Farewell, Ms. Dereske

My friend Jo Dereske died this year. Like me, she was an academic librarian who lived most of her life in Bellingham, Washington.  She was also a very talented author of mystery novels.

Her most popular books were mystery novels starring  Wilhelmina Zukas, who worked in the public library in Bellehaven, Washington.  (Part of the joke here is that one well-loved neighborhood of Bellingham is named Fairhaven.)  Jo said that she created a fictional version of our city so that she could move a ferry and eliminate a mall.  

It is strange to have such a close relationship between fictional and real places.  Several people told Jo that they used to live in the same apartment building as Miss Zukas, but that building didn't actually exist. 

So what is Helma Zukas like?  Smart, introverted, private, small, neat...the word repressed comes to mind.  Elevators terrify her.  She reluctantly adopts a cat as aloof as herself and since she refuses to name him the vet calls him Boy Cat Zukas.  

Clearly Dereske was playing with the stereotype of the librarian.  But most people in the field loved Miss Zukas.

Because Helma is far too complex and interesting to be a mere stereotype.  Quiet and introverted, yes.  But meek?  Never.  In almost every book she stuns quarrelers into silence with her “silver dime voice.”  In one novel she destroys library records so that the police can’t violate the privacy of a book borrower - in spite of the fact that the police chief, the wonderfully named Wayne Gallant, is her will-they-or-won't-they love interest.

So Helma is a force to be reckoned with.  Now, consider her best friend since fifth grade, Ruth Winthrop.  Ruth is an artist.  She is tall (and wears heels to emphasize it).  She is also loud, brassy, dresses in wild colors and is as easy with men as Helma is not.  Although these two opposites would gladly take a bullet for each other, they can't stand to be in the same room for more than an hour.  Dereske has received many emails from women asking "How do you know about me and my best friend?"

By the way, Jo used to get complaints from readers: "Why did you make Miss Zukas so ugly?"  Well, she was short and had a stubborn lock of hair that fell on her forehead.  Those are the only physical characteristics that are ever mentioned.  Anything else is just in their imaginations.

Clearly author had great ability to connect to her audience. At a conference once she read from Miss Zukas in Death's Shadow a passage in which our heroine refuses to pay what she considers an unjust traffic ticket and is forced to do community service at a homeless shelter.  This included creating a database of the shelters' donors.

Alphabetization resembled assembly-line work, or walking, or what Helma had heard meditation was supposed to be like: mindless, comfortable, nearly a fugue state.  She was unaware of anyone coming or going and worked in a state of silence, only noting occasionally a bead of sweat trickling between her breasts… Her hands flew, paper rustled.  To those who lived by the alphabet, there was something as soothing as a lullaby in the dependability of its order.

When Jo read this I heard embarrassed giggles around me from people who recognized the sensation.   

The first eleven books were published by Avon, which then chose not to renew the contract.  Jo had no complaints; she understood that sales and the economy forced the decision, and she was willing to call the series over.

But her readers insisted  the saga needed an ending.  So Jo self-published Farewell, Miss Zukas,  which ties up most of the  loose strings of the story and brings our heroine to a happy ending.

And speaking of happy endings, I will finish with a favorite passage from Miss Zukas And The Island Murders:

On [Miss Zukas'] desk blotter lay a week-old newspaper article listing ten books a local group, calling themselves Save Your Kids, demanded be withdrawn from the library collection.  Two of the books, including Madonna's SEX, weren't even owned by the library, although twenty-three patrons had requested them since the article appeared…

Eve pointed to the Save Your Kids article on Helma's desk and stuck out her lower lip.  "Why ban Little Red Riding Hood?  What did SHE ever do?"

"I believe it was the wolf who did it," Helma said.  "But don't worry, she's safe.  Fortunately, the Constitution's still in effect."

Farewell, Jo.