An Interview with Alyssa Maxwell by E. B. Davis

 

Following the death of her uncle, Cornelius Vanderbilt, in September 1899, a somber Emma is in no mood for one of Newport’s extravagant parties. But to keep Vanderbilt’s reckless son Neily out of trouble, she agrees to accompany him to an Elizabethan fete on the lavish grounds of Wakehurst, the Ochre Point “cottage” modeled after an English palace, owned by Anglophile James Van Alen.
 
Held in Wakehurst’s English-style gardens, the festivities will include a swordplay demonstration, an archery competition, scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, and even a joust. As Emma wanders the grounds distracted by grief, she overhears a fierce argument between a man and a woman behind a tall hedge. As the joust begins, she’s drawn by the barking of Van Alen’s dogs and finds a man on the ground, an arrow through his chest.
 
The victim is one of the 400’s most influential members, Judge Clayton Schuyler. Could one of the countless criminals he’d imprisoned over the years have returned to seek revenge—or could one of his own family members have targeted him? With the help of her beau Derrick Andrews and Detective Jesse Whyte, Emma begins to learn the judge was not the straight arrow he appeared to be. As their investigation leads them in ever-widening circles, Emma will have to score a bull’s eye to stop the killer from taking another life . . .

Amazon.com

 

The death of Cornelius Vanderbilt II changes the Vanderbilt family including main character Emmaline Cross, who was his niece. The aftermath of that death sets the stage for Murder at Wakehurst, the ninth book in the Gilded Newport Mystery series. It will be released on August 31^st.

 

Please welcome Alyssa Maxwell back to WWK.                                                 E. B. Davis

 

Thank you, Elaine. I’m delighted to be back talking to you and your readers. Thanks so much for having me!

 

You use real characters in your fiction, but you have kept their stories true to life. Just as you portray in your books, Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice almost disowned their son Neily when he married Grace Wilson, a woman he loved, who is the daughter of a banker. What was so bad about Grace? Wasn’t her family wealthy enough? Were families different at the turn of the 20^th century—were parents total dictators?

 

The Wilson family originally hailed from the south, and stories have it that Grace’s father, Richard Wilson, made his fortune initially as a blockade runner bringing supplies into the South. In fact, I’ve read that Rhett Butler might have been modeled after Richard Wilson. This alone would have set the family in a less than favorable light in the eyes of the 400, who considered them of questionable origins and character. But once established financially in New York, the Wilson siblings began marrying up into society—brother Orme into the Astor family, sister May into the Goelets—and they became known as The Marrying Wilsons, meaning, essentially, they were climbers and fortune hunters. Cornelius and Alice Vanderbilt simply didn’t trust Grace’s motives for marrying their son, but I believe that as Neily dug in and resisted their wishes, it became more a war of wills than anything else. Do bear in mind that the Vanderbilts themselves were considered upstarts of vulgar origins until only a decade earlier, when Mrs. Astor had to bite the bullet and recognize Alva Vanderbilt socially so that her daughter, Carrie, could attend the Vanderbilts’ fancy dress ball. All of Carrie’s friends were invited and she very much wanted to go!

 

In answer to that last question, yes, parents and families were different at that time. A parent’s word was seen as law, and defiance came with steep consequences. Most parents believed they knew what was best for even their adult children and often planned their lives for them accordingly. For example, Consuelo Vanderbilt had no wish to marry the Duke of Marlborough, with whom she had nothing in common. Alva, determined to have a title of nobility for her daughter, made her life miserable until Consuelo agreed to the marriage, but it’s said she walked down the aisle with tears in her eyes—and not happy ones.

 

I’m a bit incensed on behalf of Neily (ridiculous, but true even if 100+ years after the fact). From what I’ve read of Neily’s life, his parents had plenty to be proud of. He was awarded a Master’s degree in Engineering from Yale, which he earned because of the family’s interest in the railroads, and was made Brigadier General in 1918 by the US Army and received a Distinguished Service Metal from Congress. Ironically, Neily and Grace disinherited their son, Cornelius Vanderbilt IV due to his career in journalism. Did Neily III ever get his due?

 

Yes, this is all true. Perhaps surprisingly, Neily was a man much like his father. He was studious, hardworking, dedicated, responsible, and inventive. Cornelius was all of those things. He had few vices, taught Sunday school, never put a sportsman’s pursuits ahead of running the family business (as so many other men of the 400 did), and was a dedicated family man. But father and son also possessed pride in spades, and this is where the problem lay. Neily inherited $500,000 in outright cash and the interest on a million-dollar trust account upon his father’s death. While to most of us this might seem an exorbitant sum, to a Vanderbilt it was a pittance, especially when you consider the lifestyles they were used to leading: multiple mansions, frequent and extravagant entertaining, yachts, trips back and forth to Europe every year, not to mention wives’ and adult daughters’ wardrobes, which ran upwards of tens of thousands each year. Neily’s inheritance was Cornelius’s way of having the last word, essentially saying, “Now you’ll have to live off your wife’s dowry.” Neily was, for all practical purposes, disinherited, while his younger brother, Alfred, inherited the bulk of the fortune and business interests. But Alfred did transfer $6 million to Neily soon after taking the reins as head of the family.

 

Sadly, Neily and Grace turned out to be of very different natures. Grace loved to entertain and often threw lavish parties; Neily preferred quiet time with his books. They grew apart fairly quickly. But yes, how ironic that they would inflict upon their son the very fate they’d had to contend with, merely because Corneil, as they called him, chose to follow his heart and enter the field of journalism as a profession.

 

What was/is Macassar oil?

 

Ah, yes, the Macassar oil. It was made from oil of the ylang-ylang tree and used as a hair dressing for men. Another type of dressing was called pomade (usually a fatty or lard like substance) and later, in the 20^th century, Brylcreem, which I think I remember my brother using in the early sixties. All of these products tamed the hair and allowed it to be combed back into a slick style. Macassar oil was also reputed to promote healthy hair growth. Remember the term anti-macassar? Those were the squares of fabric people used to throw over the backs of their furniture to protect the fabric and came about precisely men’s oiled hair tended to stain anything it came in contact with.

 

I checked and you can actually still buy types of macassar oil, and it’s still marketed as a way to keep hair healthy.

 

Although Emma gets a few things like her buggy repaired, she ends up deciding to fund a scholarship with the funds she inherits. Admirable, but what about funding her old age, a new horse, a trip or gifts for her staff?

 

Emma is fine with making any necessary repairs to the house and seeing to it that Nanny and her maid, Katie, have all they need and then some. She will increase her donations to the St. Nicholas Orphanage in Providence, which she has been helping to support for years now. As for old age, she would have no reason to believe those railroad stocks wouldn’t continue to pay dividends long into the future. What she decides she cannot do is spend frivolously. She won’t redecorate the house or buy the types of things her relatives might have run out to buy, merely to show off her newfound wealth. Not only does she feel that she hasn’t earned this money, but, as much as she loved her Uncle Cornelius, she is also aware that some of his business practices were to the detriment of many of his common workers. She has always been grateful for what she has and doesn’t dwell on what she could have, which is a quality that stood out about my mother-in-law, who was also a Newporter born and raised, and who lived there all her life. I like to think I endowed Emma with some of her traits—a deep sense of social responsibility, a strong work ethic, and a depth of compassion.

 

Why did Emma step down from managing the Newport Messenger?

 

While the position of editor-in-chief is nothing to sneeze at, especially for a woman in 1899, it once again sidetracked Emma from her goal of being a hard news reporter. Being consigned to the society column at the Newport Observer chafed at her ambitions, and she relocated to New York for a year in hopes of realizing her dreams. Not only did writing for the New York Herald turn out to be a disappointment, she realized she missed her home in Newport too much to stay away. She took a chance in leaving the Herald and returning to Newport, and considered it quite a boon when Derrick asked her to head up his newly-purchased, fledgling newspaper. Unfortunately, they both came to realize Emma’s talents lay in investigating, in following trails of evidence, not managing others and tending to the daily desk work of running a newspaper. Sometimes greater prestige and even a high salary don’t equal happiness in one’s career.

 

What does nocking mean?

 

In archery, when you nock your arrow, it means positioning the shaft of the arrow on the bow’s rest (part of the handgrip), and engaging the arrow’s notched end with the bowstring. This ensures the arrow remains stable as you take aim, pull back the string, and release. My husband and I have bows – his is a lefthanded one – and enjoy taking our target to a park where there’s lots of space and we can’t inadvertently shoot anyone. We’re not particularly skilled archers (not nearly as skilled as Emma!), but it’s all in good fun and allows us to indulge in a historical-style sport. Important tip: if you take up archery, invest in a forearm guard and a finger tab. Your skin will thank you, because the bowstring can raise painful welts. We found that out the hard way!

 

Emma doesn’t like jousting because it can hurt the horses. Aren’t the horses covered in armor?

 

Armor wasn’t foolproof, neither for man nor beast, even in the Middle Ages when life depended on it.
Lances could still make their way between the plates, and not all parts of a horse could be covered and still allow freedom of movement. Then there were falls, which could result in any number of injuries. Emma simply sees this as an unnecessary risk to an innocent animal, for no better purpose than for the entertainment of people with too much money on their hands. Also, her uncle has recently died, and she’s really in no mood for festivities. The only reason she attended the fete at all was to appease her friend Grace and make sure her cousin Neily didn’t get into trouble. The joust is, for her, the last straw in an interminable evening, when all she truly wants to do is go home and grieve her uncle Cornelius properly.

 

The host’s mastiffs find the body of Judge Schuyler. Due to the keening sound of the dogs, Emma knows from her own dog, Patch, that they are troubled. She reports the murder. When the police come to investigate, Emma finds that her friend Jesse Whyte has been demoted from large crimes due to his association with Emma. Why?

 

During the course of the series, Emma and her lifelong friend, Jesse, have fallen into a comfortable pattern discussing cases and sharing in the investigation. Jesse has gone from ordering her not to interfere to admiring her analytical skills and seeking out her assistance. This is partly because when a crime involves members of the wealthy set, the police often find their hands tied in the interest of preserving reputations and making sure certain individuals aren’t inconvenienced. Men like Cornelius Vanderbilt invested in the careers of politicians and authorities whom they believed would support their business interests, just like corporations continue to do today. So there are many times when word reaches Jesse, from on high down to his police chief, to either leave matters alone or accept the easiest and quickest solution—even if the wrong person is charged. Rather than acquiesce, Jesse secretly continues the investigation with Emma, who isn’t constrained by the same rules he is within the police force. But word of her involvement has gotten around, and the higher ups don’t like it. After all, she’s a mere woman--how dare she interfere in affairs the of men! They penalize Jesse by taking him off the important cases and replacing him with a man who refuses to listen to anything Emma has to say. This does not, however, thwart her in any way!

What is a Boston marriage? Why is it called that?

 

A Boston Marriage was initially when two single women of means—perhaps aging, unmarried heiresses or widows—lived together to pool their resources and stave off loneliness. However, it also came to be whispered that some of these arrangements concealed what then would have been considered an illicit relationship between them, i.e., a lesbian romance. Apparently, the term came into being after Henry James’s novel, The Bostonians, was published. He didn’t use the term in the book, but it featured two women who shared a residence long-term. It was whispered in the 1890s that Gertrude Vanderbilt and Esther Hunt, daughter of famed architect Richard Morris Hunt, might have engaged in just such a relationship, although they never lived together. They were very close friends, and their correspondence suggests strong feelings of affection. Although such expression was not unusual for female friends at the time, Alice Vanderbilt responded by discouraging the friendship (she didn’t believe Esther’s social standing made her a good friend for her daughter, anyway) and urging Gertrude to find a husband. In 1896, Gertrude married Harry Payne Whitney, with whom she was very much in love at the time, silencing the rumors.

 

Mrs. Andrews, Emma’s beau Derrick’s mother, is hostile and tries to get Emma arrested. Mrs. Andrews calls Emma a “doxy.” That’s a real cut to her character, isn’t it? Is she another dictatorial parent? Why doesn’t she like Emma?

 

Although Emma is a Vanderbilt cousin, she is a poor relation and, like Cornelius and Alice Vanderbilt, Lavinia Andrews doesn’t trust Emma’s motives for marrying her son. She believes Derrick can do much better, in the form of an heiress who will bring her own money and prestige to the family. But it goes beyond that. Emma works for a living—something no well-bred young lady would ever consider, much less act on. Her behavior, in Mrs. Andrews’s eyes, is unladylike and scandalous, and such a wife will do nothing to further her son’s fortune and social standing. She does begin to warm to Emma at one point, until Emma once again sullies her reputation by not only going to a brothel to question a young prostitute, but she also brazenly knocks at the front door of the Newport Reading Room. This was Newport’s most exclusive gentleman’s club and women were strictly forbidden to enter. It was so much a man’s haven that women sometimes crossed the street to avoid walking too closely to the property, in fear of being taunted by the men sitting on the front porch or by open windows. 

 

Mrs. Andrews tries to dictate, but Derrick frustrates her every attempt to control his life. Even the threat of being disinherited doesn’t faze him, and his purchasing the Newport Messenger and growing it into a successful newspaper shows his willingness to work and depend on his own devices rather than live under his parents’ thumb.

 

When people were in mourning, life didn’t carry on as usual? No one got engaged, married, or celebrated in any way? How long did mourning last?

 

Mourning customs at the time were laid out according to some fairly strict rules, especially for women—in fact, women bore the brunt of it. A wife typically was in deep mourning for a year, during which she wore all black, usually dull fabrics that had no sheen such as crepe, veils that covered her face, and little or no jewelry. During this time, she would not take part in any society events or receive visitors other than close family or friends. Emma would not want to announce her engagement during this time as it would seem like flaunting her happiness in the face of her aunt Alice, who could not take part in the celebration while she was in deep mourning, and could be seen as insensitive by the rest of the family. Cornelius was no ordinary patriarch, after all. As Emma says, the world changed because of his death.

 

After a year a widow entered second mourning, when she might begin to wear silks and taffetas again, with a bit more jewelry, although this usually consisted of jet beads and “mourning jewelry” which often incorporated woven bits of the loved one’s hair. This went on for a few months or another year. Finally, a widow entered half mourning, where she could begin wearing subdued colors such as grays or purples and venture out among people again. 

 

Bear in mind, though, that these rules applied mostly to the wealthy, who could afford a whole new wardrobe and could alter their lifestyle for the time dictated. The poor, on the other hand, could neither afford new clothing nor leave their employment, (and many poor women did work, in some way or another). Even Emma wouldn’t have been expected to incur the expense of wearing mourning for Cornelius, not only because of her modest means but because she was not an immediate family member. But she commemorates his death by wearing a black armband.

 

What’s next for Emma?

 

I’m finishing up another of Emma’s adventures right now. In Murder at Beacon Rock, members of the New York Yacht Club, Derrick included, gather to begin strategizing for the America’s Cup Challenge that will take place the following year. In the midst of their planning at the Acropolis-like Beacon Rock, a young woman is found drowned in the cove below the house. While evidence found on her person leads the police to conclude it was suicide due to a broken heart, that same evidence convinces Emma, Derrick, and Jesse that there is much more to the tragedy, and leads directly back to those at Beacon Rock. Meanwhile, Emma is sorting out her feelings about marriage. That she’s in love with Derrick never comes into question, but the disparity in their backgrounds and her fears about losing her independence continue to plague her.

  

Bio:

Alyssa Maxwell, author of The Gilded Newport Mysteries and A Lady and Lady's Maid Mysteries, knew from an early age that she wanted to be a writer. 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 reside in Florida, where they love to, ride their bikes, and shop at farmer’s markets and go antiquing. Alyssa also loves to watch BBC productions, sip tea in the afternoons, and delve into the past. She is a member of her local chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Florida Romance Writers. You can learn more about Alyssa and her books at www.alyssamaxwell.com, and connect with her at:

 

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