Today I’m giving up my Monday for a special guest! Mia Marlowe. Mia was a classically trained soprano, who learned storytelling from performing operatic roles. Now she’s an award winning author. Her work was even featured in the Best of 2010 issue of PEOPLE Magazine. Today, Mia is here to talk about A Knack for Trouble, her novella in IMPROPER GENTLEMEN.
“Suspense abounds in Marlowe’s Victorican A Knack for Trouble! The stories all will appeal to fans of antiheroes and historical romance.” — Publishers Weekly
“A sizzling tale, Mia Marlowe’s A Knack for Trouble is a delightfully humorous and suspense-filled read that will keep you guessing.” — Romance Junkies
First of all, thanks for having me here at Risky Regencies, Diane! I love this site.
Tell us about A Knack for Trouble, your novella in IMPROPER GENTLEMEN.
A Knack for Trouble is the story of Aidan Danaher. Against all odds, he’s become Lord Stonemere and the English side of his family is scandalized by an Irish baron in Wiltshire! Of course, the fact that he also spent time in the penal colony on Bermuda doesn’t help. However, Aidan’s real gift for trouble is related to his “Knack”–a Celtic ability of being able to implant an idea in another person’s mind. Think of it as a Jedi Mind Trick, but delivered with buckets of Irish charm!
What was the inspiration for A Knack for Trouble?
My DH and took a cruise to Bermuda last year and had a chance to tour Royal Dock and the Commissioner’s House, which was built by Irish convict labor in 1827. The place had built in conflict and the idea of the commissioner’s daughter having an illicit affair with the leader of the Irish prisoners took shape in my mind.
What is risky about the story?
Forbidden love is always risky. The tale opens with Aidan sneaking out of the airless ship at the dock that held the prisoners and scaling the outside of Commissioners House to join Rosalinde in a secret tryst. If you’d like to read that scene, here’s a SECRET LINK to the excerpt!
Another reason this story is risky is that while Aidan confessed to murder to protect someone else, now he wants to clear his name. To do that, he and Rosalinde have to uncover the real killer, who obviously doesn’t want anyone poking into the past.
Oh! if you’re collecting Romance Trading Cards, I’d love to send you set of my heroes. Visit my website for details on how you can receive Aidan Danaher and friends in your mailbox!
Did you come across any interesting research while writing A Knack for Trouble?
Part of the story takes place on Aidan’s estate in Wiltshire, a lovely part of England famous for its Chalk Horses carved into the hillside turf. And part of the tale takes place on Bermuda, one of the few British outposts that didn’t have an indigenous population to displace when the first shipwrecked settlers straggled ashore. The Brits always recreated their culture wherever they went and as you can see from this photo, Commissioners House is a jewel of late Regency architecture. If you’d like to see more pics of this lovely place, please visit my blog about this special setting.
Did you and your fellow anthology mates collaborate on the stories?
No, we didn’t, but we all had the same mandate–that our heroes needed to be outside the box. I didn’t think I could get much further beyond the Regency pale than a hero who spent time as a convicted felon.
What is next for you?
Thanks for asking! I’m so excited about my next release–SINS OF THE HIGHLANDER! Speaking of collaborations, this is my first novel written with romance legend Connie Mason. Since Connie’s readers are used to globetrotting, the tale is set in 16th century Scotland. If a slightly mad hero and a heroine who has the Sight sounds like your kind of story, I hope you’ll put SINS OF THE HIGHLANDER on your list. I’ll be updating my website soon with an excerpt from this story, so if you’d like to be notified when it’s available, please sign up for my newsletter.
Since my co-author Maggie Robinson was just here and probably offered a copy of IMPROPER GENTLEMEN, I’d love to offer Risky Regency readers a chance to win a copy of TOUCH OF A THIEF.
This is one of my backlist titles that recently earned a rare starred review from Publishers Weekly. It’s the story of Greydon Quinn, who wants to intercept a rare red diamond on its way to the Royal Collection. He needs the help of the Mayfair Jewel Thief, so he sets a trap for the burglar. Quinn never expected the thief to be a woman who’d steal his heart as well.
I love this story. Plus I think the cover deserves an award for sheer beauty of composition, don’t you?
Leave a comment or question for me to be entered in the random drawing and be sure to check back tomorrow to see if you’re a winner! To get the ball rolling, I’ll start with a question for YOU: What’s your favorite name for a hero and why does it appeal to you?
Oh, good question, Mia! And great information. Thank you so much for being our guest on my Monday!
It made me think of another writing retreat that took place in 1816, the year without a summer. That year Percy Bysshe Shelley, his 18 year old mistress, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley) and her step-sister, Claire Clairmont, joined Lord Byron (by whom Claire was pregnant), and his physician and friend, John William Polidori, at Lake Geneva, Switzerland, for a holiday. The weather, however, was cold and rainy and the party was forced indoors for days at a time, reading ghost stories and discussing galvanism and the possibility of reanimating the dead. Byron issued a challenge. They should each write a ghost story.
Shelley wrote “A Fragment of a Ghost Story.” Byron abandoned his story but his friend Polidori used it to inspire his short story, “The Vampyre.” And, of course, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein.
I do have writing news, though. The cover of my October Undone, The Liberation of Miss Finch, is here! And on Aug 23 (tomorrow), Valiant Soldier, Beautiful Enemy should be appearing in bookstores. Check my website tomorrow for more information.
