Celebrate Lit / March 22, 2025

Miss Wylde in the White City

About the Book Miss Wylde in the White City

Book: Miss Wylde in the White City (The Heiresses of Adventure Book Two)

Author: Grace Hitchcock

Genre: Historical Romance True Crime

Release date: November 11, 2023

While attending the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, Winnifred Wylde believes she witnessed a woman being kidnapped. She tries to convince her father, an inspector with the Chicago police, to look into reports of mysterious disappearances around the White City. Inspector Wylde tries to dismiss her claims as an exaggeration of an overactive imagination, but he eventually concedes to letting her go undercover as a secretary to the man in question—if she takes her pistol for protection and Jude Thorpe, a policeman, for a bodyguard.

Will she be able to expose H. H. Holmes’s illicit activity, or will Winnifred become his next victim?

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My Thoughts on Miss Wylde in the White City

Miss Wylde in the White City was previously published under the title The White City. It has been re-released under this new titled and as part of a separate series. This is a historical fiction piece. I love historical fiction but especially when some murder and mystery are included. This book gives me all three! It’s the World’s Fair in Chicago but women are missing, women are turning up dead! Who’s to blame? What’s to be done? Who will be the next victim?

I love how the author weaved in the truth with the fiction. This really is a crime that happened. I had no idea who H. H. Holmes was so I had to take a quick Google search of him. Yes, he really existed and he really did have a castle. And yes unfortunately the crimes really did happen. Okay. So we’ve established she took the truth and made it into fiction.

Now let’s chat about the fictional aspect of this book.

It’s riveting! I could not put the book down. Which thankfully I had a feeling after the first chapter this was going to be the case and had my husband take our sleeping infant. You see, I read while I rock our little one to sleep while she nurses at night. Once she falls asleep I get a few hours where I can stay up and read before she wakes and needs me again. Power reading is what I call it! And I’m so glad for this session as I would have been loathe to put the book down!

The White City definitely keeps you reading on and wanting more. I cannot wait to see the rest of the series come out. Grace is a wonderful author and I’m going to have to search and see what else she has written so I can binge-read them.

I tend to do this with authors I enjoy.

Winnifred is now a best friend of mine and I’m so pleased with how the book ended though I shan’t tell you the ending. Let’s just say there is a good dose of nail-biting and a good sigh at the end.

When you think of being a single woman in the city these days, you think of danger. There’s a reason women are encouraged to go places in groups and to have their keys through their fingers or carry pepper spray. But what if there was a time in history that was more dangerous for single working girls? Sometimes the true stories are the most unbelievable.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

About the Author of Miss Wylde in the White City

Grace Hitchcock is the award-winning author of multiple historical novels and novellas, including the American Royalty, Best Laid Plans, and Aprons & Veils series. She holds a Master’s in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives on the Northshore of New Orleans, with her husband, Dakota, sons, and daughter in a cottage that is always filled with the sounds of sweet little footsteps running at full speed. When not writing, or chasing babies, she’s baking something delightful and can usually be found with a book clutched in her fist.

More from Grace

Q&A with Grace Hitchcock:

Q: Your historical novel Miss Wylde in the White City is a historical romance set against the true crime events at the Chicago World’s Fair. How difficult was it to create a “romance” novel that includes such horrific historical details?

Grace: It was challenging, but I wrote Winnifred’s story with the thought in mind of how I would have wanted to experience it as a reader. Many of the books I’ve read about Holmes are quite dark and rightly so; however, I decided that I didn’t want my story to show the gory details and chose to focus on the romance to offer the reader a much-needed break in the dark story matter.

Q: What research did you have to do to get the details right?

Grace: I read and listened to non-fiction works on H. H. Holmes, read countless articles online, researched the different newspaper articles of the time, mostly The Chicago Tribune,

and found the newspapers’ sketches of Holmes’ “Murder Castle” along with their statements. I also read non-fiction works on the Chicago world’s fair with many, many pictures and took walk-through tours of the fair online, which gave me a unique perspective of what the white city was like.

Q: Tell us about the characters you injected into the historical events. What about them made you want to tell their story?

Grace: I’ve always loved Jane Austen’s heroine from her satire of Gothic novels, Northanger Abbey, and with Catherine Morland in mind, I created Winnifred Wylde. My heroine’s love of books often gets her into trouble, but being the daughter of a police inspector, Winnie also has picked up a few things in listening to her father’s adventures and her natural sense of curiosity was just what I needed in a heroine to uncover Holmes’ sordid crimes.

I wanted Jude Thorpe to be a protector with a heart for justice, so the role of detective fit right into the story.

Percival Valentine was one of the characters who surprised me. Originally, I just had Percy as her favorite author, but then I thought, why not let her meet him and see what happens? He is one of my favorite characters and I hope to one day give him a story of his own.

Q: Fact vs Fiction – what (if any) historical details did you have to fiddle with to make the story work?

Grace: Oddly enough, the newspapers at the time did not get the same layouts of the “Murder Castle” in their sketches, so I based the layout of Holmes’ castle mostly from The Chicago Tribune and got a little creative. The layout is mostly correct, but I took the liberty of adding a second trap door at a convenient location for the burning trunk scene. While Holmes did bring trunks up and down from attic to the basement, he never burned a trunk on the third floor because it would have left behind far too much evidence for a man who, up to this point, was experienced in covering his tracks.

Q: How does your faith impact how you approach writing fiction?

Grace: My heroines generally learn what I am learning at the time of writing the story. If I am holding on to a verse for something I am going through personally, I give it to my heroine and we walk through it together even in different situations (because obviously I’m not trapped in a burning building haha but the principle applies).

I see writing Christian fiction as an opportunity to show God’s light even in dark, difficult situations. No matter how subtle my theme or short the verses, my stories will always point the reader to the Lord.

Thank you for joining the fun for the Celebrate Lit tour! If you are a part of a book club, I have discussion questions here! Happy Reading, friends!