Mabel Walker Willebrandt: A Real-Life, Powerful Woman of the 1920s
By Jess Montgomery
March 5, 2021In my Kinship Historical Mystery Series, Lily Ross serves as Sheriff of Bronwyn County in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio, in the 1920s. Lily’s character is inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff—Maude Collins, who became sheriff of Vinton County in 1925 after her husband was killed in the line of duty. (In real life,…