Alyssa Maxwell is the author of The Gilded Newport Mysteries and A Lady and Lady’s Maid Mysteries. She has worked in publishing as a reference book editor, ghost writer, and fiction editor, but knew from an early age that she wanted to be a novelist. Growing up in New England and traveling to Great Britain and Ireland fueled a passion for history, while a love of puzzles of all kinds drew her to the mystery genre. She and her husband have make their home in South Florida. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the Florida Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Novelists Inc.
Q: What sparked the idea for this story?
Alyssa: There is a portrait of Elizabeth Drexel Lehr that hangs in the Elms in Newport. This beautiful painting always fascinated me, and I decided I needed to learn more about her. I did some research into her, including the marriage to Harry Lehr. I also read the book she wrote, King Lehr. It involved from there. The supposed murder attempts by Harry were completely fictional.
Q: Was it unusual for a woman like Elizabeth to write a tell-all book?
Alyssa: She wrote the tell all book in 1935. Being a society woman, it was unusual. People found it shocking. Although they were not so brim and proper anymore.
Q: What part did the Arleigh house play in the book?
Alyssa: This is the house the Lehrs leased every summer for eight years. It is more of a Victorian style house. They allowed Reginald Vanderbilt and his bride to get married there since they were in Newport in April. I only found a sketch about this house. I went by similar looking houses that did exist in Newport and used the general layout of those.
Q: Arleigh was a mansion—why did people call it a cottage?
Alyssa: All the wealthy people called their Newport houses cottages because it was their summer get away houses. It was a euphemism for summer getaway mansion. As big as they were they were not the same size as their New York houses. They did not build a lot of guest rooms because everyone who came had their own house or leased their house. However, the houses were still tremendous.
Q: How would you describe Harry Lehr?
Alyssa: He was a charmer, flatterer, and the life of the party. He loved wealth but did not have any of his own. He was a con man. It was never said specifically in his wife’s book, King Lehr, but we know he was gay. Men tended not to like him as much, but women adored him. I think Elizabeth would describe him as critical, greedy, cruel, unscrupulous, and eccentric. He used her for his money.
Q: How would you describe Elizabeth, or Bessie?
Alyssa: She is principled, trusting, and gullible. She led a very sheltered life during her upbringing. The reason she did not divorce him was because she was a Catholic and divorce would have devastated her mother. Her principles appeared to be more important to her than her happiness. She was also probably good-natured, vulnerable, dignified, naïve, and polished.
Q: How would you describe Bessie and Harry’s relationship?
Alyssa: She played the role of a good wife in public, but in private she did her own thing. During their wedding night he told her that she repulsed him and only married her for her money. The animosity grew from their first night together. She had been duped and trapped in the marriage. During the courtship he treated Bessie with affection and respect. But after, he despised her and she loathed him, seeing him as cold and heartless. Divorce would have hurt her family and her socially.
Q: Does Emma serve as a way to show the differences between social classes?
Alyssa: She was independent and involved with all levels of society. She was looked down by the wealthy society, considered the poor relation of the Vanderbilts. Yet occasionally ordinary people say she got above herself. She was stuck in the middle. Within Newport she did have a strong sense of community.
Q: How would you describe Emma’s investigative skills?
Alyssa: She lets her ire be raised. She can become indignant, determined, cynical, stubborn, and seeks justice. She helped Detective Jessie Whyte question women. He appreciates her help because it was a social barrier for a man to have a private interview with a societal woman. Emma smooths that over for him.
Q: What does the term “400” mean?
Alyssa: They were the very top of New York society, the wealthiest with the best pedigree. The term came about because the number of people who fit comfortably into Mrs. Astor’s New York ballroom was 400 people. If she invited someone to her balls, they became a member of the 400.
Q: How would you describe Ralph Noble, one of the suspects?
Alyssa: He was dismissive of women and unbalanced. He is Harry’s friend, a bad influence. He is very similar to Harry, someone who does not care about anyone but himself.
Q: What role did Miss Thorton play?
Alyssa: She was Bessie’s lady’s maid and close companion. She is someone Bessie trusted and a close confidant. The one person Bessie felt she could rely on to treat her well and someone Bessie could rely on. She had secrets and a bit of a past although she did confide in Bessie about it. She was sensible and a survivor.
Q: What elements of the story are based on real events?
Alyssa: The Canfield Gambling Case. Reggie Vanderbilt was subpoenaed to testify in the trial although not as one of culprits but a witness and victim to what happened.
Fishing for humans is also true. They reeled in a man.
Dog’s dinner at Arleigh did happen and was Harry’s idea. The dogs had their own table with water served in a silver bowl.
Q: Can you tell us about your next book?
Alyssa: Murder at Rose Cliff will come out about this time next summer. This is the house where they filmed The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford. The owner, Theresa Fair Oelrichs, held what she called her “white ball.” The decorations were white, everyone wore white, white swans, and white yachts in the water. But someone from Tessie’s past crashed the ball and makes an outrageous claim about her past. He is threatening to tell everyone if she does not pay him because it would devastate her socially.
Murder at Arleigh by Alyssa Maxwell highlights high society drama. This suspenseful plot brings back reporter-sleuth Emma Cross Andrews who must decide if the whispered threats and pranks are not so innocent.
The book begins with Emma and Derrick Andrews attending the wedding of her cousin Reggie Vanderbilt and heiress Cathleen Neilson at the Bellevue Mansion, Arleigh. Their hosts are a popular couple, Harry and Elizabeth “Bessie” Lehr. But shortly after the wedding Emma is visited by Bessie who is convinced her husband has been trying to kill her and make it look like an accident. Knowing Emma is known for her investigative skills she further tells her that Harry is cruel to her in private, telling her outright he married her only for her money and finds her repulsive. Now she believes he is plotting to murder her and make it look like an accident: a broken balcony railing she might have leaned on, a loose stair runner that could have sent her tumbling down a staircase, faulty brakes in the car she uses. But Bessie states she was not injured because she was saved by her Lady’s Maid, Mess Thorton.
Emma agrees to investigate and determine if Harry is engaged in a cold-blooded game of life or death.
Readers will be left guessing until the end on who is behind the possible killings. It is obvious how the author does extensive research to have authenticity for the scenes. What makes this series even more interesting is how in each book a new mansion is highlighted.
