The winner of Anne Gracie’s The Winter Bride is…….

Lynne!

Lynne, we’ll send your email to Anne Gracie and you should be hearing from her soon. If not, email me at diane@dianegaston.com

Thanks, everyone, for making Anne feel welcome!

The Riskies

It’s April 1, which means (no fooling!) Murder at Westminster Abbey (book two of The Kate Haywood Elizabethan Mysteries) is launched at last!  I get so nervous when it’s the release date for a book, sort of like watching a toddler take their first few steps on their own.  They are their own person now, not just mine, and it’s scary and exciting and great.  (I also love seeing them on shelves, real books with covers and everything!)

I’ve loved working on this series, not just because it’s a new genre challenge (historical mystery, with a dollop of romance, rather than vice versa…), but because I love getting to spend so much time with one character.  I feel like I’ve gotten to know Kate, a court musician and friend to Elizabeth I, very well.  In book one (Murder at Hatfield House), she was young and a bit naive, having lived all her life in the countryside, but also with an intelligence and shrewdness that comes from watching everyone around her (her father, who was once a court musician to Queen Katherine Parr; Princess Elizabeth and her household…) walk the tightrope of dangerous Tudor politics.  In Westminster Abbey, she learns even more about the world of a royal court, who to trust, who to watch closely, and when to fight back.  She’s good-hearted and loving, artistic, loyal, observant, and stubborn, and she’s started to feel like a friend of mine. 🙂

So I’m happy to say she’ll be back with even further adventures next year!  Murder in the Queen’s Garden will be out in February 2015, and I am loving the research behind this story, too.  Nonsuch Palace, alchemy and astrology, and the hoards of royal suitors knocking at the new queen’s door–not to mention a romantic choice for Kate.  (will it be the dashing, daring–and unreliable–actor Rob?  Or the handsome, intelligent, brooding attorney Anthony??  If you’ve read the stories, who would you choose for her?)

Also–a winner!  The winner from last week’s post is Louisa Cornell!!  Louisa, email me at amccabe7551 AT yahoo and let me know if you prefer hard copy or ebook…

And here’s a look at the book on Amazon!!!

And my own site, where you can read an excerpt and check out some behind-the-book history…

I hope you enjoy Kate’s adventures at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation as much as I did!

I’m still gathering comments for Anne Gracie’s giveaway, so if you want a chance to win The Winter Bride, check out yesterday’s blog.

Kristine Hughes of Number One London sent me this article about an upcoming auction at Christies, which includes a gold bracelet containing a lock of the Duke of Wellington’s hair.

The auction is selling heirlooms belonging to the Marquess of Londonderry and Baron Raglan, whose ancestors have connections to Wellington. Lord Castlereagh, later to become the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, was Foreign Secretary during the Napoleonic Wars. He was also Wellington’s friend. The 1st Baron Raglan was married to Wellington’s favorite niece. The article includes interesting pieces of the family histories.

Baron Raglan must sell the heirlooms to pay for the upkeep of Cefnilla Court, the family property. The Marquesses of Londonderry sold their family estate years ago. It is now a hotel. It is not explained what prompted the current sale of these items.

The gold bracelet is valued at somewhere between 1500 and 2500 pounds. Affordable? At least more affordable than Robert Lefèvre’s Portrait of the Emperor Napoleon (£80,000-£120,000).

Would you pay 2500 pounds ($4160) for a lock of Wellington’s hair???? (I am tempted!)

Don’t forget to scroll down and comment on yesterday’s blog for a chance to win Anne Gracie’s The Winter Bride.

And speaking of the Number One London blog, come back next monday when I interview Kristine and Victoria Hinshaw on their upcoming Duke of Wellington Tour!

Last Friday, I turned the finished final manuscript of The Duke’s Guide to Correct Behavior in to my agent. It is due to my editor on April 1 (quick plug: it’ll be out November 25 of this year from Avon, in both print and digital).

It was both arduous and delightful to write, if that makes any sense, since it was often hard to keep moving forward, but once I really got to know my characters, the words just poured out.

I don’t know how many changes it will undergo once it’s been revised, but this is my heroine’s first viewing of the hero:

He was tall, and very, very, very handsome. Extremely male. No, entirely and absolutely virile. That was the word. Virile with all of its connotations that brought the pink to her own cheeks. At least she better matched the room.

Goodness. She’d seen pictures of gods and soldiers and kings and other leaders of men, but she’d never actually felt the impulse to follow one of them anywhere.
This one, though, she might consider following, even though that way led to things that a young lady should not be thinking of. Especially a respectful governess who needed to make a good impression.

He had dark hair, straight, brushing his collar in an unkempt way that nonetheless looked utterly dashing. His eyebrows were straight black slashes over his eyes, dark brown, which were intently gazing at her as though he could see to her soul.

And if he could, he knew what she was thinking about him, so that could be problematic.

The sharp planes of his chiseled face were further accentuated by the stubble on his cheeks, giving him an even more dangerous look. The Dangerous Duke sounded like a character from a gothic novel. And he looked like just the sort of man who would lure women to do Dangerous Things.

And I got a new author photo, above, where I look both sorta like myself and yet also not too blotchy and hideous (thank you, photoshop!).

While I wait for revisions, I’ve been reading (as usual), and cleaning, and taking care of things that totally fell by the wayside while I was writing. I am so looking forward to Spring! And plotting out the next book…

Megan

I was crazy about horses growing up, a passion I never really got the chance to put into practice. I’ve ridden a few times at friends’ houses, and on vacation two summers ago my daughter and I went on an hour-long trail ride, but that’s it.

But one of my favorite parts of writing historical romance is getting to be that horse-crazy child again. For my Regency heroes and heroines, horses provide basic transportation. And most of the time, my love for horses finds its way into my characters to one degree or another. James in A Marriage of Inconvenience breeds Arabians. Will and Anna in The Sergeant’s Lady both get a chance to ride a beautiful Spanish mare named Dulcinea.

My current WIP is set in America in 1815, so I did a little research into whether familiar American breeds of today like the Quarter Horse, the American Saddlebred, the Tennessee Walker, and the Morgan existed yet. And for the most part the answer was yes, although they weren’t yet firmly codified with breed standards and closed stud books.

Henry, my hero, is an accomplished horseman, fit and athletic. Over the course of my plot, he needs a horse that’s steady and enduring for a long journey, but also fleet-footed and nimble when needed for an action scene. So I decided to put him on a new American horse bred from a mixture of Spanish Barbs and English stock, including Thoroughbreds–a practical, sturdy horse good for everyday riding, but also speedy over short distances. In other words, a Quarter Horse, or as they were known at that early date, a Quarter Running Horse. (The name comes from the short quarter-mile races these horses excelled at.)

The modern Quarter Horse runs the gamut from a beefy, muscle-bound creature shown for looks in halter classes to slender racehorses who greatly resemble Thoroughbreds. I’m picturing Henry’s horse as something like this barrel racer–wiry, compact, and nimble.

My heroine Therese, on the other hand, had neither the necessity nor the opportunity to learn to ride before she has to when called upon to escape cross-country for the “road romance” portion of my plot. So she needs a horse that’s above all else gentle, good-natured, and smooth-gaited. Fortunately for her, there was a horse around in the early 19th century known simply as the “American Horse” noted for its smooth “ambling” gaits. Its modern descendants include the Tennessee Walking Horse, the American Saddlebred, and the Missouri Fox Trotter, so I imagine Therese’s horse as looking a bit like this Fox Trotter:

Are you a horse lover? If you found yourself living in the Regency era, what kind of horse would you ride? Or would you stick to carriages and leave the driving to your trusty coachman?