Alyssa Maxwell

Alyssa Maxwell: Murder at Vinland

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Gilded Newport #12

Murder at Vinland is the twelfth book in Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport series set among the social elite in Newport in the late 1890s-early 1900s.  The first book, Murder at the Breakers, was recently made into a TV movie by Hallmark.  I enjoyed the movie, which was better than some of the reviews would indicate, but the books are even better.  Maxwell’s heroine is Emma Cross Andrews, a journalist and poor relation of the Vanderbilts.  Emma grew up in reduced circumstances, which gave her a great sympathy with the poor, but, because of her illustrious relatives, she also is familiar with the world of the Four Hundred, the elite who lived in New York and spent their summers in Newport.  Supposedly, they were called the Four Hundred because that was the number of people who could fit inside Mrs. Astor’s ballroom. read more

Alyssa Maxwell: Murder at the Elms

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Gilded Newport #11

Murder at the Elms is the eleventh book in Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport series, featuring intrepid newspaper reporter Emma Cross, who solves mysteries among Newport’s elite.  Emma is a poor relation of the Vanderbilts, so she is intimately familiar with the high society of Newport, while at the same time having sympathy for the working class.  This is the first book I had read in the series, so I don’t know the details of Emma’s life and upbringing, but from the hints that are given in this novel, it sounds like her branch of the family fell on hard times, and she grew up in an area of Newport that was relatively far from the Gilded Age mansions.  When this book begins, in 1901, she is newly married to newspaper heir Derrick Andrews, and together they own the Newport Messenger.  From what I gather, Derrick’s family objected to his marrying her, I assume because she was a poor relation.  But at the same time some of the working-class people among whom she grew up have rejected her because of her wealthy relations.  So, Emma has a foot in both worlds, without really feeling a part of either. read more