I've finished tweaking the manuscript for my new historical mystery novel, and I will say that I'm happy with the result. Historical novels involve a lot of research, especially when one is set in a real town, but I think they're worth the extra work due to the interest in earlier times. In this case, the setting is Kentville, Nova Scotia in 1927, when Prohibition was in force in the province. I was inspired to set the novel in Kentville after reading that there were 14 drinking establishments in Kentville during Prohibition, thereby earning it the nickname "the Devil's Half Acre." Kentville was a bustling retail and manufacturing centre for the Annapolis Valley in those days, particularly because it was the operational headquarters for the Dominion Atlantic Railway, which linked the province from Yarmouth to Halifax. The Provincial Sanatorium, which cared for Nova Scotia's tuberculosis patients, was also located there, as was an agricultural experimentation station funded by the federal government.
The heroine of my story is a young jazz-age flapper who moves from the high life in Toronto to a much quieter life in Kentville. However, with speakeasies, bootleggers, haute couture fashion, and a missing woman case surrounding her, the ever-resourceful Eveline Gruen soon finds plenty of excitement!
One of my resources was Canada's "Mayfair" magazine from 1927. Here's a picture of the cover from October of that year as an example.
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