FedoraAMISBooks

Jack the Ripper in St. Louis, St. Louis best seller

Fedora Amis won Mayhaven's Award for Fiction for this humorous Victorian whodunit set in 1897 St. Louis. A young woman's quest to become the next great female stunt reporter leads to a mad quack doctor, a man still suspected by modern researchers to be the first modern serial killer, the infamous Jack the Ripper.

The following is from a fan review.
“Young Jemima McBustle is after one thing and one thing only: the story of a life time. But becoming a world famous news reporter is proving harder than she thought. Determined to follow in the footsteps of the intrepid Nelly Bly, Jemmy leaves the safe haven of the Bricktop Boarding House for the mean underbelly of nineteenth century St. Louis. With the help of Grandpa's old civil war hat and a handy maid named Gerta, the young society miss jumps wig first into the biggest adventure of her life.

Tucked up under her old overcoat, Jemmy roams from the posh parlors of the Compton Heights neighborhood, through the back alleys of Victorian St. Louis, and finally into the bedrooms of some of the city's most notorious ladies of the night. There the girls are stalked not only by cheating madams and worthless pimps, but by something far worse, something straight out of the mists of a nightmare--the man who researchers believe might have been that most infamous of serial killers, Jack the Ripper.

Fedora Amis weaves a classic whodunit that will have you turning the pages for more. Beautifully researched, this rollicking adventure set in Victorian St. Louis is filled with historical details, one of a kind characters, and enough plot twists to keep you on your toes. ‘You, me and Dr. T’ will haunt you to the very end, and beyond.”

Can a slip of a girl reporter foil the first modern serial killer, debut into society, save the biggest show in the world, and free a wrongly-accused man?

Review of Mayhem at Buffalo Bill's Wild West

Jemima McBustle is a reporter for the St. Louis Illuminator, and she’s on her way to Sedalia, Missouri to cover Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show in the fall of 1898. Naturally, an eighteen-year-old needs a chaperone, so Jemmy is accompanied by Miss Tilly Snodderly, her maiden aunt. Aunt Tilly foils a train robber on the Missouri Pacific, and Jemmy’s photographer, Hal, misses the entire incident. Not that a train robber would stand still for photography with heavy glass plates.

In Sedalia, Jemmy, Aunt Tilly, and Hal are guests of Mrs. Obadiah Koock, a former charge of Aunt Tilly’s. While Aunt Tilly takes Dorothea’s (Mrs. Koock’s) unruly daughters in hand, Jemmy has some breathing room to try to file her story of the train robbery, and to visit the Wild West show. She finds that danger wasn’t confined to the train: Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler believe that someone has been taking aim at Annie. There’s no shortage of suspects, and Jemmy and the Butlers join forces to flush them out.

This is a lively read. Amis ably captures the strictures of life for an ambitious unmarried woman. Historical figures such as Oakley, Butler, and Cody enhance the story without overwhelming it. Even ragtime musician Scott Joplin makes an appearance, as he got his musical start in Sedalia. Amis seems to promise further adventures of Jemmy McBustle, next time in Europe. I’ll be there.

Reviewed by Ellen Keith in Historical Novels Review, February, 2016

Library Journal Review (January 2016)

“Amis draws on the historical record to bring the 1898 season of Buffalo Bill’s show to life . . . the historical details reflect the author’s excellent research. A solid read-alike for Walter Satterthwait’s Western mysteries.”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 21, 2023, P. B8

With See President McKinley or Die Trying, writer Fedora Amis of Chesterfield gives readers her third action thriller featuring Jemmy McBustle, a young reporter in the late 1890s at the (fictional) St. Louis Illumininator.
In the new book, McBustle struggles to escape from meaningless assignments by breaking a big scandal story – major wrongdoing at a private asylum euphemistically called“The Lyman Sanitarium for the Care of Ladies Afflicted with Nervous Mental Disorders.”

She disguises herself as a penniless girl in need of a job and gets one. At work, she sniffs out some malicious doings – but also puts herself in increasing danger.

Author Amis has a way with the era ’s curious spoken English. An Example:”When Jemmy entered the parlor, Aunt Delilah’s agitation foamed over. She smote the floor with her parasol. ‘You idiotic girl. Why must you be such a cross for your doting aunt to bear? If I didn’t have the patience of Job and the sweetness of disposition of Saint Theresa, I would have given you up as hopeless years ago.’”

Reviewed by Harry Levins of Manchester retired in 2007 as senior writer of the Post-Dispatch.

Fedora Amis has crafted a captivating mystery in “Have Your Ticket Punched by Frank James “.

The reader is seamlessly transported back to the year 1898 as the author richly drops in Victorian details of a bygone era and historic St. Louis, Missouri.

The story begins as Jemima McBustle is looking forward to her night at the theatre, especially looking forward to having her ticket punched by the infamous Frank James. During the evening’s performance there’s calamity first by a dog then the town’s doctor is summoned to the theatre’s basement. Jemmy is a reporter and out of sheer curiosity she follows the authorities and the doctor, who is also the coroner. Once in the lower level of the theatre, the body of Quisenberry Sprout is discovered. For Jemmy, this is her chance to cover a headline story that will surpass anything any of her male counterparts would write about. This whodunit is a page turner with delightful characters and cleverly hidden red herrings planted throughout.

No story spoiler here, I highly recommend you read this book. It’s one for the ages.

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