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| Joseph Pennell, Second Street Market, Philadelphia, 1920 |
Today we sit down for a chat with historical mystery author Jenny Adams. Learn more about her and her books at her website and blog.
When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
I’ve always written! I have stacks of notebook-length “novels” that I wrote starting at about age eight. I started writing seriously toward publication in 2010, about a week after I graduated from college.
How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
A LONG time! I sent my first query letter in 2011. I signed with my agent, Amy Giuffrida, with my sixth novel, a YA fantasy, in 2021, almost ten years to the week after sending that first query. We went on submission with A Deadly Endeavor in the summer of 2022, and it sold in January 2023. All told, it took thirteen years and seven books.
Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
I am traditionally published with Crooked Lane Books!
Where do you write?
I’m a mom to a now-five-year-old and have a full-time job. I write in the margins of life. I wrote six novels on the sofa before I managed to find space for a desk. I’ve written on the bus and the metro, dictated via voice app on my driving commute, on my lunch breaks, in coffee shops, in my mother-in-law’s basement, and at the playground. Now, I tend to do most of my writing in my tiny office at home, from about 4:30-6:00am, before I have to get everyone else ready for the day and head to work.
Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
I make playlists. They always have a lot of Taylor Swift, Florence + the Machine, Noah Kahan, and Hozier.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
Not many. But I do tend to draw on settings from real life, and I like to think of my setting as a character in and of itself. We lived in Philadelphia for seven years while my husband completed his PhD in History, and so much of my love for the neighborhoods where I lived and worked found their way into A Deadly Endeavor. It’s a very Philadelphia book.
Describe your process for naming your character?
Edie’s first name just came to me, before almost anything else about her. Her last name, Shippen, is from an old Philadelphia family (remember Peggy Shippen?). Gilbert is named for Gilbert Blythe, of course, and I borrowed his and Lizzie’s last name from one of my favorite people, my first critique partner. Lizzie is Elizabeth, after a dear aunt. Theo Pepper is named for the founder of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Dr. Pepper, because I thought that was funny, and it stuck. My copy editor suggested we change it, but I refused.
Real settings or fictional towns?
So, this is where things get funny - I consider myself, first and foremost, to be a fantasy writer. Six of my seven books have been fantasy. A Deadly Endeavor is my first mystery, my first historical, and my first book to be set in a real setting that exists (Philadelphia). But it’s not the real 1920s Philadelphia - it’s the version that exists in my head, and I honestly think that historical fiction and fantasy have way more in common than people realize.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
Oh dear. I’m not big on quirks.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
I always put the peanut butter on before the jelly.
If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
Oh, for sure, Daughter of the Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?
I actually don’t have one! I think everything happens for a reason, and honestly, some of my biggest heartbreaks have turned out to push me in the direction I needed to go at the time. I hate to think of what things I have now that I wouldn’t if any one little thing had worked differently.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
I’m a librarian, and it drives me BANANAS when people push the books all the way to the back of the shelf. I am constantly pulling books to the front of the shelf. All day. Every day.
You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
My kindle, solar charger, and an SPF blanket. I’d happily wait for rescue.
What was the worst job you’ve ever held?
I worked as a student web developer in college, a job that required fifteen hours a week of coding. I was also working ten hours at the library, taking a full course load, and then got mono. I asked to drop down to 5-10 hours a week while recovering, and my supervisor suggested I drop a class, because there was no shame in graduating in five years instead of four years. I quit on the spot.
Who’s your all-time favorite literary character (any genre)? Why?
Perrin Aybara from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. I read those books starting at age ten or eleven, and I always loved him. He’s gentle and thoughtful, and also strong and loyal; he’s flawed but braver than anyone around him gives him credit for.
Ocean or mountains?
Both! I grew up in the Poconos, and I love being in the mountains, but I also love being at the beach. I don’t think I could live at the beach, though - I’d definitely choose to live in the mountains and have a beach within an easy driving distance.
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
This is another both for me. I grew in a rural mountain town, and I currently live just outside Washington, DC. I LOVE being able to walk anywhere I want - my daughter’s school, restaurants, bookstores. But I also love being out in the middle of nowhere. I’d happily be either very rural or very urban - anything but in the suburbs, which tend to be neither remote nor walkable.
What’s on the horizon for you?
Another Edie and Gil mystery! Book 2 releases in Spring 2025, and I am hopeful that I’ll be writing these two characters for a little while longer.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?
I am so grateful to be writing these stories, and I really, really hope that readers have fun with them. My entire goal with writing A Deadly Endeavor was to create something that was so much fun that people would ignore their responsibilities for an afternoon while they read it. I’m so honored to get to share them with the world!
A Deadly Twenties Mystery, Book 1
Philadelphia, 1921
When Edie Shippen returns home after spending years in California recovering from Influenza, she’s shocked to discover that her childhood sweetheart is engaged to her twin sister. Heartbroken and adrift, Edie vows to begin living her life as a modern woman—and to hell with anyone who gets in her way. But as young women start to disappear from the city, her newfound independence begins to feel dangerous.
Gilbert Lawless returned home from the Great War a shell of his former self. He hides away in the office of Philadelphia’s Coroner, content to keep to himself until a gruesome series of corpses come into the morgue. And when his sister, Lizzie, goes missing, he risks his career to beg help from the one person Lizzie seemed to trust: her employer, Edie Shippen.
Fearing the worst, Edie and Gilbert desperately search for clues. It soon becomes clear that Lizzie’s disappearance is connected to the deaths rocking the City of Brotherly Love… and it’s only a matter of time until the killer strikes again.
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