I’ve always loved history and I’d love to write a historical mystery but I’m intimidated by the research. In my mind an author of historicals places all their mysteries in a particular historical period but I recently realized Mariah Fredericks doesn’t do that. Curious, I invited Mariah to talk about her writing.
Mariah Fredericks is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series as well as The Lindbergh Nanny, which Nelson DeMille called, “a masterful blending of fact and fiction that is as compelling as it is entertaining.” The Wharton Plot, was named one of the best mysteries of 2024 by Library Journal. “An Edith Wharton scholar could read Ms. Frederick’s novel with profit and amusement.”—Wall Street Journal.
Jane Prescott the main character in your series of historical mysteries is a ladies’ maid in 1910s New York. What inspired you to write about a maid? And why that period?
I was inspired by I, Claudius to write about significant murders from the point of view of a person no one notices because they’re seen as stupid or insignificant—yet they’re well placed in homes of power. A personal servant is privy to all kinds of intimate information. And I had just had a child, which made me very sympathetic to those who serve without thought of their own needs (supposedly). I love the 1910s because you have the remnants of the opulent Gilded Age, the ideals of the progressive age. Women have some mobility, men no longer have mutton chops. And World War I looms.
Your recent books have been standalones about historical characters. Why the change to real people?
When the Jane Prescott series was cancelled despite good reviews, I realized my name on a book was not enough. I had to pick a subject people already wanted to read about. Hence The Lindbergh Nanny. It was a nerve wracking switch.
Do you start with the character and research the period or start with a period and find a character?
Character always comes first for me.
When writing about a well know person, how close to the real character are the characters in your books?
Even more than the crime (although I’m trying to adjust), getting the historical figure right is important to me. Their psychology, why they are involved in solving this crime, where their personal histories and themes intersect with the theme of the crime. I want the real people not to be vague cartoon versions of themselves. Edith Wharton: rich lady with big hat and little dog, for instance.
How much of your plots are fiction and how much real events?
At the moment, I’m writing novels that feature New York writers and New York crimes. Both are based in history. Edith Wharton as detective is fiction. But every event in her life in the book is true. Almost every person in the book is real. I have altered the facts of certain cases—David Graham Phillips’s murderer shot themselves right after killing him, and I changed that for obvious reasons. But I prefer not to.
How do you research your books? Read biographies? Old newspapers? What else?
For The Girl in the Green Dress, which includes both the Fitzgeralds and a lesser known writer, Morris Markey, I started with their biographies and his old New Yorker pieces. Then I went to Ancestry.com to start to piece together the early parts of his life, what kind of family he came from. I read This Side of Paradise and Save Me the Waltz. I also read the letters of James Thurber and James M. Cain, because they were friends with Markey and we have their reactions to and theories about his death. Sometimes other people’s accounts of your hero or heroine are more valuable than their own take. For details on the Elwell murder, I relied on The Slaying of Joseph Bowne Elwell and a lot of contemporary newspaper accounts.
I’m assuming you are a plotter but please share your writing process.
I’m a plotter in that I do an outline that I feel very smug about till about page 85 of real writing when I realize I skipped making a lot of choices and the middle of the book has the consistency of sludge. So I go back to the drawing board.
What is your favorite historical period,if you have one?
I actually like a lot of the eras you’re not allowed to write about these days. The Medieval period, ancient Rome. I do love the 1910s, though. I am intrigued by the 1950s as well.
Do you have some tips for an author who wants to write her first historical novel?
First and most obvious: write what gives you joy. I prefer historical that digs deep enough to reveal something surprising about a time or historical figure. But straight up costume dramas and romances are great too. If you want to publish your first historical, which is a different thing, be aware that there’s a strong bias towards 20th century. Take a look at what’s out there; are you bringing something new to the table, in terms of subject, point of view, level of writing? Attend conferences. Make friends. Be a member of the mystery community. Book promotion is hard as a solo act. We’re a nice group! We won’t make you suffer.
What are you working on now?
The Girl in the Green Dress comes out on September 2. It’s about the 1920 murder of the gambler Joseph Elwell and it features New Yorker writer Morris Markey and Zelda Fitzgerald. At the moment, I’m working on a mystery about the Macy’s Day Parade in the early 30s. Someone is trying to kill Santa Claus. After Lindbergh, Edith Wharton, and Zelda Fitzgerald, I was ready for something light.
Thank you, Mariah. I look forward to The Girl in the Green Dress.
Mariah Fredericks was born, raised, and still lives in New York City. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series, which has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. The Lindbergh Nanny, her first standalone novel, was nominated for the Agatha and Anthony Awards. Her most recent novel is The Wharton Plot, which was named one of Library Journal’s Best Crime Novels of the Year.
Catherine Maiorisi
In addition to her mysteries and her general fiction GOLDIE winner, The Disappearance of Lindy James, Catherine has authored five romances novels. Her latest, Love Among the Ruins, won the GOLDIE for Best Romance–long.
Catherine has also published multiple mystery and romance short stories in various anthologies.
Great interview. And Mariah is such a great author, and so transparent here about admitting that any of her MS was ever sludge. I have always been curious about writing this genre, but scared about the depth of the research. Maybe I will give it more consideration.
Yes, do it!! Just pick a subject you want to think about A LOT. It doesn’t have to be a deep dive into the mind of Charles Lindbergh. There are more pleasant topics.
I agree with Catherine –– that does sound like a lot of work. I’ll just enjoy your books instead. : )
Mariah, how do you avoid rabbit holes when you are researching such interesting topics?
And for anyone, how did so many teachers manage to make history so boring to us when there are such fascinating events like those Mariah writes about?
I remember taking a history class in college where it was literally history through counting toilets. I thought, Okay, I will not be a professional historian if this is the trend.
A one year deadline is a good way to avoid rabbit holes. Also mysteries take place in such a condensed time frame, you could only go deep into a very specific time and place/point in your protagonist’s life. But it’s true; with Wharton, at one point, I was trying to get in a whole backstory around one of Henry James’s novels and I had to tell myself: people are coming to this story for this.
Thanks for commenting!
I love historicals, too! This one sounds amazing.
Thank you!!
I too love reading historical fiction but find the idea of writing about it daunting. Love that you went to ancestry.com. What a great idea!
Speaking of rabbit holes! 🙂 I have also learned that not everything people post there is accurate. Someone posted a passport photo of Morris Markey that was close enough…but was not him. It wasn’t fraud, just the scan was inaccurately labeled in the public records.
Mariah, I loved The Wharton Plot! And I love all the periods you’re writing about. I’m looking forward to the Girl in the Green Dress. I want to hear more about what the publishing world deems desirable nowadays as far as historical and what is a third rail. 80s books? 50s? I feel like at least one of the reasons historicals are so popular is that they often describe a time when women had no or very little power, and then they give us a heroine that forges ahead despite outside limitations. What are your thoughts on that? And why no medieval or ancient? I love that stuff too.
Thank you, Emilya! Funnily enough, those of us who write historicals are being urged to switch to contemporary; grass is always greener. I don’t know why no medieval or ancient! Unless it’s because the internet has made the present so overwhelming, a lot of younger readers don’t have the range of easy reference we grew up with. I once shocked a teenager by being able to name all six wives of Henry VIII and their fates—basic knowledge, surely! 🙂 50s and 80s are hot from what I see. Kristen Hannah has made Vietnam commercial again.
I like a woman who forges ahead, but I also like her outlier status to be earned. I want to see what it is in her nature that enables her to do that—and the downsides. But that’s just me.
Mariah,
This is a wonderful interview. You provide fascinating insight into your writing and approach to historical figures and events. Your books always have great depth, which keeps readers turning pages.
That’s very kind. Thank you!
Great interview and useful info on writing history! One of my favorite periods is the 300 or so years between the early Middle Ages into the Late. When society (as it were) went from a truly brutal system of feudalism into the Gothic when the Middle class began to be able to influence art, music, architecture, cooking, wine making and brewing. A period of such social turmoil it seems ripe for historical skullduggery ! Antonia Fraser comes to mind with her series Mistress of the Art of Death, one of my favorites. The research for that though, peeking down into THAT rabbit hole, is like something from Doctor Who. But you give me hope! Cheers!
I would certainly read that book. The Wars of the Roses used to come around every so often, but it’s been a while. I keep thinking some percentage of Game of Thrones fans might want to know the background history.
I tried watching GoT, but too brutal–lol!
Really interesting interview, Catherine. I just saw Mariah at Malice and enjoyed hearing her talk about The Wharton Plot.
I’ve been working on an historical set in 1926 Yorkshire and love the research but now I have to sit down and write the darn book!
Mariah, I love that you admitted to the middle sludge of a book. I call it the “muddle middle” and have experienced it in every one of my eight novels. I think it’s quite common for writers to find that slump whether they are plotters or pantsers somewhere in between.
Will be looking out for the new book. Congratulations!.
1926 Yorkshire sounds fascinating!
The funny thing is, I often think I have the middle figured out. Then three paragraphs of plot turns into 2 pages and it’s like…now what? I find it’s easy to set up the mystery and conclude the mystery. Keeping the reader’s patience and attention while the detective makes all the wrong turns is the challenge.
Mariah, I can’t argue with your “nerve-wracking” switch to real people and events, since it’s given us The Lindbergh Nanny and The Wharton Plot. But I still miss Jane–
Thank you, Lori. I feel very much the same way.
Mariah, I loved THE WHARTON PLOT! Some of the facts were even useful in my own writing from around the same time period. Thanks for this honest and thus inspiring post.
Thank you! I so appreciate the compliment.