Spring seems to be here in Minneapolis and the bicyclists are out in droves. Mary MacDougall does a spot of cycling on Mackinac Island in her new mystery, A DAUGHTER’S DOUBT, out on Kindle this Tuesday. Her biking outfit was sewn by her seamstress. But if she had needed to buy one, it might have looked like this ensemble that I came across in Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from “La Mode Illustrée” (Dover).

The caption describes it as a “Bicycling costume. Dark gray homespun with stitched homespun piping. The lined skirt is divided to form trousers.”

Mary enjoys bicycling, but I’m thinking an automobile is in her future. Just in time, as 1902 (the year the new story takes place) saw the founding of the American Automobile Association (AAA) in Chicago.