Joyce St. Anthony is the pseudonym for Joyce Tremel. Joyce is the author of the Homefront News Mysteries, of which Front Page Murder is the first book in the series. Under her own name, she wrote the award-winning Brewing Trouble cozy mystery series.
Stepping back in time
“I’ve always loved the WWII era,” Joyce said. “I grew up listening to my mother’s Big Band records. Pre-Covid, my husband I used to go to the WWII weekend in Gettysburg at the Eisenhower Farm. The highlight of the weekend was the USO dance. It was like we stepped back in time. I knew that someday I wanted to write something set during the 40s and I finally just decided to do it.”
As the story evolved, Joyce realized she was also writing a timely current-day issue. “I seem to have a thing for writing about women working in traditional men’s roles. Irene is in charge of her father’s newspaper since he’s now a war correspondent in the Pacific Theater during WWII. At the beginning of the book, the men who work at the paper don’t think she’s up to the task. She proves them wrong, of course. I also highlighted the important role of women taking up the slack in the factories, since many of the men are off to war. I hadn’t thought about it until I was almost finished writing Front Page Murder, but my Brewing Trouble series featured a woman working as a brewer—a field dominated by men.”
Looking back, enlightening experience
Joyce’s research involved looking through historical records. As part of that research, she looked into how many ships U-boats sank off the coast. What she discovered was a surprise. “I had no idea there were so many. I was also surprised that although most citizens banded together during the war, there were many who didn’t. The black market flourished because there were people who didn’t want to be subjected to rationing. There was also a lot of anti-Semitism and pro-Nazi sentiment in this country even back then. The parallel to today is stunning.”
Fortunately, not all research is so dry. True, most of it involves online searches, but every once in a while, something fun comes along. “The research for my Brewing Trouble series was a lot of fun. I spent a lot of time in breweries talking to brewers and sampling beer. I even got to help keg beer one day. Brewers are some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.”
Learn more about Joyce St. Anthony at http://www.joycetremel.com. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.
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Sounds very good.