Chicks on the Case here, and it’s a Black Friday Special! Two posts for the price of one – as in free!! SUCH a deal!
We’re thrilled to welcome Mariah Fredericks for her first Chicks visit. Mariah writes the Jane Prescott Mysteries, a wonderful historical cozy series set in Gilded Age New York. Read on to see how personal adversity inspired professional success…
Sometimes I wonder why I chose a lady’s maid as my detective, particularly for a series set in the sartorially resplendent era of the Gilded Age. As anyone who knows me will tell you: I am fashion challenged. My house is not immaculate and my design aesthetic would be called eclectic at best. (“A unique blend of inherited pieces, post-college leftovers, and IKEA.”) In an early draft of A Death of No Importance, I put a zipper in a Poiret skirt.
And yet Jane had to be a maid. I wanted to write about the wealthy and homicidal, but I wanted the detective to be a person no one would notice. I got the idea from Sian Phillips, who memorably played Livia in I, Claudius. Frustrated with what she felt was the outlandishness of the script, she complained to the director, “I am talking about adultery, poison, and murder in a room full of people, it’s ridiculous.”
He replied, “These are not people, they are servants. To the most powerful woman in Rome, they’re not human. They’re tools. Like your toaster. You wouldn’t worry about what you did or said in front of your toaster, would you?”
Jane specifically had to be a lady’s maid, because only a lady’s maid would have access to the private lives of her employers. Madame is not going to confess her indiscretions to the scullery maid. Lady’s maids also had more freedom, which is useful if you have to send your detective around New York City searching for clues.
I drew on two experiences in order to create the internal life of someone in service: crappy jobs and high school. Because high school is the nadir that is the wellspring of all creativity.
As a child I had speech impediment. If you think children are kind about speech impediments, you have either never met a child or there is something very different in the water where you live. I got through school by listening. I was amazed at what people would tell me simply because they thought I had no other friends to tell.
I have never been a maid. But like most of us, I’ve had some less than glamorous jobs. I have stocked shelves, swept up dead rats, worked a cash register, and waited tables. Those jobs gave me a very important insight: people can be astonishingly mean to those who work in service positions. Not just thoughtless—mean. They have power over you, they know it, and they want you to feel it. There was the woman who ordered grilled cheese, then sent it back in a huff. Why? It had cheese in it. One man ordered a $50 brandy—then sent it back, insisting he never asked for it, knowing full well that $50 would come out of the server’s pay. It was a fancy restaurant. He felt insecure and this was his way of feeling important.
As we know from Downton Abbey, servants are fond of their employers, strongly identified with them, and invested in their success. That is of course fiction. I wanted Jane to have an acute awareness of how ugly power can be, a determination to hold that power accountable. I also wanted her to have the genuine humility and dedication to the mundane realities of care giving. And a sense of humor because that makes it all easier.
I find Jane good company. I hope you do, too.
BIO: Mariah Fredericks was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She enjoys reading and writing about dead people and how they got that way. She is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series. Visit her at mariahfredericksbooks.com.
About Death of a New American: In 1912, as New York reels from the news of the Titanic disaster, lady’s maid Jane Prescott travels to Long Island with the Benchley family. Their daughter Louise is to marry William Tyler, at his uncle and aunt’s mansion; the Tylers are a glamorous, storied couple, their past filled with travel and adventure. Charles Tyler is best known for putting down New York’s notorious Italian mafia, the Black Hand.
As the families plan Louise’s upcoming wedding, Jane quickly befriends the Tyler children’s nanny, Sofia―a young Italian-American woman. However, one sultry spring night, Jane is woken by a scream from the nursery―and rushes in to find Sofia murdered, and the carefully locked window flung open…
Chicks on the Case 
Good to meet you, Mariah! So the grilled cheese had cheese in it, huh? How dare you! it’s like when The Girl worked at Starbucks – and the customer who was angry that everything they sold had coffee in it.
You’re right. Nobody notices the servants (or the barista pouring your coffee).
LikeLiked by 3 people
I went back to the chef and said, “You won’t believe this one. Grilled cheese…” And he said, “But no cheese. Yeah, she comes in here all the time.” And she was a doctor, not an obviously unwell person. Conversely, I will say I was a terrible waitress and some customers were very patient with me.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Sounds like a lot of thought and work went into creating your character and series. And it sounds like it is paying off for you.
LikeLiked by 4 people
So far and fingers crossed! The first one took about a decade to write, because I was so convinced I couldn’t do something as visually detailed as historical fiction. It had a nice long percolation period.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Jane sounds like a great character. And it makes sense that a lady’s maid would be best suited to snoop around without anyone noticing. I bet people notice her when she has them locked up for murder though!
LikeLiked by 4 people
That’s actually been a tricky back and forth with my agent: how much power should Jane have to get people arrested. At first I argued that she wouldn’t necessarily have the ability to enforce justice, especially in cases where the killer was rich. But she said—and she’s right—readers do like to see justice done and Jane has to have agency. So we’ve struck a balance. I think. I hope!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Congrats, Mariah — your series sounds fab! Thanks so much for visiting with us today!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much for having me on your awesome site! I am very intrigued by the sound of those Jack Daniels whiskey balls…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mariah, thank you so much for guesting. You know I totally love your series. I’m fascinated by the world you’ve created. Can’t wait for the next book!
LikeLiked by 3 people
The series love is fully reciprocated!
LikeLike
Oh, lord, don’t get me started on what jerks folks can be to those in the service industry (I worked many years as a waitress).
I’ve been meaning to read your books for some time now, Mariah, and after reading this I realize what I’ve been missing! Can’t wait to pick up the series!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled that I’ve now educated myself on my fellow historical mystery authors enough that I can branch out, and would love to check our your series. (Re: waiting tables. I know. The amount of psychic ugliness that gets revealed is amazing!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Welcome, Mariah! I’m absolutely fascinated by this time period and love the idea of those who are invisible to their employers wielding some power of their own. As for the challenges of working in the service industry…OOF. So very true. While working retail, a woman asked how far along I was. When I answered that I wasn’t pregnant, she said, “Well, that’s not a very flattering dress, is it? I’d get rid of it if I were you.” Sheesh. People! Thanks so much for visiting. Your books sound wonderful. ❤
LikeLiked by 3 people
Kathy, OUCH!! Here’s hoping karma paid a visit to that rude woman.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I remember being shocked. Then shocked that I was shocked. Retail and food service can be ROUGH.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mariah, It is so nice to meet you and your series! I’m entirely fascinated with the Gilded Age in NYC (just ordered a Lady Astor etiquette book, for the holiday season), and can’t wait to meet your Jane! I had a complaint lodged against me when I worked the early morning Starbucks drive-thru window for being too cheerful. I had a true plan for reversing that, which might have involved a clumsy hot coffee spill, but couldn’t tell which customer. Thanks for visiting Chicks!!
LikeLike
Too cheerful? The mind boggles at the idea that someone actually took the effort to be that mindlessly spiteful. Like, get therapy! And of course they were anonymous—they knew that coffee spill was coming! 🙂
LikeLike