Hidden Treasures
by Kathleen Buckley
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GENRE: Sweet Historical Romance
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BOOK BLURB:
Allan Everard, an earl's illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father’s death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity.
Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women’s charity.
Drawn into Rosabel's problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang. A traditional romance.
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EXCERPT ONE:
“Sir, we came to London to live with our grandfather, but he is ill, and we couldn’t see him, and our uncle’s wife didn’t believe we are his grandchildren, and now we have no place to go.”
Rosabel wished whoever he was might be able to aid them, knowing she dare not trust him, not after their encounter with the woman at the inn. He was probably a rakehell. Gentlemen did not otherwise concern themselves with females of the servant class, as they must appear to be, clad in their dusty, countrified clothing.
Blinking away her last tears, she was tempted to revise her opinion. His plain black suit, slight body, and untidy hair suggested quite another sort of man. His eyes twinkled when she met his gaze. “May I introduce myself, ma’am? Wilfred Simmons, curate, St. Giles-without-Cripplegate. If you and your sister have nowhere to stay, your situation is serious. London is a hard place even for men if they have no work and no money. A female without resources risks danger to both body and soul. Please let me assist you.”
She bit her lip. Mr. Simmons appeared to be respectable. He had a gentleman’s voice and was no more than four-and-twenty, she guessed. Beside her, Ory sniffed dolefully.
“You are wise not to be too trusting. I have friends who will vouch for me inside.” He smiled at her expression. “Ma’am, no one has ever been abducted from St. George’s Church, Hanover Square.”
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GUEST POST:
The Craziest Thing I’ve Done in the Name of Research
The only problem is choosing one: I’ve written eleven historical fiction/historical romances and there’s always something weird that I have to research, and usually more than one thing. But I’ll start with the one that may seem the strangest.
In my second novel, set just before the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, there is a tense scene with two armed villains, the hero, and two female hostages. I knew from reading up on flintlock pistols there is an interval between the priming charge igniting and the pistol firing the ball. I wanted to use this in the story. Would any of the articles I read tell me what the interval was? No.
Ah, but there were videos on YouTube of black powder enthusiasts firing flintlock pistols, so it would be easy to time the sequence, no? No. I watched hours of videos of said pistols being fired…from behind the shooter, where his hand and the pistol were invisible.
When I say “hours”, I don’t mean two or three. Two or three on multiple evenings for a total of maybe ten hours, maybe more. Then I came across the perfect video: well filmed, with a presenter who could stand in for the heart-throb in a romance, wearing something vaguely 18th century, and a faint, faint accent. French Canadian, maybe? The camera was at right angles to him as he raised the pistol, cuff ruffle fluttering gently, pointed and fired.
With the “progress bar” at the bottom, I could time from the moment the hammer fell to the shot. I checked and double-checked about a dozen times, but there it was: a gap of about three seconds.
Update: I’ve just spent more than an hour trying to locate the link for this video. It isn’t in my file of research material or in my research for that specific book. So I skimmed rapidly through the YouTube videos on flintlocks. There are a lot: reproduction flintlocks, restored antiques, models made of foam, Legos, cardboard and whatever, fantasy flintlocks, flintlocks to use in online games. The one I wanted was gone. Drat; I wouldn’t mind watching it again.
For the same book, I needed to know the weight of a 1717 Charleville Armory French musket. That was easy because there’s plenty of information online about historic firearms. Because 2,500 were going to be smuggled into Scotland, I needed to know how to transport them once they were unloaded from the ship. How many wagons? How many horses? In an old book available online (for free, thank goodness), I discovered regulations for freight haulers.
For the curious, a six horse team could legally carry six tons of freight. A Charleville musket of that period weighed ten pounds. The packing crates and pistol balls would add some weight, too. Feel free to do the math.
I admit it. I’m a bit OCD about research.
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AUTHOR BIO:
Kathleen Buckley writes traditional historical romance (i.e. no explicit sex). There are fewer ballrooms and aristocratic courting rituals in her books and more problems than does-he-love-me/does-he-not. Sometimes there’s humor. Kathleen wanted to write from the time she learned to read and pursued this passion through a Master’s Degree in English, followed by the kind of jobs one might expect: light bookkeeping, security officer, paralegal. She did sell two stories to the late Robert Bloch, author of Psycho. And no, he wasn’t late at the time.
After moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she wrote her first historical romance, striving for Georgette Heyer’s style, followed by nine more.
In Kathleen’s gentle romances, the characters tend to slide into love rather than fall in lust. Their stories are often set against the background of family relationships, crime, and legal issues, probably because of her work in a law firm.
When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys cooking dishes from eighteenth century cookbooks. Those dishes and more appear in her stories. Udder and root vegetables, anyone?
Kathleen Buckley’s current work in progress is her first historical mystery, tentatively titled A Murder of Convenience.
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CONNECT WITH KATHLEEN:
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GIVEAWAY:
Kathleen will be awarding a $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner's Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those fabulous community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
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Thank you so much for featuring Kathleen Buckley and her interesting guest blog today.
ReplyDeleteJust love the cover - perfect for the title.
ReplyDeleteSo do I. The art department did a great job from my mention of needing a 16th or 17th century inn or house, and some jewels.
DeleteGood morning! I'm so happy to be here (if a little later than expected—cat-related emergency). I love the eye-catching graphics on your blog.
ReplyDeleteThe cover looks good. Sounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marcy. I hope it is, as I enjoyed writing it.
DeleteI like the book details.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sherry.
ReplyDelete