The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady

Like the other books in the Darling Dahlias series, this sixth mystery takes place during the Depression. The previous book, The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush, was set in spring 1933, shortly after the March inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to whom the nation had turned for salvation (that isn’t too strong a word) from the disastrous economic situation in which America found itself. Banks were flat broke, people were out of work, businesses were out of customers, families were out of money for food and rent, and almost everybody in the country was out of luck. The song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” which depicted the nation’s anger at the destruction of the American dream, was on many people’s lips.

But by the summer of 1934, things were looking up for the fictional town of Darling—and for real towns all over the United States—partly because of the impact of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC was the New Deal’s earliest and best solution to the most baffling riddle of the Depression: how to create meaningful work for unemployed men and ensure that their wages went to support their families. A public works program, the CCC operated from 1933 to 1942, employing young unmarried men from relief families in conservation and natural resource development projects on rural land owned by federal, state, and local governments, and on some private lands. By President Roosevelt’s executive order, the CCC also employed veterans of World War I, many of whom were destitute and had joined the 1932 Bonus Army, attempting to persuade Congress to give them the promised bonuses they weren’t scheduled to receive until 1945. In return for their labor, the men received shelter, clothing, food, and a stipend of $30 a month, $25 of which was automatically sent home to their families.

Throughout the nine-year life of the program, nearly three million men lived in some 2,600 CCC work camps in every state and territory. The workers planted more than three billion trees, constructed or upgraded more than eight hundred parks nationwide, fought forest fires, built dams, and constructed service buildings and public roads. Administered by the U.S. Army and staffed by Army officers, the camps imposed a quasi-military discipline that took some getting used to. But the food was probably better—and certainly more ample—than the workers got back home. Most of the young men discovered that the daily physical labor required by the CCC projects improved their physical conditions, raised their spirits, and, best of all, taught them employable skills.

The camps also benefitted the areas around them. Camp administrators brought in some bulk supplies, but purchased butter, chickens, eggs, milk, bread, beef, pork, potatoes, and fresh vegetables from the local farmers, who were also invited to put in bids for the use of their teams and equipment to help with camp projects. Materials were purchased from local sawmills, gravel pits, and rock quarries. Local women and men supervised the camp kitchens, laundries, and repair shops and administered the educational programs that were such a vital part of the program. And while the CCC boys didn’t have a lot of spare change, they were always glad to spend whatever they had when they went to town on Saturday night for a game of pool, a movie, a milk shake, or a trinket for their best girl. The camp officers, too, were frequent town visitors, and they had more money to spend. In communities close to the camps, these purchases contributed from $5,000 to $7,000 a month to the local economies, saving many small businesses from failure and giving the towns a welcome new lease on life.