by D. E. Johnson
We are delighted to welcome mystery author D. E. Johnson as our guest.
Dan's third "Will Anderson" mystery, Detroit Breakdown (Minotaur Books, September 2012 hardcover and ebook formats), set in the early 20th century, follows Will and his ex-fiancée Elizabeth Hume into their next adventure, now behind the walls of the infamous Eloise Hospital, the massive asylum west of Detroit.
Today Dan tells us about writing historical mysteries.
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My new book, Detroit Breakdown, is set in 1912, primarily at Eloise Hospital, which served as Wayne County's insane asylum, county house, and tubercular sanatorium for 140 years. When Elizabeth Hume's cousin is accused of murder behind the walls of Eloise, Will Anderson commits himself as an amnesia patient to unmask a murderer — literally, as the killer is posing as the Phantom of the Opera.
Photo provided courtesy of
D. E. Johnson
Those of you who have read the first two books in the series know that I never go easy on Will, and Detroit Breakdown is no exception. He is subjected to a kind of shock therapy and experimental radium therapy — and these occur before the hospital administrator discovers that Will's spying on them. The quality of his "therapy" diminishes rapidly after that.
Eloise Hospital was an amazing place. At its height, Eloise spread over 902 acres, with 78 buildings, including police and fire stations, a bakery, mortuary, and amusement hall. The institution was self-sufficient, with a large farm tended by the patients and a small artificial lake to provide water and ice. The hospital was still very much in a growth mode in 1912, and, during the Great Depression, Eloise was home to as many as 10,000 people at a time (indigents being the bulk of them).
The early Twentieth Century was a fascinating period in mental health history. It was a tipping point from the old thinking, which was lock 'em up and forget about 'em, to a new therapeutic approach. Freud's theories were widely known and reasonably widely accepted by this time, and mental health professionals actually started trying to cure people of their problems.
Of course the treatment available in a private institution was generally better than that of county-run asylums like Eloise, which didn't have the funds for enlightened treatment. It's not a place that would normally see the likes of Will, who comes from a privileged family, or a relative of Elizabeth's, whose family is also well-to-do.
Sadly, it wasn't unusual for a rich family's "defective" child to be placed in an institution — often a public institution — and forgotten. Many of you know about Rosemary Kennedy, sister of John F. and Robert Kennedy. She was born in 1918 and institutionalized, eventually lobotomized, because of "slight mental retardation." The stigma was so powerful that wealthy families went to great lengths to hide children who weren't up to snuff.
While my stories are first and foremost mysteries, I always pick a historical backdrop to explore as a significant subplot. In The Detroit Electric Scheme, it was the rise and fall of the early electric car. (Will is the fictional son of a real man named William Anderson, who owned Detroit Electric, the most successful electric car company in U.S. history, building electric cars from 1907–1939.) As Will tries to figure out who framed him for murder, he also has to work, and while doing so experiences some of the biggest moments in electric automobile history.
The second book in the series, Motor City Shakedown, explores Detroit's first mob war, between the Adamo and Gianolla gangs. It was a bloody battle for control of the city's rackets, with weekly shotgun battles in the streets of Detroit's Little Italy. Will has some unfinished business with Vito Adamo following the first book, and while looking for revenge, he walks into the middle of the war.
Detroit Breakdown continues the adventures of Will and his on-and-off girlfriend, Elizabeth Hume. This is my first novel with dual first-person narrators, as Will and Elizabeth pick up the parts of the story they experience. It was great fun writing another narrator (other than when my female early readers told me how little I understood about how women think, a point I will freely concede. Fortunately they steered me right, and even they were happy with the final result.)
Eloise Hospital proves to be a tough foe for Will, and I'm afraid that both his physical and mental health are tested to the edge of his capacities. Conflict makes or breaks a story. I'm a believer in the old saw about plot, "Stick your protagonist in a tree and throw rocks at him." Will would probably appreciate a respite from the rocks for a while, but that development is nowhere in sight!
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The early Twentieth Century, a time of big ambitions, huge achievements, and crushing poverty, holds a special fascination for Dan, who comes by his interest in automotive history honestly. His grandfather was the Vice President of Checker Motors, beginning work with Checker in 1924 and continuing until 1980. Fortunately, Dan doesn't come by his interest in murder the same way.
After spending his childhood in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Dan graduated from Central Michigan University and owned a business in Grand Rapids, Michigan for many years. He is married, has three daughters, and once again lives near Kalamazoo.
To learn more about the author and his books, visit his website at DEJohnsonAuthor.com.
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Detroit Breakdown
D. E. Johnson
A Will Anderson Mystery (3rd in series)
Minotaur Books (September 2012)
Will Anderson and Elizabeth Hume are called to the vast Eloise Insane Asylum outside of Detroit, where Elizabeth's cousin Robbie is a patient and now a murder suspect. The victim, like three others before him at the asylum in recent months, was killed with the infamous "Punjab lasso", the murder weapon of the Phantom of the Opera.
Certain of Robbie's innocence, they begin an investigation with the help of Detective Riordan. Will has himself committed to the asylum to investigate from the inside, and Elizabeth volunteers at Eloise and questions people outside the asylum. While Will endures horrific conditions in his search for the killer, Elizabeth and Riordan follow the trail of a murder suspect all the way to Kalamazoo, where they realize the killer might still be at Eloise, putting Will in extreme danger. They race back to Detroit, but will they arrive in time to save Will and bring the killer to justice?
