New Foxwell ebooks: WWI and short story collections.

I have new ebooks available of two of my books:

In Their Own Words: American Women in World War I presents first-person accounts by American women who served in World War I. Combating restrictions on the duties they could undertake, these women often faced discrimination, danger, and even death in their desire to serve their country, the men in combat, and the civilians suffering the effects of war. Their roles included ambulance driver, canteen worker, clerk, entertainer, fingerprint expert, librarian, nurse, physician, relief worker, reporter, stenographer, and switchboard operator. Cover design by Karen Jackson.

• No Man's Land and Other Stories is a collection of my (mostly historical) mystery short stories (although it does include an affectionate pastiche of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson). It includes "No Man's Land" (Agatha winner, Macavity nominee) and "Keeper of the Flame" (first-prize winner, 2003 Cape Fear Crime Festival Short Story Contest). Settings range from the Civil War and the Titanic to World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic, including figures such as Dorothea Dix, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and Oscar Wilde. Cover design by Karen Jackson.

 

Today in 1906: Alice Roosevelt weds Nicholas Longworth.

Portraits of Nicholas Longworth and Alice Roosevelt
in heart-shaped frames, Palestine [TX] Daily Herald
Feb. 10, 1906

Today in 1906, presidential daughter Alice Roosevelt married congressman Nicholas Longworth (R–OH) in, according to the New York Tribune, "the most brilliant nuptials ever celebrated at the White House or in the nation's capital." It was not exactly a serene union—Alice contemplated divorce and had an affair with Sen. William Borah (R–ID) that produced a child, Paulina, and Longworth acquired a reputation as a serial philanderer. He, however, was a devoted father to Paulina and died in 1931; Alice lived to age 96. My new ebook collection, No Man's Land and Other Stories, includes three stories with Alice as sleuth.

New! Collected Foxwell short stories.

Cover by Karen Jackson

Just out from Oconee Spirit Press (which has reissued the popular Sigrid Harald novels by Margaret Maron and early rarities by Carolyn Hart) is No Man's Land & Other Stories, an ebook collection of 12 of my (mostly historical) short stories. It includes two award winners ("No Man's Land" with WWI female ambulance drivers; "Keeper of the Flame" with a 19th-century lighthouse keeper); a story set on the Titanic ("Unsinkable"); three stories with Alice Roosevelt Longworth and her snide comments about her cousin, Franklin ("Come Flit by Me," "Alice and the Agent of the Hun," "Artistic License"); two stories inspired by Oscar Wilde ("A Roman of No Importance"; "Lady Windermere's Flan"); and some previously unpublished works (such as "Death in Blue and Gray," a Civil War story set in Washington, DC; and "An Epidemic Proportion," set during the 1918 flu pandemic). I provide an introduction that explains the background of the stories.

Ebook platforms:
• Kindle 
• Kobo
• Nook

The American Library in Paris.

Larry T. Nix, on the Library History Buff Web site, reminds us of the distinguished history of the American Library in Paris, begun by the American Library Association in 1920 and still in existence today. A major figure in its operation, especially during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II, was Clara Longworth de Chambrun, sister-in-law of Alice Roosevelt Longworth and niece of Maria Longworth Nichols Storer, the founder of Rookwood Pottery. Staff members surreptitiously sent books to Jews, who were forbidden to use libraries by the German forces; one staff member was shot by the Gestapo.

About the image: Countess Clara Longworth de Chambrun, 1913. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

The brave new world of new media.

I thought I'd give new media a whirl, so some of my historical mystery short stories are now available in Sony ebook format:

• Two with Alice Roosevelt Longworth and FDR ("Come Flit by Me," set in TR's White House, and "Alice and the Agent of the Hun," where Alice hunts for a WWI German spy at a home of future Hope Diamond owner Evalyn Walsh McLean)

• Two with Bunbury, my sleuth in a Bath chair ("A Roman of No Importance" and "Lady Windermere's Flan"; to complete the Wildean motif, Mr. Wilde makes an appearance in "No Importance")

• "Keeper of the Flame," which won first prize in the Cape Fear (NC) Crime Festival Short Story Contest and is set in a remote Maine lighthouse

• "Unsinkable," which takes place on the Titanic

More info about the short stories' original print publication here.

I've had a great deal of fun casting Alice Roosevelt (1884–1980) as detective. She was brilliant (her light reading was Greek philosophers), rebellious, politically shrewd, and extremely well connected; she also could handle a gun (thanks to her energetic father). She liked the racetrack and a good game of poker, and her book Crowded Hours (1933, ed. Max Perkins) is interesting reading. I've often wished that she had run for office like her friend Ruth Hanna McCormick, but there were aspects of politics that she found unappealing. She was usually maligned for her cruel imitation of her cousin Eleanor and her less-than-helpful public comments during FDR's administration, but this could be viewed as retaliation for FDR and ER's actions during her half-brother Ted's New York gubernatorial campaign in the 1920s.

About the photo: Alice Roosevelt, ca. 1902. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, reproduction no. LC-USZC2-6251

Alice, Where Art Thou?

As I've published two short stories with Alice Roosevelt Longworth as detective, I looked forward to reading Alice: From White House Princess to Washington Power Broker by Stacy A. Cordery, the first biography of Theodore Roosevelt's eldest daughter that draws from Alice's embargoed diary and other personal papers. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I learned little that was new, plus the writing style is somewhat clunky and displays errors (despite the genealogical chart in the book, the author refers to journalist Joseph Alsop as Alice's nephew, whereas he was her cousin as the grandson of Alice's aunt Corinne Roosevelt Robinson). Other readers may be interested in the details about Alice's troubled marriage to philandering Ohio Congressman and Speaker of the House Nicholas Longworth and her affair with Idaho Senator William Borah that produced a child, Paulina.

A media sensation when she was First Daughter (partly due to the fact that her stepmother shunned publicity), Alice is frequently typecast as purveyor of the bon mot, social gadfly, and persecutor of her cousins Eleanor and Franklin. What is often missed is her staggering intellect (her light reading was Greek philosophy) and her fierce family loyalty (although she imitated Eleanor's high voice, she also talked about Eleanor's beauty as a young woman and popularity with her relatives, disputing her cousin's portrayal of herself as an ugly duckling). Also, Eleanor and Franklin publicly opposed the candidacy of Alice's half-brother Ted for New York governor, which took Alice a long time to forgive.

A better alternative may be Mrs. L by Michael Teague, which is the result of interviews with Alice prior to her death. It's all in her own distinctive voice and lavishly illustrated.

"My specialty is detached malevolence."--Alice Roosevelt Longworth