The Female Protagonist
I was an early reader who spent most of her summers consuming the ten-book allotment per week that our local library allowed. It was a glorious time for my nine-year-old self since my mother let me walk to the local library alone and pick out anything that caught my eye. Problems arose when my choices were ambitious and the trip back home taxed my strength and creativity—some days I arrived with five heavy books balanced on each hip or the entire load cocooned in my t-shirt. I’m not sure of the actual distance but in my memory, that Binghamton N.Y. library was at least a mile from my house!
What did I read? The first series I glommed onto was Trixie Belden, not bothering to go through the books in order because they were so popular it sometimes took weeks to find one I hadn’t read. The allure of Trixie and her BFF Honey Wheeler solving crimes that legal authorities and other adults could not was never-ending, but when we moved from Binghamton before seventh grade, Nancy Drew became a logical next step.
Nancy brought a new perspective to crime fiction: Who knew what I might be capable of if my father was a wealthy lawyer willing to leave me on my own for extended periods so I could really immerse myself in cold cases and mysteries that adults couldn’t crack? The bright, sophisticated amateur sleuth who tackled international crime was an early role model, even if I lacked any of the courage and savvy Nancy seemed born with.
By eighth grade I had migrated to gothic romances, perhaps because of the television soap opera Dark Shadows that I sprinted home to watch after school or perhaps because I discovered the author Victoria Holt/Phillipa Carr/Eleanor Alice Beauford and her cast of smart and confident heroines who found themselves employed in an isolated castle as a governess or another lowly capacity with an eligible and handsome but arrogant employer.
By eighth grade I had migrated to gothic romances, perhaps because of the television soap opera Dark Shadows that I sprinted home to watch after school or perhaps because I discovered the author Victoria Holt/Phillipa Carr/Eleanor Alice Beauford and her cast of smart and confident heroines who found themselves employed in an isolated castle as a governess or another lowly capacity with an eligible and handsome but arrogant employer.
During this time, my beloved English teacher encouraged me to submit a poem I wrote about a harried mother at Christmas; when it was published my self-esteem soared. I even had the hubris to tackle a book of my own, although my knowledge of mysteries or romance was purely vicarious.
Throughout my high school years, I was sure writing was meant to be my career even if my father disagreed. Steered toward a degree in nursing that would provide me with a stable income and/or a doctor husband, my mind stayed full of female characters with stories that got expressed as poems, short stories, and potential novels. In the years that followed, I continued to write fiction and non-fiction about women, including Murder at University Park, birthed during my early years as a professor. It came and went from my hard-drive many times over the next decades with so many revisions it’s doubtful a reader would recognize the original draft.
I hope you enjoy getting to know Lacey Redd, the protagonist of my first murder mystery in a planned series on the dark side of academe. And along the way there are a few other fabulous females I’ve created and hope to introduce you to.
Happy reading!