Victorian Food: A Nice Useful Cake

Last week I was finally able to watch the 2017 season of The Great British Bake-Off. (Online, of course, as PBS seems not to have the ability to broadcast it in the US since the show said goodbye to the BBC.)  It was as brilliant as ever, and though I loved Mary, Mel, and Sue, Read More

Why So Many Dead Bodies?

I’ve been sick for a few days with a nasty head cold.  Sitting in bed with the dogs and my iPad for company, I’ve been thinking about a question readers sometimes ask me: why do so many people die in your books? In truth, not that many people die in my books, but there are definitely Read More

Trying New Things

So for the last couple of months, I’ve been querying literary agents for my new series. Although I’ve had some interest, I’ve racked up quite a few rejections. The most recent one, a kick in the teeth disguised as a pleasant form rejection, arrived Friday night. Although some writers prefer personalized rejections, I actually prefer Read More

Over the Sea to Skye

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may remember my last post, in which I mused about which of several settings I should choose for the next book. Perhaps subconsciously influenced by this year’s RITA historical finalists–many of which seem to have involved dukes and Scotland–I did opt to send my duke Read More