Librarian Jana Kehn is a fan of author Jeanne M. Dams. On her recommendation I read "Body in the Transept" and enjoyed it a great deal. When considering this article, I visited with Jana about Jeanne M. Dams and her books. I realized that Jana had read many more of Ms. Dams’ books than I had and would be a better source for this article than I am. In fact, Jana writes so well she probably should have her own column.

I became interested in the cozy mystery writer Jeanne M. Dams several years ago when one of our library patrons suggested her to me. At that time we only had a few of her books in our collection, and I quickly devoured those volumes.

Dam’s first series stars Dorothy Martin, an American widow living and sleuthing in England. Having been a Jessica Fletcher junkie at one time, I quickly fell in love with Dorothy Martin who reminds me somewhat of Jessica. When asked in an interview how the character of Dorothy was created, Dams replied that Dorothy created herself but that she is essentially Dams. "If you know one of us, you know the other" She has now, though, evolved into her own character, and Dams admits she couldn’t change her if she wanted to.

A Macavity Award nominee and Agatha Award winner for best first novel of 1995, "Body in the Transept" introduces us to the recently widowed Dorothy who is looking forward to her first Christmas as a resident of England. Dorothy is sixtyish, plump and given to wearing wonderful hats wherever she goes. After attending the Christmas Eve service in the Cathedral of the fictional town of Sherebury, Dorothy stumbles over the body of Canon Billings. Unable to put the matter out of her mind, she begins sleuthing, charmingly introducing herself into village life in the best Miss Marple fashion.

There are wonderful descriptions of the town and its inhabitants, and when Dorothy makes fast friends with the widower, Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt, it becomes quite clear that a romance is in the making. This book has everything that dreams are made of – retirement in England in a cozy little cottage with a cat and an attractive interested cop just a murder away! Sometimes the description of the Cathedral is a little hard to follow as the characters navigate their way through the various rooms and transepts. This, however, does not take away from the charming nature of the story.

Our author, Jeanne M. Dams lives with her husband, Ed, and her two cats in her birthplace of South Bend, Indiana. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and has been an elementary school teacher, advertising copywriter, and university administrator. Jeanne loves hats, cats, dollhouses, England, Jack Daniels, and almost anything that’s out of date: old movies, steam trains, antiques, Victoriana. This latter interest led to her second series, historical mysteries set in her home town of South Bend at the turn of the last century. The first book in that series, "Death in Lacquer Red", introduces us to young Hilda Johansson, a Swedish immigrant and the head housemaid at Tippecanoe Place, the Studebaker mansion. This is a very different series than the Dorothy books. Dams says she wanted to set something in her hometown and as she was developing her main character, she knew she wanted her to be a housemaid of Swedish descent. Dams gave Hilda a stubborn streak. "My mother was Swedish" she explains. The rest just developed. The mansion, Tippecanoe Place, still exists today as a restaurant and was easy for Dams to research. Dams does say, though, that her most valuable resource for the Hilda books has been her local public library and their excellent, cooperative librarians. Kudos to those public libraries out there and their staff!

In "Crimson Snow" the fifth installment of the Hilda books, Johansson looks into the murder of a popular 22-year old school teacher, Sophie Jacobs (the story is based on a real 1904 unsolved murder case). Hilda discovers that other young women have gone missing, including Miss Jacob’s best friend, Miss Lewis. A hotel maid named Nellie, who might just know something, has vanished as well. Dams is a romantic and fans will also welcome the latest developments between Hilda and her boyfriend, fireman Patrick Cavanaugh.

Unlike when I first started reading these series, our library now houses most of Dams’ titles in one form or another…Large Print, Regular Print, Paperback, Cassette or CD. As the air gets crisper outside you’ll definitely want to cozy up to the fire with a cup of tea and these cozy mystery reads.

Dams mentions that her favorite place to do book signings is in public libraries. I wonder if I know of a public library that has "excellent, cooperative librarians" that could host such an event. Hmmm….I’ll have to get right on that – in between turning the pages, of course, of my next Dorothy Martin mystery. Whoops! I think I hear my tea kettle whistling. Ta-Ta! --Jana Kehn, Librarian, Scottsbluff Public Library

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