"Lord of Scoundrels" eBook deal—$1.99

Another month, another great deal.

Lord of Scoundrels is an extra special book for me. Years ago, a visit to Dartmoor, Devon, England took me to a place and into a powerful atmosphere I’d never forget. Something about that experience worked a kind of alchemy in my mind, creating a hero, heroine, and story that came together almost all at once. When I settled down to write, the story played in my mind like a movie, scene after scene. For a plodding writer like me, this is magic, and rare, indeed. But the writing gods smiled on me then, and the book went on to become my most popular, winning many awards.

Now it’s on sale. From 1 February to 1 March, Lord of Scoundrels is a Kindle Monthly Deal, priced at a mere $1.99—and when Kindle creates a deal, the other eBook retailers usually follow. This means Nook, Apple Books, and others are likely to let you have Dain and Jessica’s story for the same low price.

JMW Turner, Dartmoor-The Source of the Tamar & the Torridge ca. 1813. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

If you haven’t read their story yet—if you haven’t met Bertie and Genevieve and the others, now’s your chance, at low risk. Or, if you’ve already read it, maybe you’d like to make a Valentine’s Day or other kind of gift—and possibly lure others into reading my books. That’s OK. I won’t mind a bit.

Cruikshank's Prints in "Ten Things I Hate About the Duke": Jealousy

“Jealousy” by George Cruikshank, 1 November 1825, courtesy Lewis Walpole Library.

Once again, I recommend you click on the link, in order to zoom in on the image and enjoy the details. Apparently, the letter signed “Anonymous,” under the gentleman’s hand, suggests that his lady is untrue, and several images suggest that her lover is an officer. At least two of the imps wear cuckold’s horns, one pointing to the lady who’s climbing down the rope ladder to run off with an officer, while the night watchman . . . watches the proceedings. The other is offering green spectacles, suggesting that Our Hero see more clearly? Or view through the lens of jealousy?

The wigged men in black are apparently lawyers, probably suggesting a “criminal conversation” or crim con case. A pistol is introducing itself, as a weapon for a duel (the outcome of that is suggested on the mantel), murder, or suicide, while hanging is another option (aided by another imp). The two books on the floor are Byron’s Don Juan, the long poem about the famous lover (well worth reading, it’s witty and brilliant) and the Cuckoo Song Book (another cuckold reference). The painting on the right portrays Othello smothering Desdemona. The one above the gentleman’s head appears to be titled “Horn Fair,” another cuckold warning.

If we search online, we find some slightly different interpretations of the details in Cruikshank’s prints. Do you see anything I’ve missed? Or would you interpret some of the details differently?

Those Cruikshank Prints In "Ten Things I Hate About You": 'The Blue Devils'

George Crukshank, The Blue Devils, 10 January 1823, courtesy Harvard Library

This is the first post about the Cruikshank prints mentioned in the book, with some notes about the imagery. The Cruikshank images Ashmont has in his dressing room must have been quite popular, because they were reprinted at later dates, sometimes as late as a decade or more after the original. Unfortunately, it’s difficult if not impossible to get all the jokes and references in 19th-century satirical prints, but I’ll offer clues where I can. I do strongly urge you to click on the links, so that you can view the images enlarged, and note the many, clever little details.

“Pray remember the poor debtors”—reference to a window at debtors' prison where prisoners begged for money to pay their prison expenses. Clearly, the subject of the illustration is up the River Tick, as he might say. Also: A blue devil blowing his brains out. A blue devil offering a razor, for throat cutting. Another imp offering a noose. A gentleman presenting an IOU, tapping on our hero's shoulder. A pickpocket—likely to find only lint. Inside the fireplace, a grate containing no coal but a list of what’s owing to coal merchants.

A set of paintings deals with catastrophes: a shipwreck, a burning building, a domestic quarrel growing violent. Then there’s the empty bottle, the overdue bill, the funeral parade , with the Beadle (a parish officer) leading the way.

The Miseries of Human Life, first published in 1806, was extremely popular, and continued to be reprinted. Thomas Rowlandson, among others, illustrated scenes from the book. You can read more about that here at the Princeton University site. An image search on line will show you many of the illustrations, and you can find countless editions of the book online.

Buchan's Domestic Medicine, originally published in 1769 and continuing to be updated and printed long after Buchan’s death, was a famous book of home medicine, used all over the world. This is also available online.

The book labeled Ennui appears to contain poetry. As I discovered in researching Vixen in Velvet, there’s an abundance of lugubrious poetry from this era, featuring what we might consider an unhealthy preoccupation with death, especially the death of the young and beautiful. Unfortunately, the poets and their readers had good reason to be preoccupied. Medical practice was more or less insane, by our standards, and a common cold or a sliver could kill in a time long before antibiotics existed. Women died in childbirth all too frequently.

Have I missed anything? Cruikshank is so imaginative—and oh, what a career!