So last year I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Lords and Ladies of St. James anthology series by Rachel Smith at Penford Press.
The Clandestine Countess, the second book in my Cloaks and Countesses series, came out Oct. 13, 2023; and I conceived of a little Christmas sequel in which Lord Harman – he who was jilted by our heroine in The Caped Countess and played a side role I’m sure he regrets in The Clandestine Countess – got a happily ever after of his own.
That story came out as “His Unlaced Love” in the first volume of Lords and Ladies of St. James, Lords and Lace, just a few days later!
Sadly, the Lords and Ladies of St. James were only available for a limited time (gotta scoop them up when they come out), so Lord Harman and Alara his childhood sweetheart came out on their own this year as The Curious Countess.
I had a lot of fun imagining a Muslim character in Regency England, and I hope you enjoy reading about her too. Any mistakes were my own, but a lot of research went into her regarding Muslim marriage ceremonies and the relationship between Britain and the Ottoman Empire at the time (1813) and in the preceding years.
I already knew Britain’s relationship with the Ottoman Empire was strained, because I knew that Britain declined to get involved in the war a few years previous between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. I learned that in the TV series Catherine the Great!, but also from research about Russia and its whole system of princes and princesses for… well, I don’t want to spoil any of the books I’ve written for you.
I have visited Turkey and have a great love of Iznik tile design, so we celebrated by visiting some Facebook groups where we did a giveaway of the book and some Iznik-patterned coasters. Very pretty!
I hope you’re following me on the social media flavor of your choice (in fact, there’s a mood board on Pinterest for The Curious Countess right now!) That’s the way to find out if there’s anything fun happening for my books – that and of course subscribing to my newsletter.
What sort of character backgrounds would you like to see in another Judith Lynne book?