welcome to between the covers summer series where we're celebrating South Florida authors I'm Anne Bok and with me is Alysa Maxwell with her new book murder at Vinland it's the latest in her gilded Newport mystery series and welcome it's so nice to see you thank you so much Ann it's a pleasure to be here you write two mystery series and one the ladies Made series and also the Gilded Newport mystery series and this is Book 12 in that Series so congratulations on that thank you we have one of our favorite sleuths Emma cross she lives in Newport and she is a Vanderbilt that's right she's a poor Vanderbilt a poor Vanderbilt not many of those in Newport tell me about her for for people who haven't read yet yeah well Emma is a descendant of Cornelius vanderbelt the first who began and the family fortune um but she's descended from one of his daughters so the commodor as they called them didn't really believe in in giving his daughters a lot of inheritance it was just enough to get them by but by Emma's generation it's pretty much all gone so she works for a living she Begins the series as a society journalist so she goes to all the parties and balls and the sarees during the summer season and she reports on that but in her heart of hearts she would like to be more like Nelly blly the Gilded Age journalist who reported on hard news and actually did some dangerous things to get her story your books take place in around Newport Mansions and I am familiar with several I have to confess I had not heard of Vinland so what does anyone do you Google and I'm going down the rabbit hole and I come across this ays whose name was Katherine lard wolf fascinated by her does she play a part in this book well no she does not because by the time the story takes place she's passed away oh about more than 10 years ago and the new owner is Florence twamley who is also a vanderbild um she was Cornelius II's uh sister so um although you know Florence Florence buys the house uh with her husband Hamilton and pretty much continues in with the tradition that Katherine Laura Lord wolfes started um with the Viking elements and Norwegian design built incorporated into the house Katherine was fascinated by newport's Old Stone Tower which has a couple of different theories behind it one is that the first Benedict Arnold just built it as a windmill um not the Traer but the governor of colonial uh Rhode Island the other theory is that Vikings landed on Newport Shores a millennium ago and built this Tower and and left it behind I'm GNA go with that one Catherine there there was one interesting thing that I found when I was Googling about Katherine is that was she I guess because she had the money um she had many many proposals and she actually had cards calling cards printed up that said not interested oh okay so I I I loved that congrat congatulations on the Hallmark Channel and the adaptation of the the the mystery tell me about that and and your thoughts on that yeah uh it had been a long process uh the one of the executive producers on the project discovered murder at the breakers after he had toured the breakers and was walking through the gift shop they display it prominently and he had actually been looking for something based in Newport for the Hallmark Channel so he bought it took it home read it and shortly after contacted my agent this was before the pandemic so that's how long this process can actually take from you know the the story idea in a producer's mind to actually seeing it in film but how fascinating that that this wasn't just shopped around it he stumbled on your book in The Breakers that's terrific I'm so excited for you thank you why is it do you think that we are so fascinated with the Gilded Age I mean we're talking captains of industry and robber barons and enormous wealth and we can't get enough of it I think it's because it's our royalty we don't have kings and queens and princes and all of that here in America but I think we're still fascinated by it it's it's like a fairy tale life it's something that we can't experience personally ourselves but we can live vicariously through these people and for people that may not know this when you're talking about Newport it was a very short season these people had the these incredible homes that they built that they used what three months out of the year maybe at most that's true um these houses were a display of their wealth um whereas New York was ruled by the gentlemen in their boardrooms the women ruled Newport from their ballrooms and what they did was to uh kind of cement in people's minds just how wealthy and Powerful these families were it was an outward sign I know that you spend part of your time in South Florida and part of your time in Newport which which is wonderful because your research you can do right there on the ground I mean you don't have to make it up you you go and you visit there is so much inspiration what's I mean what do you do do do you just go visit the the Estates and how do you do this oh yeah oh absolutely we visit the Estates and we visit them again and again because they are so fascinating but when I choose a house it's sometimes because of the house itself because something about the architecture or the history behind it fascinates me and sometimes I choose it because of the people who owned it with Vinland it was a combination of the two it was those Viking elements that mythology behind it and it was also that two relatively powerful women lived there Catherine wolf and Florence tomble was also very powerful and formidable woman in her own right and this book happens to have I would say probably 98% uh casted characters who are women female focused it is going to a great story uh and and Vinland sounds like an incredible place when you're writing a series does it get easier does the process get easier over time because you were so familiar with the character or is is it the opposite it's a little bit of both yes the the the characters are so familiar as is the setting so that part is easy but what becomes difficult is remembering that a new reader might not be as familiar with Newport and these characters as I am so I have to remember to keep just enough in there to keep it um to to let people kind of settle into the series without having to go back to the beginning right away to find out what it's all about and just to clarify do we have to read them in order you do not I think it's better better if you do because Emma's life progresses over time what's the first book that you remember that had an impact on you you know it's funny because it's not a historical book but a wrinkle in time when I was probably 11 or 12 years old has stayed yes meline langle has stayed with me forever and it's it's among my favorite books I've read it as an adult as well what's the best feedback that you have ever received from a reader oh my gosh I I heard from the daughter of a woman in a nursing home who discovered murder at the breakers and she had lived there as a young uh Navy bride just after World War II and when she found my book it just reminded her of a very happy time in her life and what was so strange about it is it turned out that she was renting rooms from my husband's great aunt and this daughter the mother did pass away and the daughter sent me a set of teacups that the two of them the aunt and the woman had had tea um from in the afternoon so I know own those teacups they've come kind of Full Circle and what's the most valuable advice that you have ever gotten about being a writer not to compare myself to any other writer not to compare my journey as a writer to anyone else because someone may look wonderfully successful but we never know what they went through to get there so we each have our own journey and just follow that Alyssa Maxwell is the author of the guilded Newport Mysteries the latest in the series is murder at Vinland thank you so much for being here and sharing your time with us today thank you Ann it was my pleasure thank you so much I'm Anne boock please join me on the next between the covers [Music]