Feisty Females of the Early 20th Century

It's just a month now until the 12th Molly Murphy novel comes out. It's called The Family Way and it deals with the meaning of family on many levels (as well as being a really suspenseful mystery).

So to build up to March 5, I'm doing a series of blogs on the real Molly Murphys of the ealy 20th Century--women who defied all odds and did amazing things. And today I'm starting with the real life investigators.

So many people have said to me that Molly couldn't possible do the things I have her do. No woman at that time could be a detective. Aha--well I love to prove them wrong. My first true life example is Isabella Goodwin. Mrs Goodwin was a police matron in New York City, married to a policeman who died. The police department started using her for under cover surveillance and she proved to be so good at it that she became a fully fledged police detective, the first of two women detectives on the squad at that time. I've seen her uniform at the police museum in New York. How anybody could run after crooks with that high neck, tiny waist, tight sleeves I've no idea!  But I was so impressed with her that she comes into several of my books.

My other shining example of what a woman could do at that time is NELLIE BLY  Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran to a working class family she came to the attention of a newspaper editor when she wrote a scathing rebuttal to a letter in the Philadelphia newspaper. He hired her first to write a column then he started sending her out to do investigative reporting. When she was sent to Mexico to cover the election there she was a little too probing into corruption and had to be whisked home to save her life.

Back home she moved to the New York World. She became famous for beating Jules Vernes fictional Around the World in 80 days. She did it in 72 and reported it all to her newspaper who saw their circulation soar as a result. Other remarkable feats: she got herself committed to an insane asylum to report on the terrible conditions there, also had herself arrested so that she could report on the conditions in the women's prison. She was so well respected as a reporter that she was the only woman reporting back from the front in WWI.

Helpless females? I don't think so.

And How Real is Her Royal Spyness?

I had this question yesterday so I thought I ought to answer it before I am swallowed up in doing my tax, packing up and driving back to California, finishing my book and attending Romantic Times Convention tomorrow.

First I have to confess that if you check the royal family tree, Lady Georgie doesn't exist. I've never actually mentioned which of Queen Victoria's daughters was her grandmother, but one daughter did marry a Scottish nobleman (not called the Duke of Rannoch) so that much is accurate. I chose Rannoch for the family seat because it is so barren, bare and remote and I wanted her to have enough good reasons to flee from her Scottish castle.

But as to the royals around her--I have tried to make them as real as possible. If they say something it is either a real quote or a sentiment they have expressed. Queen Mary's intense dislike of Mrs. Simpson, her passion for antiques, Mrs. Simpson's mocking of the Duke and Duchess of York, the little princesses and their passion for horses... all true.  I read biographies, autobiographies of secretaries, nanny, etc and in some cases I've used actual phrases the person uttered. And I should also add that I have met several members of the royal family. I had tea with the queen when I was young and met the  queen mum on several occasions (delightful woman).

So the environment in which Georgie moves is colored by my own experiences. My husband's family (mother's side goes back to King Edward III, former owners of Sutton Place and several other stately homes) is littered with cousins with strange nicknames and stories about jokes played on the butler. All I have to do is visit and listen. 

The actual background of the times and political happenings is accurate too--(except for the vampire-ridden castle in Royal Blood. That was pure spoof). Struggles between communists and facsists taking place all over Europe and even in England. Bread lines at London stations. Thousands of men out of work. The Great Depression and yet those with money lived as if nothing had changed. A fascinating time to write about. I'm thinking of sending Georgie to America to meet Hollywood stars and Al Capone... what do you think?