The Third Duke book & other items, including a deal

Curious about the Cossack trousers Cassandra wore? Here’s the inspiration. Cossack trousers United Kingdom Textiles and Fashion Collection. 1820-1830 (made) Artist/Maker: Unknown Materials and Techniques: ilk, lined with cotton, hand-sewn. Credit Line: Given by Mr Frederick Gill Museum number: T.197-1914. Copyright: © Victoria and Albert Museum

So many readers have asked about the third Difficult Dukes book that, with apologies, I’m going to have to respond here rather than in individual replies.

Alice & Blackwood’s story is in process. The goal is publication in 2022. If I could write faster, I would, but this is the way it goes nowadays, to my everlasting frustration.

Meanwhile, I’ll be continuing to stay in touch via this blog, Facebook, and Instagram. There will be pictures, lots of pictures, and information of varying degrees of historical nerdiness. Also, now and again on Instagram, there will be a giveaway.

For a set of images specifically related to individual books, please check out my Pinterest Page. If you would like to know more about any of the images, please email me, and I’ll be happy to write a blog post about it. The same applies to any puzzling elements in my books that you would like explained. I think it’s really fun to talk about social history: clothing, vehicles, manners, and so on. That’s part of the reason I write historical romance. For me, research is just delightful. It’s like playing Sherlock Holmes with history.

In other news:

A DEAL—The eBook edition of Royal Bridesmaids, an anthology that includes my novella, Lord Lovedon’s Duel, is for a limited time available for $0.99. Please be aware that these are short pieces, definitely not full-length novels. I’d need another three hundred-plus pages for that.



The Singing Bird Pistols

Readers familiar with my short story, “Lord Lovedon’s Duel,” (recently reissued in the Royal Bridesmaids anthology and one of the two stories in the Royally Ever After duet) will remember the Singing Bird Pistols. In case anybody was wondering, yes, they’re real.

Some years ago, reader Ammie sent me a link she believed a Nerdy History Girl like me would enjoy. I was wowed, and the pistols became part of the inspiration for the novella.

This link will take you to the video I watched over and over: The Only Known Pair of Matching Singing Bird Pistols – Attributed to Frères Rochat | Christie's.

I and others did wonder how the pistols had survived, let alone survived in pristine condition. Apparently, they weren’t pristine. This video, which another reader, Kafryn W Lieder, was so good as to send me, tells the impressive story of their restoration.

Since not everybody’s screen of choice works quite the same, and some people who receive the blog via email see only a square, rectangle, or blank where the video ought to be, below are the respective links to the videos with their YouTube titles.

The Only Known Pair of Matching Singing Bird Pistols – Attributed to Frères Rochat | Christie's
Parmigiani Fleurier - Restoration "The Pistol and its Songbird"

Royal Bridesmaids has been reissued

When Prince William and Kate Middleton got hitched a few years ago, Avon Books invited three historical romance authors—Stephanie Laurens, Gaelen Foley, and me—to contribute to some royal wedding-related anthologies. The first of these was, fittingly, Royal Weddings, which included “The Jilting of Lord Northwick,” my first effort, in many years, to write a short story. I set the story on the day before Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert. That tale must have worked out all right because I was invited to join the same stellar author lineup for Royal Bridesmaids.

Avon has recently reissued this anthology with a lovely new cover. If you missed it the first time around, you might want to check it out. Then you might want to take a look at some of my forthcoming blog posts dealing with the historical background.