News Flash: Kait Carson is Alyssa’s lucky winner! Kait, please check your email.
Edith/Maddie here, coasting into the end of August north of Boston.
Someone who never coasts in her writing is today’s guest, the amazing Alyssa Maxwell. (We wish we were actual sisters, but we’re not.) Her newest Gilded Newport Mystery came out this week. I love this series and can’t wait to clear a couple of evenings to enjoy the latest installment set in Newport Rhode Island more than a hundred years ago. Read down for a giveaway, too!
Isn’t that the most gorgeous cover? Here’s the blurb. Back from their honeymoon in Italy, Emma Andrews and Derrick are adapting to 1901 married life as they return to their duties at their jointly owned newspaper, the Newport Messenger. The Elms, coal baron Edward Berwind’s newly completed Bellevue Avenue estate, is newsworthy for two reasons: A modern mansion for the new century, it is one of the first homes in America to be wired for electricity with no backup power system, generated by coal from Berwind’s own mines. And their servants—with a single exception—have all gone on strike to protest their working conditions. Summarily dismissing and replacing his staff with cool and callous efficiency, Berwind throws a grand party to showcase the marvels of his new “cottage.”
Emma and Derrick are invited to the fete, which culminates not only in a fabulous musicale but an unforeseen tragedy—a chambermaid is found dead in the coal tunnel. In short order, it is also discovered that a guest’s diamond necklace is missing and a laborer has disappeared.
Detective Jesse Whyte entreats Emma and Derrick to help with the investigation and determine whether the murdered maid and stolen necklace are connected. As the dark deeds cast a shadow over the blazing mansion, it’s up to Emma to shine a light on the culprit . . .
Cozying up with Friends in Cozy Mysteries
On the 22nd of this month, my ELEVENTH Gilded Newport Mystery came out. Seriously, I never dreamed! But it makes one wonder: what keeps readers coming back for more in a series, book after book? Is it the brilliantly masterminded plotting of crime, clues, and culprit? Honestly, I don’t think so. Is it the vividness of setting details?
Well . . . in my case, when writing about a real place, the setting details do matter. But there’s got to be more. Otherwise, readers would surely have gotten tired of Newport by now, right? HA! – who could ever tire of Newport? No one, but that’s beside the point.
Alyssa at the Elms in Newport
So what is it that draws readers into the same setting and characters and the same game of solving the puzzle time after time? In my humble opinion, it’s the characters, of course! It’s that astute, intrepid, and—let’s face it—stubborn sleuth whom readers fall in love with. Right? Yes! . . . And no. Once again, I believe there’s more to it. I think it’s the sleuth’s circle of friends, the sidekicks, the partners in crime-solving who create a sense of community and allow the reader to feel as though she’s part of the group—part of the sleuthing family. Because in every cozy, the author sprinkles in clues and invites the reader to join in the fun, to come along and find the answer, if she can.
How do friends, i.e., recurring, important secondary characters, perform this function? By showing that the sleuth needs allies and a support system, that she surrounds herself with people she can trust and depend on, whom she can confess her fears to, admit her weaknesses and doubts to, and find strength with. This all makes the act of crime solving much more human, and much more relatable to the reader.
In the Golden Age of Mystery, many sleuths were static in that they didn’t evolve as characters during the course of a series. They remained the same reliable, brilliant puzzle solvers we met in the very first book, with very little in the way of personal story arcs. They do have friends and associates, but those relationships aren’t particularly fleshed out. Modern cozies, however, have embraced the notion of character development, and much of that development depends on and determines who our sleuths welcome into their circle.
And just as we need a sleuth who captures our imagination and sympathy, so must be the case with secondary characters. They should be smart, upbeat, and a little quirky. We need to be able to love them, to the point that we’d want them as our own friends.
So then, who are Emma’s friends in the Gilded Newport Mysteries? To start with, she lives with her former nanny—whom she calls Nanny—who is now her housekeeper. But Nanny is much more than that. She has long been a surrogate grandmother, the person who tended to Emma’s childhood cuts and scrapes and was privy to her most pressing secrets. She provides a shoulder to cry on, encouragement, unconditional love, and a kick in the “pants” when Emma needs it. Plus, with Nanny’s connections among Newport’s servants, she’s always privy to information Emma can’t come by on her own.
Next there’s Katie, Emma’s maid-of-all work, who Emma took in after she was fired from her original position for absolutely unfair reasons. But Katie, too, is much more than an employee—she’s more of a younger sister to Emma, and fiercely loyal to her. Another vital friend is Jesse Whyte, who Emma has known all her life and who is now a detective on the Newport Police Force. Jesse comes to rely on Emma’s powers of observation and her own connections with the wealthy summer set.
Rounding off Emma’s circle are Hannah Hanson, an old friend and nurse at the Newport Hospital; harbor boatman Angus MacPhearson; Emma’s cousins, the Vanderbilts, who are always eager to take her under their wing; and Emma’s half-brother, Brady Gale. Despite Brady being a few years older, Emma has sometimes taken on an almost parental role to keep him out of trouble—and out of the overnight lockup. But there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for his little sister.
And then, of course, we have Emma’s love interest—and if you’ve read the book’s blurb, you know he’s now her husband. Their relationship has developed over the course of the series, with Emma having to battle her fears of commitment, of relinquishing her independence, and of opening herself up to vulnerability. After all, marriage in those days typically meant a woman’s identity became secondary to her husband’s. But with his understanding and reassurances, she comes to realize a relationship doesn’t have to mean losing control of one’s life. Rather, she learns that when relationships are built on the right values, they make you stronger. And a strong woman can still stand out, can still shine, all on her own. She can still be a sleuth.
Readers: Please share a time you depended on friends to help you through a difficult or challenging situation. Or do you tend to power through on your own? Comment for a chance to win a signed hardcover copy of Murder at The Elms (U.S. addresses only due to shipping costs.) I’ll be back tomorrow to announce the winner!
Alyssa Maxwell has worked as a reference book editor, ghost writer, and fiction editor, but knew from an early age that she wanted to be an author. Growing up in New England and traveling to Great Britain fueled a passion for history, while a love of puzzles of all kinds drew her to the mystery genre. She and her husband live in Florida, where they love to swim, ride their bikes, and shop at farmer’s markets and consignment stores. Alyssa also loves to watch BBC productions, sip tea in the afternoons, and delve into the past. She is the author of The Gilded Newport Mysteries and A Lady and Lady’s Maid Mysteries, and is a member of The South Florida Fiction Writers and the Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.
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