A guest post plus THE FLAPPER, THE IMPOSTOR AND THE STALKER by Charlene Bell Dietz

DOWN THE RESEARCH RABBIT HOLE

Writing the Historical Mystery

 Charlene Bell Dietz

I’m always plunging down the twisted passages of research. I never understood how people could go to bars and drink when prohibition ruled, and since I knew nothing about Chicago in the Roaring Twenties, The Flapper, the Impostor, and the Stalker story sent me scurrying off to learn.

However, my newest book started with a genealogical discovery. “Giles Brent, a thirty-some-year-old man, married a nine-year-old Indian Princess.” My writer brain wondered if there was a story here. Everyone from genealogists to historical writers branded Giles Brent as an opportunist set on acquiring land through his marriage. In 1643, he indeed married a young Indian princess, the ward of the governor of pre-colonial Maryland, Leonard Calvert, and his good friend, Lady Margaret Brent, Giles’s sister and a spinster.

Red flag waving here!

Why would a powerful man of the 1600s, such as the governor, have a spinster for a good friend, and why would the two of them allow this inappropriate marriage to one of the guardians’ brother?

Into the Black Hole

Scouring genealogy and other sites provided hours of jaw-dropping entertainment, such as tankards made from leather. While wasting time learning unnecessary material, I found no scholarly evidence to support the claims concerning Giles Brent. I relegated these sources to my superficial “timewaster” file. However, quite a different story waited to be told.

In writing historical novels, I’ve discovered if it’s to be a successful novel, its core must strike a balance between historical facts and entertainment. The entertainment comes from either your imagination, or your timewaster file, or maybe unanswered questions by other researchers.  Finding facts took me to the Maryland State Archives’ Special Collections, because one huge unanswered question centered around the friendship of the governor and the spinster. Were Leonard Calvert and Margaret Brent lovers?

Out in the Sunlight

Dr. Lois Green Carr documented 134 cases that Giles Brent’s sister Margaret presented in provincial court. According to these cases, it appears Margaret first spoke for her own rights, then became the voice for others. Finally, she became known as attorney when she started speaking for the rights of men and the gentlemen of the courts. She even built and maned a fort to protect the Catholics from the Protestants. Calvert, on his deathbed appointed her his executrix. I never discovered if they were lovers, but their close business dealings, and then his marrying her younger sister, made me believe Lady Brent would never give up her voice and property to become any man’s wife.

Move over Susan B. Anthony

In 1648, Margaret 224 years before Susan B. Anthony, Lady Brent asked for the privilege of having two votes, which were denied. Yet now, the America Bar Association bestows their Margaret Brent award annually on five deserving women attorneys, such as Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sandra Day O’Connell, and Hillary Clinton. This story needed to be told.

If I hadn’t fallen into that research rabbit hole in search of a story about Giles Brent, I would never have discovered this strong, independent woman, Margaret Brent, who is now honored by the American Bar Association.  The Spinster, the Rebel, and the Governor, winning awards from the National Federation of Press Women, will be released February 2024.

The Flapper, the Impostor, and the Stalker

by Charlene Bell Dietz

GENRE:   Mystery, Historical, Suspense Novel

BLURB:

A privileged teenager from Minneapolis in 1923, scraps her college scholarship and runs away to become a flapper in dangerous, chaotic Chicago. In her search for illusive happiness, she confronts the mob and then must contrive a way to not be murdered.

Excerpt  

Crystal stood and moved her hand toward the hall stairway. Sophie and Kathleen set their plates down and followed. Before they left the parlor Kathleen picked up her pocketbook and valise and nodded for Sophie to do the same. She didn’t want Crystal to rummage through their things while they were upstairs trying on dresses—or whatever they were to do. When they reached the top of the stairs, a door stood open at the far end of the long hall. A single hanging lightbulb illuminated a rack of dresses with shoes lined up underneath, and at the back stood a
large chest of drawers.

“Goldie, I’ve told you—keep that door closed and locked. Now hurry.” The girl lunged down the hallway. Crystal guided Kathleen and Sophie into the first door on the right.

“This is one of the bedrooms. The other is right next to this. Down the hall next to the closet you’ll find the bathroom. We don’t have hot water, but I’m sure that’s not a problem when you consider your rent is free.”

“Free rent and free dresses?” Kathleen congratulated herself. Even with moths batting around in her brain, she knew a ploy when she heard it. Crystal pushed open the door into a small bedroom. The room contained a table, a chair, and a bed. With the shade pulled down, the cleanliness remained questionable, and the room smelled funny, maybe from sweat or body odor. Kathleen couldn’t identify it.

“Goldie does have an eye for size. This dress should do you nicely. Tell her what size shoe you wear. Now, let’s go next door and see what Goldie has for Sophie. Isn’t this fun?

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Charlene Bell Dietz’s award-winning mystery novels The Flapper, the Scientist, and the Saboteur combines family saga with corporate espionage, and The Flapper, the Impostor, and the Stalker propels readers back into 1923 in frenetic Chicago. The Scientist, the Psychic, and the nut gives readers a frightening Caribbean vacation.  Her latest novel The Spinster, the Rebel, and the Governor is a historical biography about Lady Margaret Brent, the first American woman to be called an attorney, whose integrity and intelligence saves pre-colonial Maryland from devastation. This book won the New Mexico Press Women’s first place award and an award by the National Press Women. The Spinster, the Rebel, and the Governor will be released as a second edition by Artemesia Press in February 2024. Two of her Flapper books have won the coveted Kirkus stars, and two were named best book of 2018. Charlene, a retired educator, lives in the foothills of the mountains in central New Mexico where abundant wildlife, solitude, and natures’ beauty inspires her creativity.

Connect with Charlene:

chardietzpen@gmail.com

https://inkydancestudios.com/

https://www.facebook.com/charlene.dietz.9/

Buy Links:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/charlene%20bell%20dietz/_/N-8q8

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=charlene+bell+dietz&crid=2WD20WVLC2LSK&sprefix=%2Caps%2C225&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent

https://treasurehousebooks.net/product-tag/charlene-bell-dietz/

The book will be $0.99 during the tour.

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