Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Emily Dickinson Mystery Series Book 1 & 2 by Amanda Flower

Book Descriptions

Because I Could Not Stop for Death – Book #1

January 1855 Willa Noble knew it was bad luck when it was pouring rain on the day of her ever-important job interview at the Dickinson home in Amherst, Massachusetts. When she arrived late, disheveled with her skirts sodden and filthy, she’d lost all hope of being hired for the position. As the housekeeper politely told her they’d be in touch, Willa started toward the door of the stately home only to be called back by the soft but strong voice of Emily Dickinson. What begins as tenuous employment turns to friendship as the reclusive poet takes Willa under her wing. 

Tragedy soon strikes and Willa’s beloved brother, Henry, is killed in a tragic accident at the town stables. With no other family and nowhere else to turn, Willa tells Emily about her brother’s death and why she believes it was no accident. Willa is convinced it was murder. Henry had been very secretive of late, only hinting to Willa that he’d found a way to earn money to take care of them both. Viewing it first as a puzzle to piece together, Emily offers to help, only to realize that she and Willa are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse that reveals corruption in Amherst that is generations deep. Some very high-powered people will stop at nothing to keep their profitable secrets even if that means forever silencing Willa and her new mistress….

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I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died – Book #2

August 1856. The Dickinson family is comfortably settled in their homestead on Main Street. Emily’s brother, Austin Dickinson, and his new wife are delighted when famous thinker and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson comes to Amherst to speak at a local literary society and decides he and his young secretary, Luther Howard, will stay with the newlyweds. Emily has been a longtime admirer of Emerson’s writing and is thrilled at the chance to meet her idol. She is determined to impress him with her quick wit, and if she can gather the courage, a poem. Willa Noble, the second maid in the Dickinson home and Emily’s friend, encourages her to speak to the famous but stern man. But his secretary, Luther, intrigues Willa more because of his clear fondness for the Dickinson sisters.

Willa does not know if Luther truly cares for one of the Dickinson girls or if he just sees marrying one of them as a way to raise himself up in society. After a few days in his company, Willa starts to believe it’s the latter. Miss Lavinia, Emily’s sister, appears to be enchanted by Luther; a fact that bothers Emily greatly. However, Emily’s fears are squashed when Luther turns up dead in the Dickinson’s garden. It seems that he was poisoned. Emerson, aghast at the death of his secretary, demands answers. Emily and Willa set out to find them in order to save the Dickinson family reputation and stop a cold-blooded fiend from killing again.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Because I Could Not Stop for Death and I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Amanda Flower has her venturing into historical mysteries.  These books have a unique portrayal of the famous American writer Emily Dickinson.  Emily along with her maid, Willa, become sleuths and help to solve murders. But a bonus is having readers getting glimpses of how Emily thinks and what the culture of mid-19^th century was like.  

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea to use Emily Dickinson? 

Amanda Flower: Each book’s title will be the first line from one of her famous poems. In the first book, the poem was about a carriage ride with a horse.  In this novel, a horse is very central to the story. The second book has flies surrounding the found body, which is related to the poem I used. I pay tribute to the poems, but do not follow it verbatim. Her poems are imagery and vague with multiple meanings. She never wrote clearly.  

EC:  Why Emily Dickinson? 

AF:  Her poems are mysterious. I have been a huge Emily Dickinson fan since I was 15 years old.  I wanted to write a historical novel with another version, so I decided to write a mystery with her.  Last year it won the Agatha for best historical mystery and a final for one of the Edgar Awards. The real characters beside Emily were the maid Margaret O’ Brian. I added a maid assistant, Willa to tell the story in the same manner that Sherlock Holmes had Watson.  I also chose that period of her life, in 1855, where Emily and her sister came to Washington because her father was a member of the House of Representatives. This time was about six years before she went into hiding for the rest of her life as a recluse. She did not get any acclaims for her writing when she was alive. 

EC:  Why the reference to slavery? 

AF:  In the 1850s America was in turmoil over slavery. I knew I had to include this issue, or it would be a disservice.  It divided everyone. The Underground Railroad went through many small towns close to where I live in Ohio. One of my jobs was leading Underground Railroad tours through the town that I worked in. I spoke about the people who lived there and those who tried to escape.  

EC:  How would you describe Emily’s personality in your book? 

AF:  This is my best interpretation of the real Emily. She likes to investigate, a good judge of character, ignores societal class, and is loyal. She is also bold, caring, curious, confident, and blunt. She was probably her father’s favorite because he gave her special treatment.  She enjoyed wandering around and instead of not telling her to stop bought her a dog for protection. The dog is real and so his name Carlo, a character in Jane Eyre. He lived for seventeen years, which is unusual for a pure bred, Newfoundland.  One of the theories is that Emily became a recluse after he passed away. Her dad would buy contemporary fiction books and leave them around the house for her to just happen to find. The family gave her room to be different, a genius aspect. 

EC:  How would you describe the real maid, Margaret? 

AF:  Kind, protective, tough, and can be hard-nosed. I made her gruff with Willa. 

EC:  How would you describe Willa? 

AF:  Nervous for her brother’s safety, compassionate, strong, determined, loyal, and broken. In the first book she is more timid. She is determined to find out what happened to her brother, Henry.  As the series goes on, she is very protective and loyal to Emily. She understands more social standing than Emily. Willa is very aware of the class distinction and sees the servants as being invisible.  Emily tries to treat her as an equal. 

EC:  What is the difference between the sisters, Vinnie, and Emily? 

AF:  Vinnie acts like an older sister even though Emily is the older sister. At the end of their life, she took care of Emily. Vinnie is more into societal norms. She carries the weight on her shoulders. Vinnie is a cat person, while Emily is a dog person who hated cats. The cats probably annoyed her dog.  Emily did write about disliking cats.  

EC:  What about Henry? 

AF:  Henry is an idealist.  He wanted to take from the rich and give to the poor.  He had a happy and carefree personality. He knew Willa’s upmost goal was to protect him.  He is also kind, with a nose for trouble, and caring. 

EC:  The second book in the series, I Heard a Fly Buzz When I died, highlights Ralph Waldo Emerson-why? 

AF:  Through my research I found he stayed with Emily’s brother at their estate. Plus, I really like his works and wanted to include him in the series. He was the peak of American literature during that time. He encouraged young authors to write in an ‘American voice.’ After a lifetime of acclaim, he felt pretty good about himself. He is very aloof and is distant from others. 

EC:  Why the plagiarism angle? 
 
AF: It was harder back then to prove.  Many authors self-published back then and it was hard to prove that someone else wrote it so it would have been easy to plagiarize. It is still a problem today.  Writers would think about this problem. Although they do have a certain way of phrasing.  Emerson had a very strong voice, very authoritative and confident. He wrote essays and non-fiction. The victim in the story was a social climber who tried to put his name on other’s works.  

EC:  Louisa May Alcott and Emily contrasted each other as writers? 

AF:  I put her in the story because she was about the same age as Emily and lived nearby. It was possible they could have met although no evidence. I also wanted to contrast her with Emily.  Some authors like Emily did it for the sake of art and her own personal thoughts, while others like Alcott did it for the sake of supporting her family and was driven.  Emily feared fame and did not try to get published more. Personally, I write for both reasons. I put in the author’s notes how ‘Emily wrote for the expression of art; Louisa wrote for the money.’  

EC:  Louisa May Alcott was also in the story-what was her voice? 

AF: She is very confident, opinionated, with fun banter.  Anyone who read Little Women would recognize these qualities in her main character, Jo. She is blunt, straight forward, and wrote for the money because she is super pragmatic. Growing up her family did not have money because her dad believed in living simply. She broke barriers by being a female who used her own name and became popular. When she started writing she used pen names. But with Little Women she wrote under her own name and this book changed the life of herself and her family.  

EC:  Next books? 

AF:  The third one in the series might be the last one. It is titled I Died for Beauty and will come out in early 2025.  The plot setting has the 1857 blizzard with a deep freeze in New England. A young Irish couple die in a fire at their house. Emily and Willa try to figure out what really happened. 

The next book coming out in February is titled Crime and Cherry Pits, a cozy.  In March my first Katherine Wright mystery will be released titled To Slip the Bonds of Earth about a murder. 

The Candy Shop mystery will be out in October next year.  The Matchmaker mystery comes out the following year.  Each main character will have a book coming out every other year.  

THANK YOU!! 

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