Events

Launch: Let Slip the Dogs

The 5th book in the Francis Bacon series is out today, August 15th.

It should be available almost everywhere that books are sold. It won’t be on the shelf at your local bookstore, but you can ask them to order. You can ask your library to order it, if you’re not in any hurry!

Find links to the most common venues on the book page or try this purportedly universal link.

Secret trysts. Daring dalliances. And a body in the orchard.

It’s Midsummer, 1591, at Richmond Palace, and love is in the air. Gallant courtiers sport with great ladies while Tom and Trumpet bring their long-laid plans to fruition at last. Everybody’s doing it — even Francis Bacon enjoys a private liaison with the secretary to the new French ambassador. But the Queen loathes scandal and will punish anyone rash enough to get caught.

Still, it’s all in a summer day until a young man is found dead. He had few talents beyond a keen nose for gossip and was doubtless murdered to protect a secret. But what sort — romantic, or political? They carried different penalties: banishment from court or a traitor’s death. Either way, worth killing to protect.

Bacon wants nothing more than to leave things alone. He has no position and no patron; in fact, he’s being discouraged from investigating. But can he live with himself if another innocent person dies?

Medieval to Modern: Eight great historical mystery shorts

Medieval to Modern: An Anthology of Historical Mystery Stories is available now at all your favorite online bookstores.

What will you find in this volume? Three novellas and five short stories, ranging from Wales in 1141 to Dayton, Ohio in the 1930’s. You’ll also get a sneak preview chapter from the first book in each of our historical series. Here’s an annotated TOC:

I. Medieval Wales

Sarah Woodbury gives us a novella, The Bard’s Daughter, in which Gwen solves a crime that threatens her own family. I love the way Sarah takes Gwen one step closer to her true destiny in this perfectly-crafted work.

Then you get chapter one of The Good Knight, the first book in Sarah’s hugely popular Gareth & Gwen Medieval Mysteries. Don’t worry about getting hooked, because there are 10 more in this series to look forward to.

II. Elizabethan England

First is a short story called In Walked a Lady, featuring Francis Bacon’s sidekick, Thomas Clarady, as he takes a case on his own — with mixed results. By moi, Anna Castle.

This is followed by the first chapter of the first book the Francis Bacon mystery series, Murder by Misrule. The fifth book in that series, Let Slip the Dogs, will be out in August.

III. Regency London

Now we leap forward to 1814, for Libi Astaire‘s novella, General Well’ngone in Love. It’s about time! But will he grow too soft to be any good at his job? I hope not.

Next is the first chapter of the first book in Libi’s Jewish Regency mystery series, Tempest in the Tea Room. You’ll meet General Well’ngone and the Earl of Gravel Lane for the first time, in a tale told in the delightful voice of young Rebecca Goldsmith. I adore this series, which feels like falling into a Hogarth painting, only a few decades later with company that is much more genteel.

IV. Victorian San Francisco

Another turn of the hourglass, and we’re in San Francisco in 1888. The short story Mr. Wong Rights a Wrong is a perfect introduction to M. Louisa Locke‘s gift for peeking into the more obscure corners of San Francisco history and pulling out a delightful tale.

Next comes a novella, Kathleen Catches a Killer, in which the housemaid of series protagonist Annie Fuller helps out a friend in trouble and nearly lands in the soup herself. You’ll have to finish this one before you go to sleep!

Then we get the first chapter of the first book in M. Louisa’s Victorian San Francisco mystery series. You’ll meet ingenious Annie Fuller and her houseful of vivid characters for the first time. Not for the last; they’ll start to feel like family as you read on through the series.

V. Victorian London

First is a short story called The Stockbroker’s Wife, by Anna Castle again. This is a pastiche of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story, The Stockbroker’s Clerk. Professor Moriarty must undertake a small fraud in order to expose a larger one — with the help of his wife, of course.

Then comes the first chapter of the first book in the Professor & Mrs. Moriarty mystery series, Moriarty Meets His Match. In my 180-degree twist on the Holmes canon, Professor Moriarty is a man driven to right wrongs even when it’s wrong to right them.

VI. Depression-era Dayton, Ohio

Turn over the hourglass over one last time and land in Dayton, Ohio in the 1930s. First up is M. Ruth Myers‘ short story, The Barefoot Stiff. PI Maggie Sullivan solves a crime the cops get wrong, thanks to her keen eye and her lively fashion sense.

Her taste for life’s little luxuries comes in handy in the next short story, The Concrete Garter Belt. This story proves that Maggie will do anything to solve a case – and I do mean anything.

Last up is the first chapter of the first book in Ruth’s Maggie Sullivan mystery series set in Depression-era Ohio. Maggie is my absolute favorite PI and one heckuva of a snappy dame.

---

These authors are all members of the Historical Fiction Authors Cooperative, aka Historical Fiction eBooks. This is my favorite place to browse for something new to read. I was honored to receive an invitation to join by M. Louisa Locke in 2014 and continue to be delighted by the quality and diversity of historical fiction created by this group. If you love historical fiction, you won’t find an easier place to stock up on great stories. 

That beautiful cover was designed by the multi-talented Sarah Woodbury.