Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee

It is a Saturday in October 1932, and Gemma Chow and her older sister May are on their way out of City Market in Los Angeles to try to sell their flowers elsewhere. Only a third of their inventory has sold this morning. May (Mei Wun), Gemma ( Gam Wun), and Peony (Pan Wun) are the three Chow sisters. This morning nineteen-year-old May and Gemma are leaving Ba's flower stand to try their luck at wealthy Westlake Park. They have left school and taken over Ba's flower business as he is in a sanatorium sixty miles away in the San Bernardino desert to recuperate from tuberculosis.  Ba, who was not yet forty years old, had been coughing up blood. 

The two sisters drive to Westlake in Ba's Ford Runabout pickup and set up a stand. Gemma decides they will quadruple their prices. It's the Depression and few are buying flowers. Although they get harassed by the police about not having their permit, Gemma and May make fourteen dollars.

When they return home, Ma tells May that the Moy's who live in Pasadena on their own ranch and own a canning company by the Los Angeles River, are interested in May marrying their son, Wallace. He's now graduated from U.C.L.A. in some science program. May agrees to meet him.

The next day Gemma and May drive to their flower supplier, Angel Barajas. As they help him load up their truck, Angel tells them he will be switching to grow vegetables in the spring. At least they can eat the ones they don't sell. Meanwhile Gemma has the idea to sell chrysanthemum tea, but May isn't supportive of this idea.

Back in Chinatown, the two sisters are preparing the flowers for sale in the abandoned horse lot, when Gemma notices there are flies buzzing near the door to the stables.  Gemma is determined to investigate, but May is hesitant. To their shock, they discover the body of Lulu Wong, a famous movie star from Chinatown. May was two years behind Lulu in school but they became best friends at age twelve while in a school play. Two year later, Lulu auditioned for a part and soon became famous. Her ma and younger sister live with her in a nice home in Beverly Hills.

The murder couldn't have come at a worse time. Los Angeles wants to demolish Chinatown because it is seen as an area of the city that is dirty and sinister. The city has an order requiring the three major railroads build a union train station on land in Chinatown. However, the railroad magnates are against it and are supporting the Chinese. 

May and Gemma make their way to One Dragon Grocery to use Mr. Yam's telephone to contact the police. Detective Mallady arrives with a young officer, Officer Kidd. He decides that Lulu died in the last six to twelve hours and notes the cut on the side of her head. When Gemma wonders if she was poisoned like Dixie Doors, a beauty pageant winner from Glendale, Mallady is doubtful. His suggestion that Lulu was meeting a lover annoys Gemma who knows that "Lulu had been a dutiful and virtuous daughter.." when she had known her. Gemma notices what appears to be blood on the right sleeve of the cream pantsuit Lulu is wearing. Mallady is not convinced this is a murder, suggesting that Lulu may have wandered in drunk and hit her head. To this Gemma informs Mallady that Lulu was a Buddhist who didn't drink. Gemma tells Mallady that she hopes he won't rest until he finds the killer.

Gemma takes "the Mule" into Westlake to sell their flowers as planned. When the jalopy breaks down, she encounters Dr. Frederick Winter who helps her get her vehicle repaired and recover from her dizzy spell. They discuss Lulu's death and he tells her that the medical examiner should "do a thorough examination, including toxicology reports."  Fearing that Lulu's murder will not be solved but used as the final blow to demolish Chinatown, Gemma and May set out to uncover the truth and in the process reveal many secrets.

Discussion

In her newest novel, Kill Her Twice, Stacey Lee has crafted an engaging historical murder mystery set in Chinatown, Los Angeles in 1932. The story centers around the murder of a young Chinese American actress, Lulu Wong who has quickly risen to fame in Hollywood by playing a villain. Fearful that her murder will be ignored because she is Chinese, Lulu's old friends, May and Gemma Chow are determined to solve it.

The story is told by May and her younger sister Gemma who have taken over their ailing father's flower business. Lulu's murder is set in 1932, prior to the destruction of Old Chinatown which began in 1933. Old Chinatown and City Market were the two main areas where Chinese Americans lived. The roads were unpaved, with few street lamps and overcrowded housing in Old Chinatown. Many of the children in Old Chinatown played in the playground near the old horse stables featured in Lee's story. Chinese Americans faced serious racial discrimination and even violence. In Kill Her Twice, Lee refers several times to the Massacre of 1871 in which eighteen Chinese were lynched by a mob after a policeman and civilian were shot during a gang gunfight. It was one of the worst lynchings in American history.

In the 1930's, Chinese could not become American citizens, and they couldn't own land. They also were restricted in where they could live, if not by deeds, by discrimination. Despite this, the Chinese community flourished, running successful businesses, forming associations that helped families, and expanding. At its height, there were restaurants, temples, a Chinese opera, and even a telephone exchange. But as Chinatown expanded it was soon adjacent to where several rail lines met. The city of Los Angeles soon wanted the land Chinatown occupied for a train station that would service three train lines. Eventually most of Chinatown was razed, with the exception of the Garnier Building (also mentioned in the  novel). As the Old Chinatown was destroyed, a New Chinatown was eventually created on vacant land owned by the Santa Fe Railway. 

In Lee's novel, she imagines the conflict between the Chinese who want to save their homes and community, and the businessmen and civic leaders of Los Angeles who want their land for Union Station. It is this conflict that forms the backdrop for Lulu Wong's murder. In Kill Her Twice, Lee has Otis Fox of Fox Cosmetics and head of the Take Back L.A. Committee as the leading advocate for the building of Union Station.  He considers Chinatown a den of thieves and wants it demolished. 

Gemma and May Wong want to solve Lulu's murder, not only because Lulu was a friend but because they also believe her murder will confirm Otis Fox's view of the Chinese community and fuel the determination to demolish Chinatown. It will also further feed racial discrimination against the Chinese in Los Angeles. They worry that all of these factors may leave the police unwilling to solve her murder.

May worries that Lulu's death will simply be written off because she's Chinese. She is reluctant to return to the horse lot where Lulu's body lies because . "I didn't want to see Lulu like that again, dehumanized. A victim. It was bad enough that someone had killed her...A second death would come in the form of scandal, her twisted body held up for viewing like some circus sideshow, her fame recast as a cautionary tale. They would kill her twice."  Gemma believes that if Lulu's murder isn't quickly solved, people will believe that Chinatown murdered her. She is determined to solve Lulu's murder because "...looking out for Lulu Wong means looking out for Chinatown." 

The two sisters work diligently and relentlessly over the week following Lulu's murder to uncover the truth. They boldly attend the Pannychis as flower vendors with the intent on determining whether Otis Fox is attempting to bribe Officer Mallady. Gemma sneaks into the Hall of Justice and manages to take the carbon paper from the autopsy report which ends up providing a significant and surprising clue about Lulu. (Will young readers know what a carbon paper is?) May and Gemma also decide to take the risky chance to audition as Chinese extras only to have May offered a job as an actress to fill in Lulu's part.

Gemma and May are recruited by Clifford Joust, head of the grand jury investigating corruption in Los Angeles, to attend a soiree at Otis Fox's home to determine if he has a stolen painting. May's new status as an actress, make attending the soiree a possibility and offers the sisters a chance to investigate the Foxs more closely. If he has the painting, it is proof that he is involved in the corruption. The soiree not only confirms Fox's involvement in shady dealings but leads May directly to Lulu's killer.

Kill Her Twice has many twists and turns. Readers will find themselves suspecting different characters as the Chow sisters consider who might have wanted Lulu dead. Lee has crafted two determined, intelligent but distinct heroines in Gemma and May Chow. While May seems to be the more dutiful daughter, it turns out she has her own ideas about her life. Determined not to be forced into a marriage, she suggests to Wallace Moy that they pretend date. She also accepts the offer of Lulu's part, mainly to help support their family as they face the inevitable move from Old Chinatown. Gemma takes the lead in the investigation, showing resourcefulness and courage.. The incident involving Gemma hiding in the coroner's office to obtain the carbon paper of the coroner's report was well done and the novel could have been much improved with more situations like this. 

Although we never really meet Lulu in the novel, except in flashbacks, Lee writes in her Author's Note that the character was loosely inspired by Anna May Wong (1905-1961), considered the first Chinese American Hollywood movie star. Her career was comprised of mostly "stereotypical and frequently villainous roles". Lee also chose to feature "the razing of Los Angele's Old Chinatown in the 1930's because it was the perfect example of the power of publicity to erase a community. Voteless and unable to own land, the Chinese were at the whim of booster literature from newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and tourism brochures, which depicted them favorably or unfavorably, depending on the city's developmental agenda." The Chinese had no say in what would happen to their community when the railroad heads and the city officials battled it out for Union Station.

Fans who enjoy historical murder mysteries will find Kill Her Twice an interesting read that succeeds in portraying this small slice of Chinese American history. 

Book Details:

Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons     2024

390 pp.

Amelia and Me by Heather Stemp

It is predawn, on an August morning, in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, 1931. Twelve-year-old Ginny Ross quietly slips out of bed, dresses and manages to sneak out of her home through the basement without waking her mom, six-year-old brother Billy, Nana and Papa. Ginny, along with her cousin Pat Cron and her best friend Jennie Mae Stevenson are headed to Harbour Grace airstrip to see the City of New York take off. 

The plane, with pilot Mr. George Brown and owner Mr. Henry Mears had landed the previous afternoon on a stopover before continuing their planned flight around the world. The Harbour Grace Standard reported that their journey would continue this morning with their departure at seven a.m. but Ginny overheard Uncle Harry, the airport supervisor telling Papa that they actually planned to leave before dawn.

The three girls run to the airfield where Pat tells them the City of New York with be the ninth plane to fly from Harbour Grace across the Atlantic. Jennie, whose father is the night watchman for the airport, wants them to get to her dad's shack. If they are found around the plane or on the runway, she's afraid her father will get in trouble. But as Jennie is leading Pat and Ginny to the shack, Ginny breaks away and runs over to the plane. Once in the plane, she slips into the pilot's seat, pretending she's flying over Harbour Grace. However, her daydream abruptly ends when Brown, Mears and Uncle Harry are driven to the plane by Mr. Stevenson. When Mr. Stevenson leaves, Ginny overhears the men arguing. 

George Brown believes the strong wind makes an early morning takeoff risky but Henry Mears wants the speed record. Mears puts his dog Tailwind into the plane and the three men walk to the end of the runway. Ginny jumps out of the plane but badly injures her right knee when she bangs it against the edge of the wheel cover. Ginny is seen limping away into the rocks by Mr. Mears but she is able to hide from him. They decide to go ahead with the flight but disaster strikes when the plane crashes into the rocks. 

Ginny is horrified and tries to run to help but collapses on the runway. Thankfully both men are saved, but Tailwind is not found. While Uncle Harry gets the car to pick up the two injured men, Ginny limps home. There, Llewellyn Crane, who works for Ginny's Papa in the store, helps her upstairs. Papa carries her to Doc Cron's to get stitches. At the doctor's office, Ginny tells Mr. Mears she wants to be a pilot but he is dismissive, telling her flying is not for girls. Then, seeing her split knee, Mears becomes angry, suggesting that Ginny is to blame for the crash. Both Mr. Brown and Uncle Harry try to convince him otherwise but Mr. Mears decides to speak with the constable.

After Doc Cron stitches Ginny's knee, she has to deal with her mom's anger at being at the airfield. Ginny's mom believes that planes are for men only. Pat visits Ginny while she's resting in bed and shows her a piece of metal she's found from the wreck of the City of New York plane. They look over her scrapbook of Amelia Earhart, who Ginny finds thrilling.

When Ginny receives a letter from Jennie Mae telling her that her actions at the airfield may cost her father his job, she gets Llew to take her in his wagon pulled by his black Labrador to see the constable at the jail. At the jail Ginny appeals to Constable Watts telling him she didn't cause the crash and that Mr. Stevenson didn't know she was at the airfield or in the plane. As they are leaving the jail, Llew tells Ginny about the one hundred dollar reward to find Mr. Mears' dog Tailwind. Ginny is certain she knows where the dog might be and she has Llew take her to the rocky area near the airfield. There they find Tailwind and return to the Stevenson's farm to show Jennie. They also learn that her father has been exonerated in the crash. At the Archibald Hotel, Jennie Mae, Llew and Ginny present Mr. Mears with his dog. Ginny splits the reward three ways, so they each receive thirty-five dollars.

At home, Ginny gives some of her money to Papa to help pay for a shipment from Bowring Brothers. This leaves her with ten dollars to put towards her future flying lessons. But suddenly her mother grabs the money, telling Ginny it will do fine for new material for winter coats. Stunned at her mother's meanness, Ginny becomes even more determined to take flying lessons.

To that end, later that night Ginny decides to write Amelia Earhart to ask for her help. She confides that like her, she wants to be a pilot and that she needs to plan to take lessons. To get around her mother's antagonism towards planes and flying, Ginny uses Uncle Harry's address as the return address. 

As her leg heals, Ginny faces more challenges both at school where she experiences bullying and at home regarding her desire to become a pilot. Her mother is determined to stop Ginny from pursuing her dream of flying. But the more Ginny's mother attempts to thwart her daughter's dream, the more determined Ginny becomes. Eventually Ginny makes a drastic choice that ultimately helps her achieve what she most needs: the support of Amelia Earhart and a future as a pilot. Even more, Ginny is a small part of  Amelia Earhart's historic milestone in women's aviation!

Discussion

Amelia and Me is a fictional story based on some of the real life experiences of author Heather Stemp's family. Ginny Ross, the main character in the novel was Heather Stemp's aunt while Billy Ross was her father. Papa (Joseph Ross) and Nana (Ross) were Heather's great-grandparents who owned a household goods store in Harbour Grace. As in the novel, Uncle Harry Archibald was the real life supervisor of the Harbour Grace airstrip and Aunt Rose Archibald owned the Archibald Hotel where pilots and newspaper reporters often stayed. As in the novel, Ginny Ross really did meet Amelia Earhart prior to her transatlantic flight where she landed in Ireland.

Using family members, and the setting of Harbour Grace, Stemp weaves an engaging story about a young girl determined to follow Amelia Earhart's trailblazing path and become a female pilot. Twelve-year-old Ginny Ross is determined to forge her own path and become an aviatrix. Ginny believes her draw towards flying may be due partly to the fact that a plane offers her a place where she feels she finally belongs. But Ginny also wonders if maybe her attraction to flying is because she's looking for something she can excel at.

 

This sets up a source of conflict between Ginny and her mother who believes planes are for men and who doesn't understand Ginny's obsession with planes. After a fight at school when Ginny wins the reward money for finding Tailwind, Ginny's mother is so furious she tells her she won't be seeing her friends and must only go to school. When her mother discovers Amelia Earhart's letter she destroys it and tells Ginny she will no longer be attending school but instead will be working full time. In her letter to Ginny, Amelia had advised her to finish school first before taking flying lessons. Not finishing school means an end to the possibility of becoming a pilot. So Ginny, in a show of grit and determination, runs away to Boston to find Amelia Earhart. Eventually, upon her return home, Ginny confronts her mother about her plan to become a pilot. Her mother tells Ginny that she doesn't believe she has what it takes and that she will fail. Where Ginny sees possibilities, her mother sees failure. Even meeting Amelia Earhart doesn't really change Ginny's mom's perspective. It is only after Amelia's successful transatlantic flight that Ginny's mother reveals her fear of losing her daughter. When Ginny outlines her plans and offers to help support their family, only then does her mother begin to relent.

 

Heather Stemp has crafted an interesting story with an endearing heroine, that is true to the Depression-era. The author incorporates many historical facts about life in the Dominion of Newfoundland (before it became a province of Canada) as well as during the Depression, that readers will find interesting. The novel also captures some of the interest that was so prevalent surrounding the exploits of Amelia Earhart as well as the interest generally in aviation during this era. Ginny's determination to follow a different path than that of her grandmother and mother, was part of the trend of young women working to forge new opportunities for themselves: to be better educated, to do the same things men were doing and to break free of the social and family expectations about what was proper for a young woman.

Amelia and Me is the first book in the Ginny Ross series. Stemp has included many photographs of the real-life people and places in the story, as well as a map of Harbour Grace and a Glossary of terms and words used in the  novel. 

Book Details:

Amelia and Me by Heather Stemp
Halifax, NS:  Nimbus Publishing Ltd.    2020
238 pp.

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Stella By Starlight tells the story of being a Negro American during the 1930's. The Civil War had ended only sixty-seven years earlier, outlawing slavery. But the bigotry rages on in a segregated south.

Ten year old Stella Mills lives with her father Jonah, her mother Georgia and her younger brother Jojo in the segregated south, in a town called Bumblebee, North Carolina, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Set in 1932, Bumblebee is segregated, meaning blacks live in one part of the town with their own school and church and white people live in another part of town. The black folks mostly work as cooks, maids and janitors, with few men allowed to work at the sawmill in town. The Negro families take care of one another, expecting little help from the white folk.

It all starts one night when Stella and Jojo witness a Klu Klux Klan meeting across Kilkenny Pond in the middle of the night. They secretly watch nine figures dressed in white robes with pointy hats burn a wooden cross. From their hidden spot, Stella is certain she recognizes the bridle of the horse belonging to the white doctor, Dr. Packard.

Stella and her brother Jojo tell their parents what they saw and their mom and dad convene a meeting immediately that night at their home of some of the Negro parents, including the only Negro doctor, Dr. Hawkins.  While the adults meet, Stella sits outside on the porch steps with Tony, Dr. Hawkins' son. Tony tells Stella that he runs on the track at the white school, something that is forbidden for a black boy. He tells her his dream of being like the "Midnight Express", Eddie Tolan who won two gold medals at the recent Los Angeles Olympics. Tony is determined to run someday in the Olympics. The two children are frightened by the night's events and try to figure out the meaning of the Klan's sudden reappearance in their town.

As her father reads the white and Negro newspapers the next morning Stella questions her father as to why they don't do more. She questions why the Negro paper, The Truth Unbridled, doesn't publish the Klan meeting her father tells her the situation is not as simple as it appears. "Never be afraid to be honest and stand up for what is right, Stella...Just remember to balance your courage with wisdom." He tells her trying to catch the Klan is "like nailing jelly to a tree".

Stella and Jojo and the other black children attend Riverside School for black students while the white students attend Mountain View. Mountain View, with its brick building and well manicured lawn, is known for its academic and sports successes. The students at Mountain View are better off, having shoes and warm coats for the winter while like most black children in the area, Stella and her brother walk to school barefoot. On their way to school they meet Carolyn Malone who is Stella's best friend, five of the thirteen Spencer children, Johnsteve Winston, Randy Bates and Tony Hawkins. The group stop at Mrs. Cathy Cooper's store, Cathy's Candy Store, the white proprietor whose friendliness towards the black children doesn't go unnoticed by Stella. She also allows the children to enter by the front door unlike most other store owners in Bumblebee. White children also enter the store, including Paulette Packard, Dr. Packard's daughter and Barbara Osterman whose father owns the mill. Barbara wonders why they have to attend separate schools, but a white boy, Kenneth, mocks the black children saying they will "never amount to anything."

Stella doesn't like to write because she finds writing challenging. Unable to complete her writing assignment at school, Mrs. Grayson tells her she needs to try harder and finish her work. To help her think better, Stella likes to sneak outside after everyone has gone to sleep.

The black community comes together when "Spoon Man", as Terence Oglethorpe, a traveling salesman is known, comes to visit Bumblebee. Spoon Man travels all over North Carolina, selling cookware, tools and trinkets. He tells them that the Depression has made everyone desperate for change especially in the upcoming presidential election and that he's heard about the reemergence of the Klu Klux Klan in the Bumblebee area. Stella's father indicates to Spoon Man that he wants to vote. "I live in this country and I oughta be allowed to vote!" Dr. Hawkins tells the men that there are now poll taxes and a literacy test about the Constitution before blacks can vote. The KKK are also informed of any black man who tries to register to vote. Hawkins suggests to Jonah that maybe he wait for a better time to push the right to vote but Jonah questions when that time will come.

At church on Sunday, Pastor Patton tells the congregation that he is going into Spindale to register to vote in the morning and he welcomes any man who wants to accompany him. That night at dinner Stella's parents argue about Jonah going to register, but the next morning he meets Pastor Patton along with Mr. Spencer at the Spindale Election office. However, the registrar, Mr. Amherst Pineville, is hostile towards the group and determined to do everything in his power to prevent them from registering. They are forced to pay two dollars to register and must also take a test, while white men who walk in are allowed to register immediately. Eventually they are registered but Pineville warns them that trouble will be coming their way. When trouble does come, Stella and her family and the rest of the black community must pull together to get through a devastating fire and an accident that almost kills Stella's mother.

Discussion

Sharon M. Draper is an award winning author, educator, poet and speaker. On her website, Draper states that she tries to take readers "along on my journey". Stella By Starlight does just that. It is a journey back to 1932 America, suffering through the beginnings of the Depression. Everyone is struggling to cope with poor economic conditions and a drought gripping the Midwest. Prejudice against the black community is on the rise. Society continues to be segregated with blacks having their own schools, churches and doctors. Many jobs are not open to blacks who tend to be in low income jobs. Few own the land they farm. They are not allowed to use the town library. Nor does the American Army want them (an attitude that will gradually change in World War II) It's also the year of the Olympics in Los Angeles and a presidential election. 

Even though black Americans are citizens, they did not have the right to vote until the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870.  Despite that change, poll taxes, literacy tests, state laws and even threats and intimidations made it almost impossible for many black Americans to even register to vote. In Stella by Starlight this is effectively portrayed by the author. It would not be until 1964 and 1965 that these injustices were prohibited.

Stella By Starlight reveals the depth of the prejudice in 1930's America when the Spencer's home is burned to the ground by the Klu Klux Klan, when Stella's mother almost dies from a poisonous snake bike because Dr. Packard, who treats "white patients" only, hardheartedly refuses to treat her, and when Tony Hawkins is set upon by a group of white boys who kick and punch him. However, Draper is careful to show that not all the white people are prejudiced. Cathy Cooper treats Stella and the other black children the same as the white children. Annie Lou Summers and her sister Mary Lou bring food and clothing from the white Bumblebee Baptist Church for the Spencer family after the fire.

More importantly Stella By Starlight is story about community, a place where everyone is knit together by their common history and their concern for one another. The loss of the Spencer's home sees the community donate so much clothing that Stella and Jojo finally get new clothes and shoes - because Mrs. Spencer is "glad to be able to give as well as take". When Stella's mother is dying from the snake bite, Mrs. Odom, who never "takes the car out for fear of getting dust on it" drives to Raleigh to get Dr. Hawkins and bring back the antivenom. It is this sense of family, the idea that "I am my brother's keeper", that helps everyone  endure the hard times and savor the good ones.

Stella By Starlight also demonstrates that children aren't born prejudiced - they learn it from adults and the society around them. Some of the children in Cathy's Candy Store believe its ridiculous that they must attend separate schools. They obviously recognize that regardless of skin colour, kids are kids. Draper often juxtaposes acts of kindness against acts of prejudice. For example, when Stella goes to get medicine for her sick brother at the general store, Mr. O'Brian allows her to pay for her purchases with what little money she has. Immediately after leaving the general store, she and Tony are set upon by a gang of white youths who beat up Tony accusing him of stealing the candy he paid for.

Draper has written a very good novel that captures the reality of life in America for African Americans in the 1930's. All of her characters are well drawn, believable and unique, from the heroine, Stella Mills, to the antihero, Dr. Packard. The seed for Stella By Starlight came from Draper's own grandmother, Estelle Twitty Mills Davis, who was forced to leave school in grade five but who spent her nights after everyone was asleep, outside writing in her journal.

Book Details:
Stella By Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
Toronto: Atheneum Books for Young Readers     2015
320 pp.