Good news...I'm almost finished with the book that is the first chronologically in the series. It's a stand alone book, but it also adds an important piece to the puzzle that is my series.
Ardis is an amazing woman. She lives in an extremely important time in the history of our country. Her family is moving by wagon train to Oregon when her husband discovers that the Civil War has begun. Very excited he leaves his new wife, parents, and younger brother to continue their journey and he travels back east to join the Union Army.
Ardis faces her fears. She is talented, intelligent, and loving. Her adventures may surprise you. Just like this idea. Did you know that the first woman private detective was hired in 1857? She worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. She was instrumental in uncovering the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln before he could be sworn into office as president.
I love writing historical fiction because it allows me to combine two of my passions, history, and writing fiction. It's a lovely challenge to undertake to create a fictional character and then meld that person into actual history.
Ardis is very young at merely 18 years of age. She has already faced great challenge as the only child of parents who die when she's 16.
It was nearly impossible for a woman to find work in the 1800's. They could not vote, and they were literally considered the property of their husbands. When they married, any asset that they possessed was now owned by their spouse. They virtually had no voice.
Yet it was women like Kate Warne, woman detective for the Pinkerton Agency who began a movement that would soon sweep our country. The Civil War emancipated the slaves, it also forced women into some extremely uncomfortable types of growth and development. As men left enmasse, women were forced to take up the slack that the men had left in employment.
My Mother-in law is an important part of my inspiration for the character of Ardis. My beloved Mom in law divorced after 25 years of marriage was left with 5 sons to support financially. She had very few job skills, having worked as a wife, and mother for all those years.
She took a job as a secretary/receptionist that barely earned any money. Within a few years she had pushed herself upwards into investigating and research for the cases that were taken care of in her office. Not long after she became the first women detective in consumer fraud for the state of Utah. She was instrumental in shutting down some very large ponzy schemes.
This marvelous lady, a detective in her own right inspired me to have Ardis move into that arena. Shanghaing was a terrible thing was happening in many port cities in the United States. It was easy to involve Ardis in investigating this crime to try and stop it.
I will soon post a few chapters from my book. Please enjoy.
