Guest- Andrea Penrose and a Giveaway!

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Jessie: Enjoying the slowly turning leaves!

Andrea Penrose joins us today with a fascinating post on the darker side of the Regency. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did!

I write a mystery series set in the Regency. As most of you know, that’s Jane Austen’s era. However, my books don’t revolve around polite drawing room teas or fancy balls at country estates . . . 

Now don’t get me wrong—I love drawing room gossip and the colorful whirl of couples twirling across the dancefloor! But these elements are just a small part of the Regency. The era is is such a richly textured, fabulously interesting time and place. It’s a world aswirl in silks, seduction and the intrigue of the Napoleonic Wars. Radical new ideas were clashing with the conventional thinking of the past. People were questioning the fundamentals of society, and as a result they were fomenting changes in every aspect of life. Politics, art, music, science, social rules—the world was turning upside down!

Technology was disrupting everyday life as the Industrial Revolution began cranking into high gear. Interest in science was exploding as people were suddenly wanting to understand the world around them and how it worked. In so many ways, it was the birth of the modern world, and for me, its challenges, its characters and its conflicts have such relevance to our own times.

Many real-life women of the Regency, like Ada Lovelace, Mary Shelley and Caroline Herschel, were challenging convention and daring to pursue their passions. I tend to write offbeat women who would be bored to flinders doing nothing but drinking tea and making polite conversation. They tend to do things they’re not supposed to do— so I love that I can be true to history and yet have a real emotional connection with women of our own times, who still face many of the same challenges and prejudices as they look to fulfill their dreams.

The ongoing heroine in my series is Charlotte Sloane, a satirical artist, who uses a pen name to keep her real identity a secret—as a woman she would never be allowed to criticize the leaders of Society. In the Regency, the satirical artists were the sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued social commentators—the equivalent of Trevor Noah and  Jimmy Kimmel. The individual artists became well-known in their own right, and created large, beautifully detailed color prints, which were sold at local print shops—the general public looked at them like they like at the newspapers today to see what was really going on in society. Charlotte’s network for learning secrets (which include the two young orphan guttersnipes that she has informally adopted) proves invaluable when she’s drawn into solving a gruesome crime. 

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The ongoing hero, Lord Wrexford, is a rich, irascible aristocrat—but a brilliant man of science and who possesses the ability to look at problems with a coldly dispassionate logic. The pairing of Reason and Intuition has been really fun to develop. Lord Wrexford analyses everything. Charlotte Sloane trusts her intuition. They both are very careful observers, but see things in different ways. In the first book, circumstances force them into a very unwilling partnership to solve the crime. (Wrexford has been accused of a murder, and Charlotte happens to know from being the first to visit the scene of the crime that he is innocent.) To their surprise, they come to have a grudging friendship . . . Murder at King’s Crossing is the 8th book in the series, so their relationship has really evolved—in ways that they never expected. (But no spoilers!) 

My question for all you readers is, do you like unconventional historical heroines who break all the rules of their Society? Or do you enjoy women sleuths who follow the strictures of proper deportment . . . but are simply clever enough to solves crimes discreetly? I’ll be giving away an e-book copy Murder at King’s Crossing to one lucky winner chosen at random from those who leave a comment here. (Or if you would prefer to start the series at the beginning, you can opt to receive the first book.)

Andrea Penrose is the USA Today bestselling author of Regency-era historical fiction, including the acclaimed Wrexford & Sloane mystery series and The Diamond of London. Published internationally in eleven languages, she is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including two Daphne Du Maurier Awards for Historical Mystery. 

A graduate of Yale University, Andrea fell in love with Regency England after reading Pride and Prejudice and has maintained a fascination with the era’s swirling silks and radical new ideas throughout her writing career. 

Website: https://andreapenrose.com; Instagram: @AndreaPenroseBooks; Blog: https://wordwenches.com/

Murder at King’s Crossing- Blurb:

Celebration is in the air at Wrexford and Charlotte’s country estate as they host the nuptials of their friends, Christopher Sheffield and Lady Cordelia Mansfield. But on the afternoon of the wedding, the festivities are interrupted when the local authorities arrive with news that a murdered man has been discovered at the bridge over King’s Crossing, his only identification an invitation to the wedding. Lady Cordelia is horrified when the victim is identified as Jasper Milton, her childhood friend and a brilliant engineer who is rumored to have discovered a revolutionary technological innovation in bridge design. That he had the invitation meant for her cousin Oliver, who never showed up for the wedding, stirs a number of unsettling questions.

Both men were involved in the Revolutions-Per-Minute Society, a scientific group dedicated to making radical improvements in the speed and cost of transportation throughout Britain. Is someone plotting to steal Milton’s designs? And why has her cousin disappeared?

Wrexford and Charlotte were looking forward to spending a peaceful interlude in the country, but when Lady Cordelia resolves to solve the mystery, they offer their help, along with that of the Weasels and their unconventional inner circle of friends. The investigation turns tangled and soon all of them are caught up in a treacherous web of greed, ambition, and dangerous secrets. And when the trail takes a shocking turn, Wrexford and Charlotte must decide what risks they are willing to take with their family to bring the villains to justice . . .

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Published by Jessie Crockett

Jessie Crockett wears a lot of hats, both literally and literarily. As Jessie Crockett she is the Daphne Award winning author of Live Free or Die and the nationally bestselling Sugar Grove series. As Jessica Ellicott she has received starred reivews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal for her historical mystery Murder in an English Village. As Jessica Estevao she writes the Agatha Award nominated Change of Fortune Mysteries. She loves the beach, fountain pens, Mini Coopers and throwing parties. She lives in northern New England where she obsessively knits wool socks and enthusiastically speaks Portuguese with a shocking disregard for the rules of grammar.

36 Thoughts

  1. I’d have to say I like to read about both kinds of female sleuths, depending on the mystery and where they live. I think it might be easier to be more unconventional in a big city, where there are lots of people and she wouldn’t stand out so much. Sometimes when I read about the more behind-the-scenes type of female sleuths, I kind of feel bad for them that they can’t shine the way they should, unless that’s their preference anyway.

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    1. Kathy, I agree that female sleuths have an easier time being unconventional in big cities. But we all know that women are exceedingly clever, so country sleuths just have to be a little more creative!

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  3. As in real life, I like to shake up my reading. It’s not all black or white, but rather all colors. Such is how I like my reading. I love it all! To me it’s fun to shake up my reading. I do love to read about unconventional women – past and present – that strike out on their own.

    Congratulations of the recent release of MURDER AT KING’S CROSSING! It’s been on my TBR list since it was first discussed. Can’t wait for the opportunity to read and review it. I’m not entering the contest because I can’t read ebooks.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  5. Congratulations on the new release, Andrea! I’more a fan of the unconventional like Eliza Scarlet and Phryne Fisher. Cheers!

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  6. I say, YAY for the rebels, the unconventional. Sadly, often still required in today’s world for women to move forward and be true to themselves!!

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    1. I agree! Loyal, honor, and and a commitment to Truth and Justice are virtues that all of us should hold dear.

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  13. Me…? I like my historical heroines to be rebellious, but I figure they have to be sneaky about it, given the threats to women who attempted to live freely in their times. Charlotte is a Regency heroine extraordinaire ( ;

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    1. SO true! (Though I prefer to call it cleverness rather than sneaky )
      So glad to hear you like Charlotte

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  14. I love unconventional women, period. But particularly in eras when such things were “just not done.” I would love to win the first book in the series as I am looking for new-to-me authors to follow.

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    1. Yes, it took great courage in past eras go against the conventional rules, Ginny. (And it still does, though a lot of progress has been made.)

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  16. I prefer the MC who are more subtle about their sleuthing because I feel that’s more realistic. But maybe that’s my perception of history and not the reality of how life was back then. (No need to enter me in the giveaway.)

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  17. Who doesn’t love a female protagonist who breaks the rules? From Elizabeth Bennet to Harriet Vane to Beryl & Edwina, these are my heroines every time!

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  18. I prefer the unconventional heroines, especially those like your heroine, who has to make her own way. While I love Jane Austen, the traditional heroine waiting for Darcy to propose and save her life in all ways, including financial, has been overdone.

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    1. Thank you, Eleanor!

      Austen depicted the dilemma of most women in the Regency. But my research has uncovered a number of women who did figure out how to bend the rules, so I wrote Charlotte in homage of all those unsung women.

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  19. This is one of my favorite series! I like a little bit of both types in my historicals. I love a spunky lady but I don’t want them to be to the extreme either.

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  20. Love the series, love the writing, love how Charlotte and Wrex have held their own with each other. Looking forward to many more mysteries. Happy to be able to tell you so. There is no need to consider me for a free book as I already own them all!

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    1. Thank you so, so much! It makes all the countless hours along in the writing room worthwhile to know the stories bring enjoyment to readers!

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