gilded

Interview with Alyssa Maxwell (Murder at the Elms and Murder at Vinland)

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 …

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Interview with Alyssa Maxwell (Murder at the Breakers)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell is now a Hallmark movie on the Hallmark Mystery Channel. It has just been released last week. As with most books that have been made into movies there were changes made but the overall arc of the plot was still intact. In 1895 a society page writer, Emma Vanderbilt Cross, witnesses a murder while attending a ball at a Vanderbilt mansion in Newport Rhode Island. She soon …

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Interview with Rosemary Simpson (The Dead Cry Justice)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper The Dead Cry Justice by Rosemary Simpson always involves a mystery, returning characters, and a social issue during the Gilded Age. This historical novel delves into a very tough and disturbing topic. But Simpson is such a gifted author and writes in a manner that does not go over the top. She realizes a line should not be crossed, leaving the subject matter up to the reader’s imagination. The story opens with the main …

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Interview with Rosemary Simpson (Death, Diamonds, and Deception)

Article and Interview by Elise Cooper Death, Diamonds, and Deception by Rosemary Simpson delves into the Gilded Age in New York during 1889. This historical mystery has a female detective, Prudence MacKenzie and her partner, ex-Pinkerton detective, Geoffrey Hunter, investigating the stolen jewels from a necklace once owned by Marie Antoinette. The story begins after the arrival of Prudence’s aunt, Lady Gillian Rotherton from London. She is intent on chaperoning her niece Prudence through a New York social season to …

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