Please join me today in welcoming Jeanette Watts, one of the authors of Crime & Culpability, to the blog to talk about her contribution to the anthology & the role of clothing in writing historical fiction.
CRIME & CULPABILITY: A Jane Austen Mystery Anthology
AUTHORS: Regina Jeffers, Riana Everly, Jeanette Watts, Michael Rands, Linne Elizabeth, Emma Dalgety, and Elizabeth Gilliland
GENRE: Mystery Short Story Anthology / Jane Austen (Clean)
PUBLISHER: Bayou Wolf Press
RELEASE DATE: September 10, 2024
PAGES: 176
“No one can withstand the charm of such a mystery.” – Jane Austen, Persuasion
Jane Austen mysteries have become a popular subgenre of Austen variations, but this is more than just a trend. Austen was a masterful storyteller who embedded clues within her stories for her readers to follow, inviting readers to read between the lines and “gather the evidence” to follow her intricate plotlines.
In this anthology, various authors who are also fans and admirers of Austen’s work have taken the challenge to add some mystery to Austen’s stories and characters. From Regency sequels to film noir retellings to cozy art heists, Crime and Culpability: A Jane Austen Mystery Anthology explores the many faces of Austen and all of her enigmas.
Featuring stories by Regina Jeffers, Riana Everly, Jeanette Watts, Michael Rands, Linne Elizabeth, Emma Dalgety, and Elizabeth Gilliland, with a foreword by Regina Jeffers and an introduction by Elizabeth Gilliland Rands.
affiliate links used
Note: I have not read this collection so I cannot speak to its content.
The Role of Clothing in Writing Historical Fiction
by Jeanette Watts, co-author of Crime & Culpability
I think part of why I prefer writing historical fiction to any other genre is I love the challenge of making the past feel immediate.
People go to battlefields and history museums to connect with the past. We all want to know: what did it feel like? What did it smell like? What did it taste like?
Elements from the past provide clues. Have you ever read an old recipe? Um, there aren’t much in the way of measurements. That hurts my brain. I’m not that much of a cook. I’m just literate. I teach historical dancing, and I know WHY all the stories in period newspapers from the second half of the 1800s refer to it as “the MAZY waltz.” When you’re in the middle of the ballroom doing a waltz, and the floor is crowded and every couple on the floor is moving a little bit differently, it really is a bit like being in a maze.
And then… there’s the clothing!
I am a historical costume enthusiast. My personal collection has outfits from the 1400s through the 1960s. I just finished a men’s Elizabethan Renaissance costume for an actor at the Carolina Renaissance Festival – you can see videos on the construction on my YouTube channel, “History is My Playground.” I always have several projects on my sewing table, and several costume events on my upcoming calendar.
Wearing the clothing of times past gives a very special insight into what it felt like to live “back then.” How do you climb the stairs while wearing skirts that are dragging on the ground? How do you sit in a hoopskirt? (I have a video about that.) How do you tie your shoes while wearing a corset? (I have a video on that, too.) While it is a little bit silly driving a stick shift car with 1840s crinolines on, and old styles don’t always mix with modern conveniences, there is an intimacy with our forebears that comes from the shared experience of dancing in a ballgown when the back of your train finishes turning 6 seconds after the rest of you. Or from going to the bathroom in split bloomers.
What we wear is part of who we are, in both our choices (witness the emphasis on color in the Bridgerton series) and our settling for what’s available. I may WANT high button shoes with a sensible heel, but places like American Duchess are the only place I could GET such things… and I don’t have a duchess’ salary. (Does a duchess get a salary these days?) This is true for all times. Think of the Bennet sisters shopping in Meryton: they are working with whatever the Meryton shops are able to get. That probably doesn’t include French silks.
My life as a costumer heavily informs my ability as a writer to talk about what it felt like to wear bustle dresses, or bonnets, or high-waisted Regency dresses. You’ll notice in Jane Austen’s novels, she doesn’t talk much about clothing. She doesn’t need to. She is a contemporary writer, writing for a contemporary audience. Her readers know what it feels like to dance in a floaty, light gown, with your curls bouncing against the nape of your neck. But, when I wrote My Dearest Miss Fairfax, I made sure to fill in some of those details that Jane was able to take for granted.
When I got the invitation to contribute to Crime and Culpability, believe it or not, the clothing was part of my decision to write about Northanger Abbey’s dark past. I needed an era that I understand well. As a Renaissance Festival actress, as a woman with several Henrician dresses who knows how complicated it is to do anything while wearing those sleeves that drape all the way down to your knees, and of course as someone who knows the history of Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries, it gave me a way to understand my heroine from the first moment I put my fingers on the keyboard, and started Margery’s story.
If you want to know what her story is, well, you’re just going to have to get a copy of Crime and Culpability….
Elizabeth Gilliland is the author of the Austen University Mysteries series, including What Happened on Box Hill, The Portraits of Pemberley, and two prequel novellas, Dear Prudent Elinor and Sly Jane Fairfax. (Look out for book three sometime next year!) She has written and presented at various academic conferences on Jane Austen and wrote her dissertation on Jane Austen adaptations, dedicating herself to watch the lake dive scene as many times as necessary for scholarly pursuit. She also writes Gothic horror as E. Gilliland and romance as Lissa Sharpe, and she is the co-founder of Bayou Wolf Press.
Regina Jeffers writes books about corsets, rakes, daring heroines, dashing heroes and all aspects of the Georgian/Regency era. She is an award winning author of cozy mysteries, historical romantic suspense, and Austenesque vagaries. Jeffers has been a Smithsonian presenter and Martha Holden Jennings Scholar, as well as having her tales honored by, among others, the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, the Frank Yerby Award for Fiction, the International Digital Awards, and the Chanticleer International Book Award. Connect with Regina at her website.
Riana Everly is an award-winning Canadian author of Austenesque fiction, both Regency and contemporary. Her historical mystery series, Miss Mary Investigates, has quickly become a favourite of Jane Austen fans and cosy mystery fans alike. Trained as a classical musician, she also has advanced degrees in Medieval Studies, and pretended to be an academic before discovering that fiction doesn’t need footnotes. She loves travelling, cooking her way around the world, playing with photography, and discussing obscure details with her husband and children. Possibly in Latin. She can be found in the usual places and loves connecting with readers, so please give her a shout!
Jeanette Watts is a dance instructor, writer, seamstress, actress, and very, very poor housekeeper. With books on historical fiction, modern romantic comedy, LGBTQ romance, Jane Austen-inspired stories, and she is contemplating writing steamier works, what do all these genres have in common? Jeanette writes about people with a secret. Secrets are fun. Keep up with the various parts of Jeanette’s brain at her YouTube Channel, “History is My Playground,” and her webpages, jeanettewatts.squarespace.com and DancingThruHistory.com.
Michael Rands is the author of the novels The Chapel St. Perilous and Praise Routine Number Four, co-author of the economic satire The Yamaguchi Manuscripts, and Kamikaze Economics (a story of modern Japan). He’s co-author of the humorous dictionary Stay Away from Mthatha. He co-created the audio drama The Crystal Set and co-hosted the podcast Detours Ahead. In South Africa he worked in television as a writer, director and producer. He taught English in Japan. He holds an MFA from Louisiana State University, and currently teaches English and Creative Writing at the college level. He is the co-founder of Bayou Wolf Press. He lives with his wife, son, and labrador, in Alabama. His new novel, When the Witch Calls, comes out in November 2024.
Linné Elizabeth is an English instructor at Utah Tech University, a freelance content writer, and an award-winning author. When she’s not devouring chocolate while nose-deep in a book, you can find her playing in the russet desert of southern Utah with her four incredible – sometimes feral – kids and her handsome husband. Check her out on Instagram: @library4one or on Facebook: @linneelizabeth
Emma Dalgety grew up in Mobile, Alabama. She received a BA in Music and English from the University of Mobile in 2023. As a musician and a writer, she has performed violin across the Southeast and internationally, finding creative inspiration and filling notebooks with story fragments throughout her travels. When she isn’t writing, she is researching interdisciplinary connections in literature as she works towards an MA in English, or teaching music lessons in her private studio.
This giveaway is hosted by Great Escapes, not RimSP
Follow along with the tour by clicking the banner below
What about you? What makes you want to read Crime & Culpability by Jeanette Watts and the other six authors?
