Writing History

by Frances McNamara

I have published five historical mysteries, the most recent being Death at Chinatown, which was published in September by Allium Press of Chicago. The novels are all set in Chicago of the Gilded Age—specifically the 1890s—and they are written in the first person. The protagonist of the novels is Emily Cabot, a young woman who comes to Chicago from Boston to do graduate research in sociology at the University of Chicago when it opens in 1892. In addition to the fictional characters, including Emily, some real historical people are portrayed in the series, against the backdrop of actual events, such as the Columbian Exposition and the Pullman Strike. You can read the rest of her piece here.

I didn’t start out writing historical fiction and history was not a strong interest for me. I wrote a number of contemporary mysteries (unpublished) before this series. I also wrote some mystery scripts, which were used in fund-raiser mystery nights by a group that supported libraries in Columbus, Ohio. A couple of those were set in the 1930s and the entertainments were held in an English tearoom, but most of them were contemporary.

When I moved to Chicago a co-worker took me to several monthly meetings of the Midwest chapter of Mystery Writers of America, where I met numerous published authors who were generous with their advice about writing mysteries. I also met some other unpublished authors and we formed a writing group, which we named the Complete Unknowns. As an unpublished author, in addition to getting feedback from my group, I attended several genre-specific conferences where critiques were offered. One of the things editors and agents say they are looking for is a “voice.” It was when I began to write Emily Cabot’s first person narrative that I began to get strong, positive reactions from both my writing group and professional readers.

Like Emily, I grew up in Boston so I see some real differences between the two cities. It seems very apparent to me that the people of the last half of the nineteenth century left their enduring imprint on this city. Grant Park, the lakeshore, and the University of Chicago campus still remind us of the people who were determined to make Chicago one of the most important cities in America. I suppose in walking through the campus every day I can’t help but speculate about what those people were like. After all, they were the ones who decided that the city must have a great university in order to challenge the reputation of the Eastern establishment. What drew them here? What motivated them? I find that actual places like Hull House and the town of Pullman, and most recently Chinatown, have inspired the settings and events of my books.

It probably was an early response to a few pages of the first Emily Cabot book, provided by an editor from Mysterious Press, that encouraged me to continue in this vein. When I submitted an early manuscript to the St. Martin’s Press Malice Domestic contest, I received an unsolicited critique by one of their most famous editors. She pointed out that the mystery was not well structured and started too slowly, but she was exasperated because she liked the voice and writing. That book never did get published and exists in an unfinished form as a sort of prequel to the series, but the critiques I received were helpful.

I have found that the process of writing historical novels has led me to the discovery of some rather fantastic real characters that I’d never realized existed. In the series I have attempted to bring to life some women whose memoirs are available, such as Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, and Ida B. Wells. They are wonderful people whose names I had heard, but who are well worth conjuring up for their unique qualities. For people like George Pullman and Eugene V. Debs, newspaper reports and quotes from them also hint at what fascinating people they must have been.

While researching my most recent book I learned about some quite amazing people. Mary Stone and Ida Kahn were Chinese women who were educated as doctors in the United States, and who then returned to China, were they lived as ideals of a new modern woman. Wong Chin Foo was a wonderfully colorful Asian American who made his living explaining things Chinese to Americans. He also publicly challenged the bigotry of the Chinese Exclusion Act. And, in a totally different area, Emil Grubbé was an important pioneer in the use of X-rays for medical treatment. If you really “meet” the people of the time, not only are they interesting, but many of the dilemmas and conflicts they faced shaped the world we live in now.

So, for me, incorporating history into my novels allows me to find the roots of the present and to share my discoveries of the ideas and acts of forgotten people who really deserve to be remembered.

Frances McNamara is the author of the Emily Cabot Mysteries—Death at the Fair, Death at Hull House, Death at Pullman, Death at Woods Hole, and Death at Chinatown—all published by Allium Press of Chicago. You can follow Frances on her blog.