Researching History with Jessica and Maddie

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Edith/Maddie here, writing during a flight delay from Denver after the Left Coast Crime convention.

Jessie, aka Jessica Ellicott, and I had some delightful conversations about our historical mysteries recently. We thought we’d share three of them, one at a time, with you now at the end of Women’s History Month.

Researching historical mysteries is the topic of this first chat: how do we research the past? What are our best sources? Have we taken field trips? How do we keep track of it all? And how do we decide how much to include on the actual page?

Readers: Do you notice when history seems to come alive in books – or when it doesn’t? What period do you like to read about, and do you have favorite sources for that era?

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Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

21 Thoughts

  1. I enjoy WWII period. Enjoyed your Midwife series. Love Jacqueline Winspear’s, Masie Dobbs series which spans history beginning with WWI into WWII. Character development is important to me.

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  3. I like history, so it’s fun for me to learn something about the time period and important for the book to feel like it’s set in the era it’s meant to. 20s-30s/Prohibition and WW2 are my favorite periods to read about.

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  4. Love this! The work that goes into historical novels is stunning to me. And the need to get it right, instead of making it up. Hats off to those who do it! I’ve been thinking about doing a historical, and enjoy the research, but not sure I can pull it off.

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  5. I sure do miss your written blogs. Not at all interested in podcasts or any other audio works. ☹️

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  6. Fantastic discussion on researching – loved it! The 24 hr live-in experience described by Edith was so immersive. Jessica, I believe I kept my first commonplace book in high school (didn’t know it) and I’m thinking about bringing it back again. I’m also going to check out second brain. A very inspiring conversation between two great authors. Thanks for sharing!
    Sharon Elizabeth

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  8. I loved hearing this conversation. While I’ve read almost everything that both of you have written and have been amazed by your variety of settings and topics, I had never really appreciated the amount of digging you do to make those books come alive. Hearing you talk about reading all of those newspapers, Jessie, and both of you gaining detail by on-site immersion (even to the point of chamber pots, Edith) is stunning. Thanks for sharing this world with us.

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