I found vintage maps on eBay, including a hand-drawn one of Greenwich Village in 1925 that indicated which ethic and cultural groups lived in which areas, and one of New York in 1926 that showed which elevated railways were being transitioned to subways. I downloaded period menus from restaurants to learn what people ate then––Jell-O, it turns out, was considered a classy dessert because it meant the person who served it owned one of the new refrigerators. I bought old postcards, newspapers, and magazines. I purchased a 1925 Sears catalog that showed what ordinary people wore, the products they used, and how much things cost in those days. To that end, I sought resource materials that would provide the details I needed. Charles Lindbergh, before he became famous for flying across the Atlantic Ocean, performed air acrobatics in barnstorming events across the central U.S.––his risky demonstrations earned him the nickname “Daredevil Lindbergh.”īecause mystery readers are sticklers for accuracy, I had to make sure I got the information right. In the 1920s, police roamed beaches performing “modesty checks” on women bathers by measuring the distance from the bottoms of their swimsuits to their knees. But once I started delving into the Roaring Twenties for the first history-mystery in my Lizzie Crane series, Never Try to Catch a Falling Knife, I was rewarded with all sorts of fascinating facts, fads, and trivia.įor example, I learned that Prohibition didn’t outlaw drinking alcohol or serving it in your home, only making, selling, and distributing it were illegal. Writing historical fiction requires doing a lot of research, which may sound tedious to some people.

As Lizzie delves into her slain colleague’s mysterious past, she discovers secrets worth killing to protect and risks her own life in the process.

Police suspect her and her musician friends and place them under house arrest, where they’re at the mercy of the very people who have the most to lose if the murder is solved.

But before Lizzie can enjoy her good luck––and the amorous attention of her employer’s son––she finds the group’s saxophonist stabbed to death.

Jazz singer Lizzie Crane and her troupe land a plum job that could give them their big break in show biz: a week-long engagement celebration for the daughter of a wealthy industrialist to a Russian count. Skye is offering an ebook version as a giveaway to one lucky reader.Īugust 1925. News Flash: Skye’s lucky winner is Liz Milliron!Įdith here, writing from the dark days of northeastern MA in mid-November.īut that doesn’t matter when you have a fun new historical mystery to dive into! Please welcome today’s guest, a former denizen of our region, who shares a few areas of research she enjoyed while writing her newly released Never Try to Catch a Falling Knife.

Skye amorous guide