Lady Clara's book is in production

Because so many readers ask, I'm guessing the news isn't easy to find on the website, so a blog post seems in order.

Yes, indeed, I have written Lady Clara's story. It's titled Dukes Prefer Blondes, and scheduled for publication in 2016. I'd heard January 2016, but that might have changed, since I was late delivering the manuscript.  But I've completed the revisions, and it's now in the hands of the copy editor. Which means it will return to me in a couple of weeks for another going-over.

The image, from the Magazine of the Beau Monde, is one of the ensembles Lady Clara wears in an early chapter.

 

Manga editions of Lord of Scoundrels and Mr. Impossible

When these arrived at my house, I went nuts. I'd never supposed my books would ever make it into this format.  So that was one thing.  The other was how spectacularly well done they were, down to historical detail, but also in terms of beautifully realized scenes. 

Even without being able to read Japanese, one has no trouble recognizing Lord of Scoundrels. So Jess's clothes are a bit later than 1829—more like 1835—but they are excellent for the time period chosen! And how did the artist manage to make her look so sexy in those clothes?  Not to mention the swoon quality of Lord Dain.  Oh, and the humor!

The same great stuff happens in Mr. Impossible, with Rupert captured so beautifully, in all his dashing recklessness.  And Daphne in her turban!

Yes, both books are highly abridged: My stories are included in four-book collections, as near as I can make out. Thus, Mr. Impossible's cast of thousands is streamlined to about a dozen—thereby reducing the number of murder victims somewhat—and Marigold, alas, does not appear.  But the significant scenes are there, and splendidly realized. I imagine, if anybody ever made a screenplay of these books, the movie would narrow down to such scenes.

Because these are in 1-1/4 inch thick books, scanning was tricky.  But I hope these samples give you the general idea.  Since there's very little English, I am not positive about publication dates.  However the spines give 2014-8 for Lord of Scoundrels and 2014-9 for Mr. Impossible, so one deduces August and September 2014 respectively.

If you've read Mr. Impossible, you'll recognize the scene below. Sorry about the weird spacing, but I can't always get Squarespace to do exactly what I want.

The Fox Under the Hill

Some historical notes, part of my illustrated guide to The Last Hellion*—

Fox Under the Hill

The characters appear in a number of London eating and drinking establishments, most of which I discovered in the works of Charles Dickens. One interesting place is the Fox Under the Hill. This tavern (not to be confused by others of the same name) was at No. 75 in the Strand, and vanished when the Victoria Embankment was built.

"When Dickens was a boy—and an unhappy boyhood was his—he used to resort to a little riverside tavern close to the Adelphi arches, which was known as the Fox under the Hill. It was an almost picturesque shanty, and you could look down on it from the Adelphi Terrace or from the 'gallery' at the bottom of the next street.  Its tarnished signboard could be read as you looked. It seemed a smuggling, disreputable sort of haunt enough. It lingered on, however, until a very few years ago, when it was swept away to make room for the monster buildings on the Salisbury Estate."

—Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald, Bozland: Dickens' Places and People (1895)

You can read more about it here and here.  More images here and here.

*Recently released in audio format.

A shorter version of this blog post appeared earlier at Two Nerdy History Girls.