DEBORAH CROMBIE: How perfect is it that we have a new book from Jess Montgomery right smack dab in the middle of Women's History Month? You certainly had to be a strong woman to be a sheriff in Ohio in 1925, like Jess's character Lily Ross. And I absolutely love the connections she's made in her new book, THE STILLS, to a real-life powerful woman.
Here's Jess to tell you more! (And what a stunning cover!)
JESS MONTGOMERY: Since I’ve been writing the Kinship Historical Mysteries, I’ve received many comments that they feature strong women. Hurrah! I love to write, and read, about strong women.
The heart of the series is Lily Ross, the sheriff of Bronwyn County in 1925, in the Appalachian region of Ohio. Lily is inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff, Maude Collins.
In THE STILLS, the third outing set in 1927, Prohibition comes to the forefront of the story, with Lily's nemesis--bootlegger George Vogel--setting up a dangerous, deadly operation right in Bronwyn County. Lily's co-narrator for this novel is Fiona--George's new wife, and a former member of the Kinship community. Though Lily and Fiona have very different means, and thus on the surface are complete opposites, they desire the same end: control over their own lives.
Into this volatile showdown, I couldn’t help but include another real-life woman: U.S. Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt, the highest-ranking woman in federal government in her day. And she wasn’t an obscure figure. Partly because of her unusual role as a woman (Mabel was the second woman to receive an appointment to Assistant Attorney General, but the first served only a few months, and Mabel served from 1921 to 1929), and partly because she spoke frequently and made the news often, Mabel was very well known across the country.
Her job was to ensure that the laws of the Volstead act, set up to give teeth to Prohibition, were enforced. That included, in part, overseeing the newly formed Bureau of Prohibition. (Previously, a Prohibition Unit fell under the Bureau of Internal Revenue, but in 1927, the unit was elevated into its own bureau.)
Though Mabel personally opposed Prohibition, she did believe in the rule of law, and that it should be enforced for everyone. Her virtuous view didn’t win her a lot of friends—in spite of some spectacular successes in taking down bootleggers and crime bosses—even among those who supposedly, as far as the public was concerned, supported the law. She was given some fairly harsh nicknames at the time—Prohibition Portia and Mrs. Firebrand among them. (The latter was particularly unkind, given that she was divorced—another unusual act for a woman back then.)
Because the Anti-Saloon League was headquartered in Westerville, Ohio (where there is now a museum for the league), which is not too far northeast of where Lily lives and works, it occurred to me that it would be viable for Mabel to have a speaking tour that would include Kinship. And since Lily is working with a Bureau agent in her confrontation with George Vogel (and in real life, Mabel came into conflict with George Remus), I delighted in bringing them together for a brief meeting.
Even at the start of THE STILLS, Lily is nervous about meeting Mabel. And yet, though Lily also believes in the rule of law, she is uncomfortable with how the particular laws of Prohibition are carried out:
“Lily thinks of a quote from Wayne Wheeler, an advocate from the Anti-Saloon League, headquartered just northeast of here near Columbus, Ohio’s state capitol. He’d said, The government is under no obligation to furnish the people with alcohol that is drinkable when the Constitution prohibits it. The person who drinks this industrial alcohol is a deliberate suicide. . . .
The quote, reported far and wide and in her local newspaper just last month, had so horrified Lily that it stuck with her, word for word. It could only be deliberate if the drinker was fully informed. She finds the law requiring deadly methanol to be added to industrial alcohol to
be reprehensible, no matter the twisted logic defending it. Maybe, when she meets Mabel Walker Willebrandt, she’ll ask how a government that’s supposed to help and educate people could do such a thing.”
Does Lily confront Mabel with such a question? Well, you’ll have to read THE STILLS to find out!
In the meantime, it’s clear that Lily, Mabel, and even Fiona, are all strong women in their own, unique ways.
One reason I like to write about strong women (and strive to be one, myself) is because of the role models of strong women in my family I still look back on: My Aunts Opal and May, my Grandmother Lou, to name a few. And there are celebrities who I admire as strong women—Dolly Parton immediately comes to mind.
How about you? Do you think of strong women from your family, your community or even history or popular culture when you need a dose of encouragement and strength?
Leave a comment, and one Jungle Red reader’s name will be drawn at random to receive a copy of THE STILLS.
Jess Montgomery is the author of the Kinship Historical Mystery Series published by Minotaur Books. The Stills is the most recent title in the series, inspired by Ohio's true first female sheriff in 1925. Set in the Appalachian region, the series draws on themes of workers' rights and women's roles, and has garnered several awards, including the Ohioana Book Awards Readers' Choice in Fiction for 2020. She is also the Level Up Your Writing (Life) columnist for Writer's Digest Magazine, and the Literary Life columnist for the Dayton Daily News.
There's more about THE STILLS here.
