Rob Osler kicks off a new historical mystery series with The Case of the Missing Maid, featuring a young LGBTQ woman at the turn of the 20th century who has just landed a job as the first female operative at a detective agency in Chicago. His sleuth, Harriet Morrow, is intrepid and intelligent, and a great new character to enjoy. In addition, Osler crafts an excellent mystery surrounding Harriet which she, of course, solves. Rob was nice enough to answer a few questions about his new novel, which publishes on Christmas Eve.
Q: Many of my favorite novels, mystery or otherwise, are stories of identity. This novel is very much a novel of Harriet finding herself – as a working detective, as a queer woman, as the head of a household. Can you talk about creating Harriet and what was important to you when you were thinking about her character?
A: The name Harriet Morrow is borrowed from my grandmother, Harriet Heffelfinger, and my great-aunt, Vera Morrow. My mother inspires the character, although she was not queer. All three were long divorced or widowed, so from an early age, I experienced them as single women. Each was independent, energetic, and big-hearted. I wanted to imbue Harriet with those qualities while she also identifies as queer (or a “sexual invert,” to use the clunky term of the time). As a gay man, I was intrigued to explore Harriet’s double struggle as an outsider. First, as a woman boldly attempting to prove herself in a job considered suitable only for a man and second, as a lesbian whose sexual identity was so foreign at the turn of the century that much of society didn’t yet consider such a person—talk about an outsider!
Q: I loved that this novel was set in Chicago, a place I lived in as a child/young girl. While it was many years after Harriet would have been there, I still enjoyed the references to Marshall Field’s and even to the Polish neighborhood where my mother used to go to buy pastries. Are you from Chicago? If not, why choose to set your novel there?
A: I lived in Chicago for five years in my twenties. In choosing the series’ setting, I wanted a large and vibrant city that would provide Harriet with a fascinating landscape. She conducts most of her investigation on her trusty Victoria Overman bicycle, so it was important to have a wide variety of distinctive neighborhoods and landmarks for her to visit. In the 1890s, Chicago was America’s second-largest city and the world’s fastest-growing city. It was the perfect backdrop for Harriet to solve crimes during America’s Progressive Era (1890-1920).
Q: I was interested in the way you studded the book with different characters that pushed Harriet to figure out what it is she wants in life – from Pearl to Aubrey to Matthew to Barbara – all of whom get her to question her conceptions of what her life is to become. I know this is probably a standard structural device, but you seemed to do it so effortlessly. So I guess this is a technique question – what are your narrative sleight of hand tricks that move the plot forward, utilizing character?
A: You deftly picked up on my intention to have each key supporting character (each of those you mention return in subsequent books) round out Harriet’s world and do a specific job from a story perspective. Without associating each character with their role – the reader will do this for themself 🙂 – one character serves the story by giving Harriet courage on the job, another helps her begin to accept her sexuality, another forces her to grapple with growing responsibilities as an adult, and still another provides insight into how she might navigate a secretive queer world that is at once thrilling and terrifying. I tried to throttle the mood throughout the novel, between challenge and tension and joyous adventure. It would be a bummer if it were Harriet against the world. She needs allies who give her hope. But even her few champions never coddle. Instead, it is tough love from many angles, which I hope will ring true for readers.
Q: What would have been the situation for an LGTBQ person at the turn of the century? Were there small communities as you portray in the book?
A: I address this question at length in the book’s Author’s Note. While there is much scholarship and reporting and chronicling of the LGBTQ+ experience after WWII and Stonewall, there is very little at the time of The Case of the Missing Maid, 1898. Did men and women visit the same clubs? Was there such a club in Chicago? Was it located above an empty storefront in the Levee District? Was it called the Black Rabbit? (Fun fact: there was a gay club in New York with this name). The definitive answer to all those questions is, “I don’t know for certain, but it’s a reasonable portrayal.” In my attempt to achieve historical accuracy, I read several books and resources – again, all cited in the Author’s Note – to inform Harriet’s life as a queer woman at the turn of the century. However, finding no definitive account to rely on, I had to triangulate information from other cities, primarily New York, about gay men, from bits of LGBTQ+ memoir/personal letters and anti-perversion laws, etc., to create a reasonable picture of her queer life.
Q: I’d love to discuss Harriet’s mode of transportation. Were bicycle owners a small percentage of the population? Would it have been outlandish for her to ride her bike around town?
A: A two-part answer. Yes, bicycling was becoming wildly popular in the 1890s. However, women riding bicycles was considered somewhat scandalous, though many did. My agent and I occasionally exchange photos we find of women riding bicycles at the time—some wearing bloomers—doubly bold! Aside from the snowy, frigid winter months, Harriet riding a bicycle would have been advantageous given the choked roads and creeping, jerky streetcars. The famous L, elevated train, had been erected but not fully built out. The freedom and nimbleness of her Victoria allowed her to weave among pedestrians, buggies, horses, carts, and newfangled motorized contraptions. Moreover, I just love imagining Harriet, dressed as a man, bowler firmly in place, pedaling around Chicago.
Q: What kind of research did you do on detective agencies? How did those agencies work with the police, especially in a famously corrupt city like Chicago?
A: My fictitious detective agency, The Prescott Agency, was largely informed by the famous (or infamous, depending on your POV) Pinkerton National Detective Agency, also headquartered in Chicago—though its founder, Allan, was no longer alive at the time, and his sons co-ran the agency from Chicago and New York. Among Pinkerton’s work was protecting large business owners and strike-breaking and union-busting. There’s a lot of information about Pinkerton’s, including an excellent book on Allan’s hiring of Kate Warne—decades before Prescott hired Harriet. You’ll find a full listing of research sources in my Author’s Note. In short, the Chicago police force was, as was the case in any city, relatively new at the time. Training, procedures, professionalism, etc., were far from acceptable or standardized. In the book, Theodore Prescott refers to the Chicago police unflatteringly, which is deserved. And as you note in the question, many city officials were astonishingly corrupt. I take this up in book two, The Case of the Murdered Muckraker, which delves into the First Ward’s notoriously criminal aldermen, the Gray Wolves.
Q: Is this going to be a series (I hope)? And if so do you have a specific arc in mind for Harriet as a character?
A: Series? Yes! I mention book two above, which should come out in early 2026. Book three, The Case of the Swindled Suffragist (voting and women’s rights, anyone?), should follow a year or so later—I’m writing it now. As for Harriet’s character arc, the readers will see :). But I have future adventures in store for her, including, I hope, loves, loss, personal growth, and some cross-country travel.
Q: Are you going to continue to write your other series as well, which is contemporary? And how difficult is it to switch back and forth in time (though I assume you just write one book at a time!) Is it kind of refreshing to make a change of venue, so to speak?
A: You’re referring to the “Hayden & Friends Mysteries” series, comprising Devil’s Chew Toy and Cirque de Slay. I love the characters and have many ideas for future adventures. However, given the various factors of publishing (those books have a different publisher), I’m pausing that series to focus on “Harriet Morrow Investigates.” However, I have yet another series of contemporary short stories, “Perry Winkle Whodunnits,” featuring a zany amateur sleuth. The first Perry Winkle short, “Miss Direction”, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2023 (a free read on my website, robosler.com), was a finalist for this year’s Edgar Award. The second Perry story, “Not the Usual Boy”, comes out in EQMM early next year, with the third, “Host to a Murder”, yet unscheduled.
Q: What has influenced you as a writer – what other writers or books, or simply life experiences?
A: More than any other, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City. He created a big-hearted world of gays, lesbians, trans, and straight characters all living in—mostly—harmony at 28 Barbary Lane. There is mystery, adventure, humor, and drama-ama-ama, but the author always respects the humanity of his characters as they do one another.
Q: If you could give writing advice to your younger self, what would it be?
A: Reset your clock to increments of months and years. Publishing moves slowly. Be resilient, but also patient.
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Rob Osler is the author of two mystery series as well as many short stories, including the Edgar nominated “Miss Direction” (published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2023). You can read Rob’s story here. He was also the winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Robert L. Fish Award for best debut short story by an American Author in 2022. His first novel, Devil’s Chew Toy, was nominated for the Anthony, Agatha, Macavity and Lefty Awards for Best Debut. Rob was a copywriter and senior brand strategist at leading global agencies and corporations before turning to fiction writing. After many years of living in Chicago (the setting for the Harriet Morrow series) and Seattle (the setting for the Hayden & Friends series), Rob resides in California with his long-time partner and a tall, gray cat.