Victorian Saint John: The Perfect Mystery Backdrop

 

Saint John New Brunswick, 1800s Artist Unknown

Nestled on the shore of the dramatic and foggy Bay of Fundy, Saint John is Canada's oldest incorporated city, founded in 1785. It is known for its Victorian era streetscapes. 

The Great Fire of 1877

In 1877 a devastating fire had broken out, and tore through the city. It had destroyed over sixteen hundred buildings and had left one third of the city's population homeless. Those wealthy ship owners and merchants, had rebuilt the city almost immediately, which had resulted in the cohesive and ornate Victorian aesthetic that can be seen throughout the uptown of the city even today. 

It is home to the Saint John City Market, which was built in 1876, and was one of the few buildings to survive the fire. It has a stunning Victorian design, with an inverted ships hall for a roof.

While uptown streets such as Leinster, Queen, and Coburg street. Which features some breathtaking, high style row houses, with decorative roof cresting, ornate gables, and stained glass. The city's often dark, foggy streets, and surrounding back settlements equally as dark and foggy, make Saint John the perfect backdrop for my Victorian Mysteries. 

I have a lot of fun, using the Provincial Archives to search unknown and rarely talked about cases, researching the Victorian era, and specifically Saint John, New Brunswick, Willow Grove, and Mispec as well as other areas that surround Saint John. 

I have learned loads of tidbits of information of how Saint John residents had lived in Victorian times. For instance, in the winter, to travel to places such as Willow Grove, they would use sleighs, carioles cutters, work sled or pungs. These would take about 3 to 4 hours longer to travel the distance to Willow Grove than it would have with a buggy. Which I had learned through initial research of Dark Jealousy. Which will be following the re-release of Guilty Deceptions, some time in 2027 or 2028. 

Those are all one reason I choose the City and Surrounding areas for the backdrop to my mysteries. Another reason, was that I have found some interesting news articles from the Victorian era, for future stories. 

Having grown up in Saint John, with it being my home town, I have always found the area to be highly interesting. Often when I used to walk down it's streets, or through thee burial ground, I often wondered what stories took place on these streets all those years ago, and if they would be worth telling today. 

Even when the Sheriff Dawson Mysteries are completed, you can count on other stories of mine taking place in thee backdrop of Saint John and surrounding areas. They always say to write about what you know, and I do believe that I know this city, well. 

Yours in the shadows,

D.C. Malcolm