Elizabeth DeLozier: Submerge Yourself in Writing Culture

Elizabeth DeLozier holds a BA in Spanish literature, a BS in Biological Anthropology, and a doctorate in physical therapy. An avid traveler, animal lover, and history nerd, she lives in Southern California with her husband, twin sons, and rescue dogs. Follow her on Instagram.

In this interview, Elizabeth discusses how a Jack the Ripper tour in London helped inspire her new historical fantasy, The Whitechapel Full Moon Society, her advice for other writers, and more.

Name: Elizabeth DeLozier
Literary agent: Stacy Testa
Book title: The Whitechapel Full Moon Society
Publisher: Dutton
Release date: August 25, 2026
Genre/category: Historical fantasy, mystery
Previous titles: Eleanore of Avignon
Elevator pitch: Caroline Foster arrives on the steps of The Whitechapel Full Moon Society, a men’s boarding house in London’s notorious East End, in search of her missing brother. But when a man who calls himself Jack the Ripper begins to murder women with a connection to the society, Caroline fears she may have unwittingly stumbled into a bedtime story, the kind with monsters and curses, family secrets and ancient lore.

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I think the original seed for this novel was planted way back in 2017, when I traveled to London with my best friend. She had studied abroad there, and one of her favorite touristy experiences had been a tour of “Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel”. Her guide, she said, wore a scarlet cape and a top hat and snuck up behind her to whisper things like “This is where he SLAUGHTERED THEM!” Being a nasty little ghoul, I couldn’t wait.

But the tour that we signed up for was not like that. Not at all.

Our guide was a palpably embarrassed history graduate student who went on and on about the wretched lives of London’s working poor. He must have spent half an hour lecturing us about the workhouse system. But most of all, he explained that the women Jack the Ripper murdered were victims, first and foremost, of a society that regarded them as disposable, simply because they had the misfortune of being born poor and female. Although it was not the grisly fun afternoon I had hoped for, I was very affected by walking the streets where these women worked and lived and raised children before dying under Jack’s blade.

I honestly don’t know where the supernatural twist came from. I remember sitting at a dinner party after selling Eleanore of Avignon, and someone asked, “What are you going to write next?” And I said, “Something about Jack the Ripper meets werewolves.” That was it. Sometimes ideas just land like that, completely out of one’s control or conscious thought.

The original idea arrived somewhere in the spring of 2023, and I started working furiously to have an outline and draft before I gave birth to twins in November. By the following spring, I had a pretty solid idea for a novel and the first 50 pages. At that time, it was a very different story: The protagonist was male and the vibe was much more fantastical. My agent pitched it to Cassidy Sachs at Dutton, who loved the idea, but after discussing with the marketing team, decided the protagonist should be a woman. Because women moved through the world so differently than men in 1888, it was not as simple as swapping out pronouns—I had to reimagine the world, and Caroline’s place within it.

I learned a lot about the publishing world during the writing and publication of this book. With Eleanore, I was a complete novice. There is so much going on behind the scenes with the publicity and marketing departments that we as authors never hear about. With Whitechapel, I knew a bit more about what was coming and felt more confident voicing opinions or asking questions. After the manuscript was accepted, my editor asked if I would be open to changing the format from hardcover to paperback. This, she explained, would make it an easier sell to large retailers (i.e. Target, Barnes and Noble) and offer a more attractive price tag during a moment of historically high inflation. Even though a paperback release versus a hardcover release means a lower royalty rate for me, it made sense to get this book into as many hands as possible. Can’t wait to find out if the gamble paid off!

This was a challenging book to write! I sold it on proposal, meaning I wrote the first three sample chapters and a detailed outline. Then, when the deal was signed, I had to sit down and write the book. About halfway through the first draft, I couldn’t write any further. I had never written a mystery before, so revealing clues and maintaining the sense of danger, especially while trying to maintain some semblance of historical accuracy, was very hard. I knew how the novel ended, but I did not know how to get my characters from Act 2 to Act 3. Luckily, I have an amazing editorial partner in Cassidy Sachs. We put our heads together and reworked the plot from the very beginning with some major changes that I won’t reveal here for fear of spoiling the biggest twist.

I hope it keeps them up past their bedtime! And I hope that they will realize, as I did, that their fascination should lie not with Jack, the mysterious killer who we continue to picture as larger than life, but with the women he killed. They were mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives. They lived in a world that shares a disturbing number of similarities with our own. I hope that readers will be inspired to look past the façade at the person beneath, who has lived a life which we can only guess at, and to choose kindness as often as possible.

Don’t give up! The process of writing and publishing a novel is a marathon, not a sprint. Submerge yourself in writing culture: Listen to publishing podcasts, read author and editor interviews, and join a writing group, even if it’s a remote one. Read widely. Listen to audiobooks. Take feedback from respected sources, whether that’s agent rejections or a writer whose work you admire. Keep writing and rewriting. All it takes is one yes for this dream to come true.