Patty's Plus One is Author Dorothea Buckingham This Week!
You're going to love her new novel and we're doing a GIVEAWAY!
Hi, Patty Pagers! I’m excited to have author friend, Dorothea Buckingham, with me today to discuss her new novel, “Code Name Rascal.” Dorothea “Dee” Buckingham is a seasoned author, retired librarian, and dedicated historian who has called Hawaiʻi home for over 30 years. Her profound interest in the daily lives of women during World War II in Hawaiʻi has been the cornerstone of her literary work. Dee’s commitment to uncovering and narrating these often-overlooked stories has established her as a respected voice in historical fiction.
Dee’s notable publications include My Name is Loa, a historical novel set on Molokaʻi, and Who Murdered Jane Stanford?: An Answer Imagined, which delves into the mysterious death of Stanford University’s co-founder in 1905 Hawaiʻi. Additionally, she co-authored World War II Hawaiʻi with her husband, retired Lieutenant Colonel John Buckingham, offering a pictorial history that captures the transformative impact of the war on the islands.
Her latest work, Code Name Rascal, continues her mission to illuminate the vital roles women played during wartime, weaving a narrative that is both historically rich and emotionally resonant.
Dee’s passion for storytelling extends beyond writing; she is an Author Accelerator certified book coach, providing guidance to aspiring writers. Her engaging talks and workshops have been featured on west coast radio and television in Hawaiʻi, and she has presented to diverse audiences, sharing her insights on writing and historical research. Dee enjoys connecting with readers and is available to meet with book clubs and reading groups, both in person and via Zoom, to discuss her work and share insights into her writing process. Read to the end to find out how to win a free copy of CODE NAME RASCAL!
Interview Questions: Dorothea Buckingham
1. What was the inspiration for your book?
Code Name Rascal really began with a deep love for women’s untold stories—especially the ones hiding in plain sight. I was digging into local wartime history in Hawaiʻi, researching, reading war years newspapers, doing interviews, and I kept bumping into these incredible women who were smart, funny, courageous—and invisible. That hit me.
I researched more, attended lectures, wrote library guides about World War 2, and had a column in a local newspaper, “Women of World War 2 Hawai’i.”
Along the way, I met charter members of the Women’s Air Raid Defense unit. (WARD) This was a secret Army Air Corps unit of uniformed civilian women who took the place of male soldiers being sent to the front. The WARDs were radar plotters who were sequestered at Fort Shafter, Oahu and worked in an undisclosed mountain tunnel. I was instantly fascinated by them.
I wrote about them in my column, but the WARDs were only one of many groups I wrote about. Originally, I compiled a collection of these stories with the intention of publishing them, but there was no interest in it by traditional publishers. I knew I wanted to honor the women and realized a fictionalized version was my best prospect. And that’s how I started thinking about a book about the WARDs and CODE NAME RASCAL became an idea fifteen years ago.
I figured by making it a novel, I could also write a “love letter” about women’s friendships. Because, at its root, CODE NAME RASCAL tells the story of women who supported each other, and held each other not only through the war, but through personal crises—and they did it with grit and grace. So, the book technically is not a non-fiction, but it’s quite accurate, and I believe it tells the real story of the war.
2. What does your writing process look like? Are you a Plotter or a Pantser?
Ha! What does my process look like? It’s fifteen years of research, reams of notes, packages of color-coded index cards lined up on the rug and a white board that was erased so many times it’s a rainbow cloud.
CODE NAME RASCAL has four main characters, and it takes place over the first six months of the war in Hawai’i. I needed the dates and events to be as close to fact as possible. So, there was the huge whiteboard with week-by-week incidents.
I needed to know what each of the four characters knew about these incidents and when she knew it and how. That was the rug-map of color-coded index cards that the dog liked to walk through.
Along the way I used Plottr to record what the impact of each incident was on each character, and how the impact on one impacted the other three. So, yes the structure of the plot was an engineering feat!
But when it came to the heart of the journey of each woman, I needed time to “mull.” I mulled over ten years of the fifteen. I took walks, I went to the sites in the story, I workshopped it with critique groups and I asked friends’ opinions.
One of my biggest problems was solved by a woman at the YMCA pool who told me why a particular character would take an action that ran counter to her belief. It was on off-the-cuff, “that’s obvious” answer that I had mulled for at least a year.
During those times when I got stuck, I hid in research. I read 1940’s newspapers, oral histories, memoirs, letters, etc. I was, and still am, on first-name basis with several archivists! And those routine flights of fantasy got me over the “stuckness” and back on track.
3. How do you select your Characters’ Names and your Story’s Location?
The location was the easy part; the book is about the first six-months of World War II in Hawai’i.
Now for the names: I have four main characters. RUTH was the easiest woman to name. She is a third—generation Navy Officer’s Wife who is steadfast, moral and “follows” her husband everywhere. So the Old Testament Ruth who follows her mother-in-law anywhere was an obvious choice.
EVE is a Honolulu socialite. In my mind, she looked like Lauren Bacall. So, I read New York Times wedding announcements of 1941 and Eve was a common name. Eve seemed to fit the character of a coquettish “bachelorette.” Eve Russell seemed a perfect choice.
JANE. I wanted a “plain Jane” name for a rancher’s daughter who would be comfortable with cow pies stuck to the soles of her boots but who also challenges the role of women during that time. My Jane is a pilot. She’s smart, straightforward and simple—like her name. There’s something very “American” about that name. I imagined her with a short hair cut like Amelia Earhardt and a wide-eyed smile.
CJ is a feisty Italian-American straight out of New Jersey and newly graduated from Columbia University School of Journalism. Her given name was Carmela Jean, but she changed it to a gender neuter name because it would get her better odds at a frontpage byline. CJ is as curt as those two letters. I didn’t want any smooth sounds like M or L. Like the character herself, I wanted her name to be assertive.
4. Do you only write the Historical Fiction genre, or do you write in other genres?
I have nine published books. All but two are historical fiction or non-fiction. It’s funny because the first book I wrote was when I was living in Japan. I was taken with sumo and wrote THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO SUMO. I am a librarian, so it was an easy glossary of words and actions. Two publishers wanted it right out of the blocks, and I thought that’s the way it always worked. LOL. Nothing came that easy after that.
I have one contemporary YA novel set in Hawai’i that was an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults selection. All others are historical—either middle grade, cookbook, mystery or this—my first women’s historical fiction.
5. What do you hope the readers will take away from this book?
Two things: An idea of what life was like on Oahu during the war—it was under Martial Law and for the first six months a land invasion was a clear and present danger. I also want them to fall in love with “my ladies.” I chose them to create a glimpse of life from different perspectives: Eve, the affluent Honolulu Caucasian; CJ as a journalist “reports” all that is different about the island life and about the impact on the daily life of civilians due to the war; Ruth shows the life of a military family and the traditional expectation of a wife; Jane who is the transitional woman who measures a bad marriage against career.
I want you to close the book and miss “my ladies.”
6. What question do you wish someone had asked you about your book that no one has?
Why did it take you so long to write this book?
At 76, I’m finally old enough to tell the story. I studied writing craft for years, I am an outstanding researcher, I know how to get published. I had all the elements of the book, but no story because I suffered from hero worship of these ladies.
The first World War II civilian story I read about was Gussie Ornellas who lost two daughters and a nephew on December 7 due to faulty American explosives. I didn’t know how Gussie got up the next morning.
Then I read about the Cherry Blossom Saimin Stand in Chinatown. The shopkeeper Mrs. Hirasaki lost her forty-eight-year-old husband, an eight-year-old son, a six-year-old son, and a two-year-old daughter. Again, I wondered how she got up the next day. I knew I had to tell their stories.
Then I met women who took the jobs of men during the war and women who left their husbands because they became economically independent, and through it all I began to worship them as heroes. It took me years to get over that and create fallible characters who were credible.
Don’t get me wrong, I still suffer from hero worship, but I separated them from fictionalized characters and that’s what took me so long to write this book.
7. What are you working on now?
I’m thinking about a dual timeline historical mystery to uncover the mystery of the fiction murder of one of the characters in CODE NAME RASCAL. The woman is Jean O’Hara, a Chinatown prostitute who in real life, organized a sex strike to protest the strict control of sex workers by the police. I may even have the murder take place at Eve Russell’s estate. (Jean O’Hara was not murdered. She returned to the mainland.) But before I start another book, I need a month of naps.
Book Review: Code Name Rascal by Dorothea (Dee) Buckingham
I devoured Code Name Rascal in a matter of days. We meet our four main female characters as they go about their business in the sunny climate of December 1941 Hawaii. What these women have in common are their love for the United States and their desire to serve our country. Some of them find it easier than others. After the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and the surrounding islands, these four women along with other brave women, volunteer to serve in a secret Army unit to help plot out the location of the enemy.
Dorothea (Dee) Buckingham displays her far-reaching knowledge in her own substack, Link below.
She has years of research, interviews, and travel under her smart, Librarian belt. She pulls from this deep vault of knowledge to craft a suspenseful, heart-touching women’s fiction story of how these four women came together and changed each other. I can picture each of them in my imagination from Dee’s vivid descriptions. But more importantly, I could feel each indrawn breath, each heartbeat, each hug, and each thought as they shared their loves and losses together. Of all the women, a female pilot named Jane, tugs at my heart most as I can see her clearly in the frame of my research into the Women Airforce Service Pilots. But you may find tough CJ, beautiful Eve, or dedicated Ruth more your favorite. You can’t go wrong and their friendships steers this deep, personal story.
Code Name Rascal is a thrilling, personal story as old as time. Based on a true unit, these brave women changed their world and World War II. And like so many women in history, they have been written off as an experiment during a war. Code Name Rascal brings to life their bravery as well as their friendship. They changed each other and changed the war. A resounding, heart-felt story worthy of 5 Stars!
Find it on Bookshop.org or Amazon.
To Enter: (Click here or the picture above.)
Sign up for both Dorothea (Dee) Buckingham’s and my Newsletter. Click this link!
You have a week to sign up. Just make sure you sign up by 12 Midnight on
December 17th, 2025.
Dorothea has generously agreed to give an eBook version of Code Name Rascal away to One U.S. Winner!
Enter today, and we will announce the winner on both our social media accounts on December 18th, 2025!!
Remember Books Make the Best Gifts! Feisty Deeds: Historical Fictions of Daring Women, an anthology of 23 historical fiction stories that have something for everyone, including my story, Junebug, which starts on page 198. You can purchase a paperback copy or ebook on Amazon, BookBub, Kobo, and Barnes&Nobles.
I am also excited to announce that Feisty Deeds II with my story, Love Happily Ever After, will be released on December 12, 2025 in time for the Holidays. It is now available on NetGalley and for Presales!
You can find me at:
My website, (pattywwarren.com); Instagram, (@pattywwarren);
BookBub (Patty W Warren); Facebook (Patty W Warren, Author).
Thanks for reading Patty’s Pages ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
Yay, giveaways! Dee's book sounds intriguing. I'm eager to get it on my TBR.
Patty, this is terrific! Well done. Greg