STEPPING BACK INTO THE 1950'S WITH AUTHOR JANET DAWSON

Janet Dawson has published three books in the California Zephyr historical mystery series featuring Zephyrette Jill McLeod. She has also written twelve books in her Jeri Howard series featuring the Oakland PI, a suspense novel, and many short stories. Learn more about Janet and her books at her website. 

The California Zephyr historical mystery series comprises three books—Death Rides the Zephyr, Death Deals a Hand, and the just-released The Ghost in Roomette Four. The first book takes place in December 1952, the others in April and July of 1953.

As Kirkus says in its review of The Ghost in Roomette Four, the book is “a nostalgic, wonderfully detailed look at an era when trains were still a major mode of transportation and life.”

The old California Zephyr ran from 1949 to 1970, a 21-year run. During World War II, the movement of troops and supplies took precedence over civilian travel. The years immediately following the war were a heyday for the streamliners, as the sleek passenger trains were called. Postwar prosperity meant that people could go places. Trains were very popular, giving people the opportunity to travel in comfort and see the country.

The train era didn’t last, though. Passenger rail fell victim to the increase in air travel and rapidly booming automobile ownership. People were seeing the USA in their Chevrolets, not from the Vista-Dome of the California Zephyr.

In Death Rides the Zephyr, readers learn that my protagonist, Jill McLeod, became a Zephyrette after the death of her fiancé, who died in the Korean War, which began in 1950 and ended in the summer of 1953. A number of plot points in all three of the CZ books hark back to the past—Prohibition and the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, and World War II, which dominated the first half of the 1940s. These events are recent history for my characters and find their way into the plots.

What are some of the difficulties of writing about the early Fifties? I must admit, I was alive then, but much younger and I can’t remember that much. This is where the Internet comes in handy. While writing the most recent book, I found myself on Google doing a search to find out when dishwashers first came into common usage. I was surprised to learn it was the Thirties. Jill lives at home with her parents when she’s not riding the rails and I had a scene where she and her sister are cleaning up after dinner. Would the McLeods have a dishwasher? Indeed, they would.

Another way of conveying the times are through fashions, whether hairstyles or clothes. I wound up buying a book titled EverydayFashions of the Fifties as Pictured in Sears Catalogs, which proved invaluable as I wrote about the clothing worn by Jill and the other characters. There are also plenty of websites dedicated to clothing of the era.

As for hairstyles, for the Fifties it was the poodle cut, like the short stylish hairdo worn by Lucille Ball, and the Italian cut—think Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.

Speaking of movies, film and music are another way I bring the flavor of the Fifties into the CZ books. The Ghost in Roomette Four takes place in July 1953, when Gentlemen Prefer Blondes had just been released. Jill and her friend Mike are making plans to see the movie, which features a memorable scene of Marilyn Monroe performing“Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

And cars! The snazzy red Dodge Coronet convertible driven by Jill’s friend Tidsy in the latest book is another symbol of the era.

Writing about the Fifties has been a lot of fun and I hope readers enjoy the California Zephyr books and their excursions into the not-so-distant past.

The Ghost in Roomette Four

Zephyrette Jill McLeod is returning to her quarters on the California Zephyr. Suddenly she sees a shimmering light outside what she knows to be an empty roomette. When she goes inside to check, she feels a chill and hears strange sounds. Jill tells herself she doesn’t believe in ghosts, but she can’t explain what she saw. Two months earlier, she found a man’s body in this very same roomette. Was the death murder? Jill is starting to wonder if there really is a ghost traveling in roomette four.

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#TRAVEL THE CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR WITH GUEST AUTHOR JANET DAWSON

Janet  Dawson has written two novels featuring Zephyrette Jill McLeod – Death Rides the Zephyr and the latest, Death Deals a Hand. She is also the author of twelve novels with Oakland PI Jeri Howard, most recently Cold Trail, a standalone suspense novel, What You Wish For, and numerous short stories. Learn more about Janet and her books at her website. 

Meet the Zephyrette

I’ve written two books in my historical mystery series featuring Jill McLeod, who is a Zephyrette.

I can see the puzzled look on your face. What’s a Zephyrette?

A Zephyrette is a train hostess, something like an airline stewardess, or flight attendant, as we call them now.

Many of the luxurious streamliner trains of the post-World War II era had such attendants, but only aboard the train called the California Zephyr were these young women called Zephyrettes.

The California Zephyr was jointly operated by three railroads, from 1949 to 1970. The trains ran daily between San Francisco and Chicago, through spectacular scenery in the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. The journey took two and a half days, and the Zephyrette was onboard for the whole trip.

My books are set in December 1952 and April 1953. Dwight Eisenhower had just been elected president. The Korean War was still raging. It had been less than eight years since the end of World War II. Rock ’n roll was in its early days. It’s the heyday of train travel, before everyone had one or two cars and the interstate highway system was built. Air travel wasn’t as common.

Jill, the protagonist of Death Rides the Zephyr and Death Deals a Hand, is the only female member of the crew. Her job is to keep an eye on things during the journey, make announcements, and cater to the passengers’ needs, keeping them comfortable and happy. She walks through the train every few hours and observes what’s going on aboard the train, alert to any potential problems, ready to provide solutions.

Who would be better placed to do some amateur sleuthing? In the course of two books, Jill has done her share, wielding those problem-solving skills.

Want to send a telegram from the Western Union office at the next station? The Zephyrette would take care of that. Reservations in the dining car? Check. Apply first aid to that scrape on your kid’s knee after he takes a tumble off his seat? Check.

Want to find out who killed the passenger, and why? Jill does that, too.

How did someone like Jill become a Zephyrette? She was required to have a college degree or nurse’s training, have a good character and be unmarried. Jill is all of these. She’s a graduate of the University of California. She was planning to get married but those plans were derailed. She didn’t want to teach or work in her father’s office. Riding the rails on the California Zephyr looked like a good plan for Jill, until she decides what to do with the rest of her life.

Writing the books was great fun and involved roaming around on historic trains as well as taking the Amtrak version of the California Zephyr, which has a different route through California but the same route between Winnemucca, Nevada on to Chicago.

I can read about Ruby Canyon in Western Colorado, but there’s no substitute for seeing it from the train, with the setting sun turning the cliffs red. It’s wonderful to wind through Gore Canyon deep in the Colorado Rockies, with the nearly frozen Colorado River just below the tracks.

There’s also no substitute for primary sources, in this case two former Zephyrettes living in my vicinity. One of these ladies worked on the trains in the late sixties, the other in the early 1950s, the time period I was writing about. One evening I met these two ladies and sat with them as they talked over old times and memories of their travels aboard the California Zephyr. The material I got was invaluable, and I hope it rings true in the books.

So meet Jill McLeod, the Zephyrette. All aboard for adventure!

Death Deals a Hand

Zephyrette Jill McLeod is back on the rails, aboard the fabled train called the California Zephyr. Heading west from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area, Jill looks forward to reuniting with family members and the new man in her life. She’s learned to expect and deal with just about anything on the train, from troublesome passengers to long-lost relatives to high-stakes poker games. But the stakes just got even higher: Death has a seat at the table.

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