brown, uses it. He did not care how his reporting might affect someone. He did not have a lot of scruples as evidenced when he covered the striking of the servants. At that time there actually was a service strike at the Elms where everyone was fired.
EC: In Murder at Vinland how did you get the idea for the story?
AM: This house has a Nordic and Viking design, which led me into thinking of nature. The archived newspapers of the period showed how Audubon Societies were springing up.
EC: How would you describe The Ladies of the 400?
AM: Many were smart, savvy women who if allowed would have been CEOs of companies. They were frustrated in their lack of choices. This is why being on the top of society was so important to them, being like their business. They could be set in their ways because their choices were limited, so they felt other women’s choices should be limited as well. They can be good and bad. They were involved in altruistic projects and are philanthropists. They helped their communities but at the same time there was rivalry about who would be considered the most important one in society.
EC: What was the role of Jennie?
AM: She wanted to start up an Audubon Society. She was passionate about the protection of birds. At the time women were wearing hats adorned with feathers. She gets angry with these women and because of this Emma suspects her. By the 1920s, feathers on hats were out because of the efforts of the consciousness and education, but at the time of the story this was in the beginning. I put in two historical figures, Harriet Hemingway who established the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Edith Roosevelt because of her husband’s activism in preserving the environment. I thought they would be likely figures to attend a luncheon on the dangers to birds.
EC: Next books?
AM: In the book that I am finishing now, the next Newport mystery there are fewer suspects than this book. The book is titled Murder at Arleigh, coming out this time next year. A societal couple believed to be madly in love has a wrench thrown when the wife comes to Emma and tells her she thinks her husband is trying to kill her. The couple is real, Harry and Elizabeth Lehr. Two Weddings and a Murder will be my next book in the A Lady & Lady’s Maid series. It begins with a marriage and that same day the chief inspector is murdered, coming out in February.
EC: THANK YOU!!
