Diane Kelly on Building and Rebuilding America #bookgiveaway

 HALLIE EPHRON: Today we're so happy to have Diane Kelly on the blog. She is the author of three dozen (!!!) funny mysteries featuring feisty female lead characters and their furry, four-footed sidekicks. Like many of us, she has a speckled past – her job working as a tax advisor with what turned out to be white-collar criminals drove her into self-employment, and lucky us that it did.

She’s here today to talk about the special affinity she has for old neighborhoods that wear their history well, and her latest novel, Book #6 in her House Flipper cozy mystery series, Four Alarm Homicide.

She’s giving away a copy of the book (winner’s choice of paperback, Nook, or Kindle – limited to US and Canada), choosing a lucky commenter at random, and we’ll announce the winner in tomorrow’s blog.

DIANE KELLY: I’ve always had a thing for old buildings, especially Victorian houses, brownstones, townhouses, and tenements. My ancestors ventured from Ireland to the United States during the potato famine and, though I know little about the details of their lives after they arrived in America, I have enjoyed learning about the lives of other immigrants on visits to the Tenement Museum in New York City.

If you find yourself in New York City and haven’t yet visited the Tenement Museum, I’d highly recommend it. Nothing will make you appreciate your home, no matter how humble, like seeing the tiny, dark, bare-bones rooms in which large immigrant families lived, often with only a single window to provide natural light and one communal bathroom shared with dozens of other tenants. You can find out more about the Tenement Museum at: https://www.tenement.org/

While I figured I’d learn a few things about old structures while performing research for my House Flipper series, I hadn’t anticipated learning so many fascinating details about the history of the areas and the former inhabitants. For instance, when researching Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood, which is featured in Four-Alarm Homicide, I learned that the popular neighborhood was established in 1850 and initially populated primarily by European immigrants. Most of the residents came from Germany—hence the name—though Irish, Italian, and Swiss immigrants joined in the mix.

Germantown was considered Nashville’s first suburb. Many of the residents worked as butchers, often conducting their business in their own yards and selling the meat door to door. Not all of Germantown’s residents were poor, however. Famous distiller George Dickel is one notable resident. The well-heeled built their brick townhomes right next to the modest workers’ cottages.

Although Germantown thrived for decades, when streetcars lines were established in the early 1900’s and allowed people to live conveniently farther from downtown, it became unfashionable to live in older neighborhoods so close to the city center. Large meat-packing plants replaced small butcher businesses.

When World War I broke out, news of the Germans’ atrocities in Europe led to animosity towards German immigrants. Many feared for their safety. The neighborhood fell into further decline until the 1970’s, when a group of people interested in historical preservation set their sights on the area and turned things around, rehabbing buildings that were close to being slated for demolition, including many of the beautiful townhouses.

Now, Germantown is once again a thriving community, home to all sorts of people who enjoy its walkable lifestyle and easy access to downtown Nashville.

Are there older neighborhoods where you live that were established by immigrants long ago? If so, what countries were the immigrants primarily from? Has the neighborhood maintained its culture, and have the buildings and the area’s history been preserved?

HALLIE: I love old neighborhoods that still show their history and quirky old houses (like the one I live in). Sadly, when I go back to the California town where I grew up, absolutely NOTHING is recognizable. It’s happening to downtown Boston. So Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are characters I root for.

Four-Alarm Homicide: Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are hot for a historical property that just came on the market – a fire station in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood that was built a century ago. What’s more, once the station is rehabbed, it would be the perfect place for Whitney and her fiancé, homicide detective Collin Flynn, to exchange vows and host their wedding reception.

The cousins have just begun demolition work when Joanna Hartzell comes by with a plea for help. Joanna owns the right half of a townhouse, which she maintains in perfect condition. The couple who lived in the left half passed away, leaving their property to their seven adult children, none of whom will lift a finger to maintain the place. Joanna asks Whitney and Buck to step in and work their remodeling magic—assuming they can convince the heirs to sell. When Joanna later shows up at the fire station confused and rambling, then collapses, Whitney summons medical help.

Nothing can be done for the poor woman, who dies in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Alarm bells go off for Whitney. She suspects something sinister is afoot. Can she and Collin put the clues together and catch a killer when all of the suspects seem to be blowing smoke?

Diane Kelly writes cozy mystery series, including the Death & Taxes white-collar crime series, the Paw Enforcement K-9 series, the House Flipper cozy mystery series, the Busted female motorcycle cop series, the Southern Homebrew moonshine series, and the Mountain Lodge Mysteries series. When not writing, Diane enjoys playing with her pets and hiking in the woods in her home state of North Carolina. Find Diane online at www.DianeKelly.com, at her Author Diane Kelly page on Facebook, or at @DianeKellyBooks on Instagram, Twitter/X, Pinterest, and TikTok.