In 1910 Toronto, while other bachelor girls perfect their domestic skills and find husbands, two friends perfect their sleuthing skills and find a murderer.

Inspired by their fascination with all things Sherlock Holmes, best friends and flatmates Merinda and Jem launch a consulting detective business. The deaths of young Irish women lead Merinda and Jem deeper into the mire of the city’s underbelly, where the high hopes of those dreaming to make a new life in Canada are met with prejudice and squalor.

While searching for answers, donning disguises, and sneaking around where no proper ladies would ever go, they pair with Jasper Forth, a police constable, and Ray DeLuca, a reporter in whom Jem takes a more than professional interest. Merinda could well be Toronto’s premiere consulting detective, and Jem may just find a way to put her bachelor girlhood behind her forever–if they can stay alive long enough to do so.

Rachel, tell us about your research into Toronto in 1910.

Perhaps my favourite part about writing the Herringford and Watts series was the opportunity to fall in love with Toronto in a new way. When I was a kid living in small-town Orillia, Ontario, I lived for trips to the city with my family. I loved the way that the skyscrapers winked down at me at night and I loved the fact that there was always something going on. It didn’t shut down and sleep. There were always people moving, the subway whirring, the street – cars rumbling and music from buskers on street corners. I knew someday I wanted to be a part of it all.

When I moved to Toronto to study at University, I fell more deeply in love. One night, Maureen Jennings (one of my favourite mystery writers) gave a talk on Detective William Murdoch’s Toronto at the lovely old Enoch Turner Schoolhouse in the Corktown neighbourhood. Was I ever excited to be in the same room as one of my favourite authors and to get a book signed! Murdoch’s fictional Victorian investigations came alive with the pictures she brought showing early forensic deduction, workhouses and the poor conditions afforded immigrants, women and children of lesser means. While I definitely harboured a passion for Toronto history prior to that evening, it changed the way I looked at the city. While the Murdoch mystery books always had me excitedly recognizing neighbourhoods familiar to me in their Victorian counterpart, I now went out of my way to read more historical plaques and stop and stare more at each building.

When I decided to write the Herringford and Watts series, my first inclination was to explore Victorian Toronto — keeping in the theme of the Sherlockian influence. By this time, however, William Murdoch had made quite the name for himself world-wide thanks to a popular miniseries and then a popular television show. In America, his adventures are called The Artful Detective. Victorian Toronto already had a wonderful detective and his stories. So, I tipped my bowler at his influence and set to researching the Edwardian period instead. What I found therein was a goldmine of progress and change—especially for women and immigrants.

I count myself so fortunate to be able to write about the city in which I live and work. I often joke that Toronto is the one true love of my life. I hope you get a chance to visit someday.

Complete list of William Murdoch books: https://www.goodreads.com/series/43586-detective-murdoch

Sounds like a great read! Maybe a few of us will make it there one of these days.

Rachel McMillan is a keen history enthusiast and a lifelong bibliophile. When not writing or reading, she can most often be found drinking tea and watching British miniseries. Rachel lives in bustling Toronto, where she works in educational publishing and pursues her passion for art, literature, music, and theater.

www.a-fair-substitute-for-heaven.blogspot.com

Rachel has been gracious enough to offer to give away a copy of the book. Follow the directions below to enter.

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Thanks so much for joining us, Rachel!