NELLIE BLY’S NOVELS

Back in November, Balladeer’s Blog covered female journalist Nellie Bly’s journey around the world. I mentioned the lost but rediscovered novels she had written and fellow blogger The Introverted Bookworm inquired if I was going to cover them. So, here we go:

EVA THE ADVENTURESS  – This was the second of the novels that Nellie Bly (Elizabeth J. Cochrane) wrote between 1889 and 1895. They were considered lost until being rediscovered in 2021.

Eva the Adventuress or A Romance of a Blighted Life was inspired by Nellie’s interview with the convicted criminal Eva Hamilton, wife of a descendant of Alexander Hamilton. The novel features the fictional Eva Scarlett rising from poverty to marrying a dynamic man of means.

Before long Eva learns that the marriage is a sham and she is tossed into the streets, marked as a fallen woman. Our title character begins a climb back up the ladder, seeking revenge on anyone who wrongs her.

When she meets and falls in love with a man from a prominent family she finds herself torn between love and vengeance.   

THE MYSTERY OF CENTRAL PARK – This includes both versions of Nellie’s first novel, inspired by real-life events. I started the list with Eva the Adventuress because it had a female central character. The Mystery of Central Park is a detective story with a male protagonist.

The dead body of a beautiful woman is discovered on a bench in Central Park. It was discovered by Dick Treadwell and his lady love Penelope, who has declined his marriage proposal until he gets serious about life.

When the mystery surrounding the dead woman becomes a New York City sensation and Dick himself winds up suspected of foul play, Penelope tells him she will marry him if he can solve what the newspapers are calling “the Mystery of Central Park.”

Mr. Treadwell follows his investigation through high society to the proverbial seedy underbelly of 1889 New York City, ultimately solving the mystery and saving another woman from suffering the same fate as the woman on the park bench.

ALTA LYNN, M.D. – In this novel, Bly presents the tale of our title heroine. Alta and her girl chum Pet Darlington are on a riding jaunt with two young beaus when, for a lark, they take part in what they think is a mock wedding ceremony.

Horrified to find out the wedding was real and binding, Alta runs off to New York City, where she dedicates herself to becoming a physician. Three years later, she is Alta Lynn, M.D. and after a few years in practice she is hired as the personal physician to the wealthy Osbornes.

The Osbornes are Soap Opera material and while getting caught up in the family’s dramas Alta comes face to face with her unwanted husband. Readers get fallout from that, plus murder, blackmail, suicide and dark scandals.

IN LOVE WITH A STRANGER – Believe it or not, Nellie’s heroine in this novel is named Kit Harrington! I’m not joking. Free-spirited Kit falls madly in love with a handsome stranger during a streetcar ride but fails to get his name.

After losing her mother and cut off by her foster sister Vida, Kit throws herself into tracking down the man who stole her heart on a streetcar that day. What results is a veritable Nellie Bly Dime Novel as our main character’s quest finds her posing as a messenger boy, a maid, a poker player, a fortune teller, an actress and even a train conductor!   

As you may have guessed, when she finds the man, millionaire Howell Humphrey, he turns out to be romantically involved with Kit’s foster sister. As the ladies compete for the millionaire, one of Howell’s friends falls in love with Kit.

And what would a romantic triangle be without kidnapping, a hurricane and a train derailment?

LITTLE LUCKIE – Beautiful Luckie Thurlow, daughter of a gypsy woman, gets a break when her school friend Elise Kendall introduces Luckie to her wealthy family and to High Society in general.

Our title figure dazzles all the men, especially plutocratic heir Lloyd Stockton. But since Lloyd is a nice guy Luckie instead falls for his roguish cousin, the womanizing Harry Portland.

Luckie’s mother has her own hidden agenda and tries forcing her daughter to marry Stockton, while a female admirer of Stockton wants her rival Luckie eliminated. A wild card gets thrown into the mix when a young man promised our heroine’s hand in marriage long years earlier shows up.

The new man is of the “if I can’t have you nobody can” mindset and things play out from there.

NEW YORK BY NIGHT – Ruby Sharpe, reporter for the Daily Planet (Nellie Bly worked for the real life New York World), sets out to solve the robbery of a half-million dollars in diamonds. She is not alone in the investigation.

Ruby’s rivals are police detective Murray Hazard as well as the adventurous Lionel Dangerfield, nicknamed “The Danger.” (No, not the Situation – the Danger.) Amid the competition to solve the robbery and recover the diamonds, the charming Lionel and determined Ruby pool their leads and wind up falling for each other. 

The duo hunt the daring jewel thief known as Admiral Great (No, not Commodore Spiffy – Admiral Great.) through the night-darkened, deadly streets of New York City. Readers get shocks galore when it turns out Ruby is withholding information.  

THE LOVE OF THREE GIRLS – With Christmas approaching, sixteen-year-old Christmas Cherry (NOT a porn starlet) runs away from her foster home on New York City’s Blackwell’s Island. On Christmas Day, homeless and jobless, our main character meets and falls for George Chesterland.     

Chesterland offers Christmas a job, then winds up diving into the Hudson River to save a young lady who jumped in to kill herself. The rescued woman – Amor Escandon – is as beautiful as Christmas Cherry.

Amor ran away from home after witnessing her wealthy father commit a heinous crime. The two girls get work and compete for George’s affections. When they are settled into the home of a poor cab driver named Day, his gorgeous daughter Lillian also falls for Chesterland and fights for him. 

The wealthy Amor is tracked down by one of her sinister suitors, Matteo Blanco, who threatens to expose the crime of Amor’s father if she doesn’t marry him. Matteo also plots to have Amor as a bride PLUS Christmas and Lillian as mistresses on the side.   

LITTLE PENNY, THE CHILD OF THE STREETS – Bly lapsed into a bit of Dime Novel repetition as she went on. This novel begins with Penny Pendleton, a poor girl who walks with a crutch, getting evicted when her father is found guilty of murder.

Penny gets aid from young physician Claude Lansdale, whose struggling practice is in the poorer part of the city. Aline Gwynne also falls in with Dr. Lansdale, who talks his fiancee Miss Ray Willard into taking the girls into her home.

Aline’s wealthy father was threatened with financial ruin by the powerful Felix Arrington unless she married him, and that is why she ran away from home. All three ladies want Dr. Lansdale’s heart, but Felix Arrington enters the picture, determined to have Ray Willard as a bride and Penny & Aline as women on the side.

PRETTY MERRIBELLE – A change of pace this time as Merribelle Harleigh, a beautiful poor woman who works in a box factory, is our heroine. When the box factory catches fire, Lotta Loring, envious of Merribelle’s beauty, ambushes her and leaves her to die in the blaze.

The unconscious Merribelle is saved from the flames by handsome and wealthy Cedric Sutherland. When she comes to, our heroine suffers from amnesia and this enables the sinister Frank Ashley, Cedric’s cousin, to try stealing our hero’s fortune.

Ashley’s plot involves convincing the confused Merribelle that she is really a young woman named Rosalind. Frank maneuvers “Rosalind” and Cedric into marrying each other (this is a weird plan), then he fakes the bride’s death.

Her body is discovered by Cedric’s neighbor, the equally wealthy Granville Norcross. When Merribelle regains consciousness this time, her memory has been restored. She and Granville fall in love, prompting further villainous action by Lotta Loring and Frank Ashley.

TWINS AND RIVALS – Twin ladies Dimple and Della are very close but they have very different views regarding marriage.

Dimple plans to marry a wealthy sugar daddy and thereby raise the whole family out of poverty. Della feels that marriage should be all about finding love with your true match, no matter how rich or poor they are.

The designing Dimple lands a crusty old millionaire named Darlington for a husband but as time rolls on, Nellie Bly uses the euphemisms of the time period to let us know that the old codger doesn’t satisfy his young bride in any capacity.

While dealing with the loneliness of her loveless marriage, Dimple feels that she has at last found true love when she falls for Della’s fiance. The expected Soap Opera antics follow. 

WAYNE’S FAITHFUL SWEETHEART – Dorette Lover (where did Bly get some of these names) is an artist’s model whose income supports both herself and her elderly, blind mother.

One day Dorette comes across a dead body with a blood-spattered man standing over it. Dorette is convinced that the man did not kill the victim and swears she will never testify against him.

The man – the rich Wayne Webb – is terrified that she may have to testify if the police investigation goes the wrong way. Ludicrously, he talks Dorette into marrying him since spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other.

The two wed, with Dorette treated terribly by Wayne’s snobbish family who consider an artist’s model to be almost a prostitute. Unexpectedly, Wayne’s former lady Cora Woodworth clears Wayne of any possibility of suspicion regarding the murder.   

Cora wants Wayne back, but his marriage to Dorette stands in the way. Dark secrets emerge regarding Dorette’s now-missing mother and mysterious side characters, including Herman Van Dyke, one of the artists that our main character has modeled for.