Michelle Cox has always been obsessed with stories of the past and has spent a lifetime collecting them. She is the award-winning author of historical fiction, including the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series, The Fallen Woman’s Daughter, and The Merriweather Novels. Cox also pens the wildly popular, “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog chronicling the lives of Chicago’s forgotten residents.

She lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her husband, an assortment of children who continually leave and then come back, and one naughty Goldendoodle. Unbeknownst to most, she hoards board games she doesn’t have time to play and is, not surprisingly, in love with both Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Likewise, she is happily addicted to period dramas and big band music. Also marmalade.

Praise for Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novels

Matched in Merriweather

A delightful 1930s retelling of Jane Austen’s beloved classic Emma.

After receiving a desperate letter reporting her father to be gravely ill, inveterate matchmaker Melody Merriweather leaves college and rushes back to her small hometown of Merriweather, Wisconsin—only to discover that she’s expected to take over the running of her family’s general store, the Merc, until he recovers.

There, Melody tries to liven up the dusty old shop by selling luxury hats and gloves while also managing the handful of eccentric employees she’s inherited—the sweet, impressionable Harriet; the crabby Mrs. Haufbrau; and the overly critical but irritatingly handsome Cal Frasier. In typical Melody fashion, it isn’t long before she sets her sights on helping Harriet find a more suitable match than the local farmer who supplies the Merc with eggs.

All of Melody’s fanciful ideas suddenly fly out the window, however, when she learns that the Merc is not so well off as she imagined and that her father has borrowed money from loan sharks to keep it afloat.  With the help of a surly Cal, Melody concocts a plan to brew cider as a way to resurrect the failing store. But when her attempts at both cider- and matchmaking go awry in spectacular fashion, it throws the Merc—and her own self-confidence—further into jeopardy . . .

The Fallen Woman’s Daughter

When eight-year-old Nora arrives at the Park Ridge School for Girls in 1932, she is sure there’s been some mistake. She can’t imagine why she and her little sister, Patsy, were torn from their mother only to be subjected to the cruel whims of the house matron, Mrs. Morris. When their mother fails to rescue them week after week—and Mrs. Morris drops hints that their mother may be a “fallen woman”—Nora begins to doubt they will ever see her again.

Nine years prior, at seventeen, Gertie Gufftason runs off with Lorenzo, the barker for the traveling carnival passing through her small coal-mining town in Southern Iowa. Thinking she is embarking on a fantastic adventure, Gertie is bitterly disappointed by the life that follows and is thrown into despair when the State removes their two daughters.

Gertie eventually tracks down her girls at the Park Ridge, but, expecting a warm welcome, she is shocked by Nora’s cool reception. Nora reluctantly returns home with Gertie and Patsy, determined to live a more perfect life than her mother. It is only when she discovers a secret Gertie has kept hidden all these years that Nora begins to fully understand—and forgive—her mother’s tragic choices .

“Michelle Cox writes flawed, fascinating women with understanding, compassion, and grace—I rooted for them with every turn of the page!”—Kate Quinn, NYT best-selling author

“An addictive read!”—Kirkus Reviews

Novel Notes of Local Lore