Michelle Cox
author of the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series
Michelle Cox is the author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series as well as Novel Notes of Local Lore, a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago’s forgotten residents. She suspects she may have once lived in the 1930s and, having yet to discover a handy time machine lying around, has resorted to writing about the era as a way of getting herself back there. (Her books have been praised by Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and many others, so she might be on to something.) Unbeknownst to most, Cox hoards board games she doesn’t have time to play and is, not surprisingly, addicted to period dramas and big band music. Also, marmalade.
Me: Describe the premise of the Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series.
Michelle: The Henrietta and Inspector Howard series is basically about a very poor young woman who happens to meet and fall in love with a Chicago detective, Clive Howard, when her boss at a dance club turns up murdered. Unbeknownst to Henrietta, however, Clive is actually from a very wealthy family, which creates all sorts of unforeseen issues for both of them as their rocky relationship progresses.
It is definitely advisable to read in order! The series is meant to be a progressive one, with character arcs and subplots continuing as the series goes along, but they could be read as stand-alone’s in a pinch.
Me: What inspired you to write the series?
Michelle: Henrietta is based on a real-life woman I met while working in a nursing home in Chicago, so many of the details in Book 1 (A Girl Like You) are actually true. This woman used to follow me around and tell me that “once upon a time, I had a man-stopping body—AND as personality to go with it!” which made me laugh every time. I mean, how can you not create a novel from that?
Me: How does your book compare to other books readers might know?
Michelle: The Henrietta and Inspector Howard series is “Downton Abbey meets Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.”
The series is very much a historical fiction series with strong mystery and romance elements. While each book does have a sort of light mystery that wraps up at the end, they are really about the relationships between characters and the have’s and have-not’s of depression-era Chicago. Add in Clive’s aristocratic relations and he and Henrietta’s subsequent trip to Lindley Castle in England in Book 3 (A Promise Given), and, well, you get the picture…
Me: What does your writing process normally look like? Has the coronavirus affected that? If so, how?
Michelle: The coronavirus hasn’t affected my routine all that much, except that I now have a hubby and three angsty teens underfoot. I still spend about 8-10 hours in front of a computer every day. I get up early and write/edit whatever manuscript I happen to be working on at the moment for about an hour or two, and then I spend the next seven or eight hours on marketing and PR.
Me: What are your future writing plans?
Michelle: I’m currently working on two stand-alone’s, not related to the series at all, but again set in Chicago in the 1930s. Both are loosely based on true stories, as well. My goal is to traditionally publish one or both. After that, I’d love to return to Clive and Henrietta, though I’m not sure what that publishing process for a Book 6 will look like exactly.
Want to get started reading the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series? Click Here.
Check out these book recommendations, Mad for Mysteries, and this interview with mystery writer Heather Weidner.