Omnimystery News is pleased to welcome Susan Tornga, whose debut mystery is Seashells in the Desert (Treble Heart Books, July 2011 trade paperback and ebook editions).
Today Susan writes about incorporating factual information into historical fiction. And she's also giving one of our readers the opportunity to win a copy of her book! See entry details below.
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"There are no ladies west of Dodge and no women west of Albuquerque."
That was a popular saying in the 1880's on America's frontier. Men outnumbered women ten to one and it is easy to imagine pretty much what those women did. They were wives or they were …
Photo provided courtesy of
Susan Tornga
Then an Englishman named Fred Harvey changed all that. The first Harvey House appeared in Topeka, Kansas in 1876 at the Santa Fe Railroad depot. Fred Harvey quickly opened both dining establishments and lodging facilities along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe lines from Chicago west to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
Before Harvey, train passengers could expect little more than slop at rest stops. Often, it actually was "slop." Passengers were given only fifteen to thirty minutes to eat and the cooks would purposefully delay meal service so that food was left on plates. That would be scraped back into the pot and served to the next unsuspecting group of travelers.
Fred had a vision of sophistication. He was an Englishman after all. Cuisine replaced slop. A typical meal might be fried chicken or baked halibut with lobster sauce, exotic salads and a piece of fresh peach pie that was an entire quarter of one pie. Ice cream was not unusual either. Not only were the hungry travelers treated to such delights, but meals were served with military precision on delicate china and glistening silver by attractive, smiling waitresses.
At first the employees were all male, as was customary to the time and place. Then, in 1883, Mr. Harvey fired all of his waiters at the Raton, New Mexico Harvey House and brought in women. And not just any women. He looked for and found young ladies, well-educated, neat and of good character.
Although it was not a condition of employment, these women turned out to be courageous as well. Many left their homes with only twenty-four hours notice after their hiring, knowing that they might never see their families again.
The West was a raw, wild country and the women might face Indian attacks, disease, and rough living conditions.
Often, especially in the early years, the townspeople looked on the women as little more than harlots in white aprons. Some of Fred's "Girls" couldn't take it and returned to whatever they'd left behind. Most stayed, however, and went on to become the wives of ranchers, or even ranchers themselves, as well as schoolteachers, nurses, politicians and lawmen, ahem, law-women.
These facts are slipped into Seashells in the Desert to create true-to-life scenes that not only entertain but educate the reader.
I dedicated my historical mystery, Seashells in the Desert, to "the brave women who sacrificed so much to open the West for others." In Seashells the reader meets Tessa Crane, attractive, hard working and independent, one of Fred's "Harvey Girls." The story is set in Winslow, Arizona in 1895 when only a dining establishment existed.
In Winslow today, the elegant La Posada Hotel still serves delicious cuisine to travelers, although few arrive by train. The Harvey Company built La Posada in 1929. As can be said of the United States, the hotel has weathered the many ups and downs of economic catastrophes and the even greater tragedies of war. And, like our country, it has endured.
Winslow women regularly don Harvey Girl costumes and conduct tours of La Posada, a nostalgic look at the heyday of American rail travel.
Fred Harvey has been called the founding father of the American service industry. His methods are still taught in graduate schools in the areas of hotel and restaurant management, personnel management, advertising and marketing. What a mark this English gentleman made on the American West.
What do I love most about Fred Harvey? He has provided me with an enchanting array of Harvey Houses, one of which might just be the setting of the next Tessa Crane mystery. As for characters to appear in those books? I need look no further than the American frontier in the late nineteenth century, the home of a never-ending supply of bad guys and good guys. Figuring out which is which, I leave to my readers.
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Susan was raised in Tucson, an upbringing that fueled her love for the Arizona desert. Her work has appeared in several Chicken Soup for the Soul® and Patchwork Path anthologies. She is a passionate traveler and is a frequent contributor to the online travel magazine InTheKnowTraveler.com. When not writing or traveling, she can usually be found on one of the many hiking trails in Arizona, including segments of the Arizona Trail. She resides near Tucson with her husband, Mark. Learn more about Susan and Seashells in the Desert on her website, SusanTornga.com.
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About Seashells in the Desert:
Tessa Crane loves her life as a Harvey Girl. Attractive, hard working and independent, she personifies the best of Fred Harvey's waitresses. She welcomes the passengers of the Santa Fe Railway several times each day as they travel to and from booming California. What she doesn t welcome, however, is the trouble that disembarks one October day in 1895.
When a beautiful woman is found murdered, Tessa wonders why her close friend, Lupe Castillo, is so distraught. Her question is answered when Sheriff Jed Bowman leads a posse to find Lupe s brother, Joaquin. Lupe begs for Tessa's help in uncovering the real murderer, but what they learn leads both women to believe that Joaquin may be guilty.
This is the story of secrets long buried, like the Seashells in the Desert. What happened in the past is unveiled in events of the present. Tessa, Lupe and Joaquin each hold tight to their own secrets. If the truth is to be uncovered, those secrets must be disclosed. Innocent people may be hurt, but that may be the only way to bring a murderer to justice.
For a chance to win a copy of Seashells in the Desert, courtesy of the author, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Susan Tornga: Seashells of the Desert" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (5991) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends 10/06/2011.)
