Mr. Winthrop Benley, father of Dora Benley, heroine of Edward Ware Thrillers at War, makes his name in the industrial Pittsburgh of the early twentieth century. He is President of Benley Tire and Rubber, later to become Benley Tire and Auto after he takes over his son-in-law’s inherited company, Adolphus Motors. As a first generation German American, he is very conservative. He becomes the chief financier of the America First Movement between the wars. He believes America should mind its own business and not get involved in Europe’s messed up affairs. This notion is totally at odds with his daughter’s marriage to Colonel Sir Edward Ware and his son-in-law’s allegiance to Winston Churchill.
Mr. Winthrop Benley and his wife, Etta May Benley, Dora’s mother, maintain three estates —- one in King of Prussia outside Philadelphia called Maymont, one on Coronado Island in San Diego Harbor, and his home base in the South Hills of Pittsburgh in a subdivision called Oakhurst. Each house has its place in the Edward Ware Thrillers at War Series. The home base in Pittsburgh is featured in book one, Key to Lawrence Special Edition. The San Diego house is central to the alternative history thriller, Dark Horse, about the Republican Convention in Philadelphia in 1940. And Maymont makes its appearance in various novels starting with Key to Lawrence Special Edition.
The novel would be a much less interesting place without Etta May Benley and Winthrop Benley.