On
occasion a reader will insist that the main premise of this story is not
credible (a young woman chooses to dress in men’s clothes and declare herself
to be a young man). Their reasoning being that surely people would realize she
was a woman.
Evidently,
Victorians were not terribly observant people, for in real life, quite a few
women dressed and pretended to be men. Not surprising, given how limited life
was for Victorian women.
Here
is a very fine example: Margaret Bulkley took her uncle’s name: James Barry and
dressed as a man so she could attend medical school and become a doctor:
She
not only became a doctor, but she also became the highest ranked doctor in the British army.
She was also the first doctor to perform a successful Cesarean in which both
mother and child lived.
It was not until she died, that the charwoman hired to
clean Barry for burial discovered ‘she’ was not a man, but a woman. Barry’s
regular doctor suggested he was a hermaphrodite. The charwoman strongly
disagreed, pointing out the evidence (stretch marks) that Margaret/James had
born a child. (Given Margaret’s age at the time, it was more likely from sexual
assault than consensual. Historians now believe the child was raised as her
younger ‘sister’ with only her older siblings and, of course, her mother knowing
the truth.
When
the charwoman took her story to the press, all information about Margaret/James
Barry was quickly sealed with plans to keep it so for a hundred years. A
researcher gained access to the documents in 1950.
As
for my character, Vic, I chose a model for my cover that visually could pass
for either sex.
I
attributed her with a low voice and provided her with chest compressor so she
doesn’t appear to have breast. She even
pins a filled sock to her pants’ crotch.
Also,
Vic is tall for a woman with a boyish lanky body. In fact, her hips refused to
spread during the birth of their child, Cannon. (Xavier & Vic secretly
marry in book 4.) Dr. Connors had to perform a Cesarean to save both her and
her baby’s life. Fortunately, he had read up on Dr. Barry’s Cesarean and knew
what to do.
So,
my premise is not only reasonable, but has been proven so by Margaret/James’
real-life, not to mention a great many wives who chose to dress as men and go
to war with their husbands. (That’s a documented fact as well.)
Determining
whom to trust is getting very hard, indeed. This may be the most trying cases
imaginable. Director Stone has gone missing and it appears Ministers of
Parliament are involved. Xavier is arrested and placed in a jail meant to kill
him, while Vic, disguised as a woman, attempts to locate the Minister of
External Affairs and ask for his help.
Everyone
is called in to assist: Jacko, his wife Alice, their son Pete, Samson the Crime
Lord, David and Claire, Tubs and his wife Sara, the boys: Cannon and Ham, plus
the bloodhound Arroo.
The
Wasp, who escaped punishment for her attempts to murder her bigamist husband’s
first wife last year, is back. Vic discovers love letters between Ben, their
terrible male secretary, and the Wasp. Worse yet, he shared Xavier’s financial
advice with the Wasp, making her and her husband very wealthy.
With
Stone missing, and Barns and Meyers stretched to their limits, Vic decides it’s
time to train more of the Scotland Yard officers in intuitive and deductive
reasoning. While only half the class makes it through her two-day course,
everyone is pleased with her results.
Finally, be warned: Vic’s
sister, Claire, is becoming more difficult than ever. Gregory thinks she is
going mad.
Two in the morning, Vic
and Xavier were surreptitiously following a drunken spy. Not an easy task,
given Xavier had not been allowed to have Davy, his carriage driver, accompany
them. This meant he and Vic had to take turns following the young man while the
other one drove the carriage up side roads to keep pace with the drunken fool. Even
a fool, deep in his cups, would catch on that something was afoot if the same
carriage either lurked behind him or constantly passed him and then pulled to
the side of the road.
Finally, the boy stopped and stared at a warehouse by
the docks. Before the young man could enter, a young girl stepped out of the
shadows. Had Barringbarn sent him on a fool’s errand? Was the boy only looking
for female company?
Then Xavier heard what sounded like a muted explosion
and the young man collapsed to the ground.
Xavier pulled his gun and looked around for trouble,
but the dock appeared empty. Even the young girl had run off when she heard the
gunshot. Women in the docks would risk their lives for a coin, but otherwise, they
looked out for themselves.
Just then Vic pulled up with the carriage and jumped
down. “Why did you shoot him?”
“I didn’t,” Xavier snapped, “I’m not sure what
happened. There was a young woman who stepped out of the darkness, blonde, I
think, but I couldn’t tell you more. An odd explosion came from somewhere close
to her location, then the boy collapsed. Any chance you saw where the girl
went.”
Vic snorted. “Dock women know to run when trouble
starts. I didn’t even see her, so there’s no way we’ll catch her. Let’s just
grab the body and drop it off at the Minster’s house. The man’s so stupid, he
will probably bellow at the corpse for an hour before he even realizes the fellow
is dead.”
“No, he’ll, no doubt, demand I find the girl.” Xavier
sighed heavily. This was supposed to be a simple grab and interrogate. In fact,
they were not even the ones who were supposed to interrogate. The minister of
Internal Affairs made it very clear they were to gag the fellow and bring him
directly to his house.
Book 8
Toxic Diamonds
or
Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats, left
the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast.
There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic
husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then
one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell
in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad
behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous books. Please buy these
books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels
instead. They will likely traumatize you.
You have been warned.
The
Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)
The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England
hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.
The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian
England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100
servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.
A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want
to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from
Bedlam?
The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for
her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.
Well Kept Secrets — The problems with secrets is that they always come to
light, no matter how you wish to silence them.
Pack of Trouble — Changes are a part of life, but these changes almost kill
Vic.
The
Darkest Days — Muddled cases make Vic very grumpy.
The CrimeLords’ War — Vic
is almost killed twice as she tries to prevent a CrimeLords’ War, stop a female
Russian spy, and locate Xavier.
Toxic Diamonds — The Queen’s Diamonds have been
stolen, Director Stone of Scotland Yard is missing, and there is a toxic gas
that may kill hundreds of Londoners.
A Despicable Crime — Just when you think Crime Lords cannot behave worse, they step up
their game, and I’m sorry to report that Xavier’s father caused this debacle.
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