USA Today Bestselling Author of Historical Fiction
Autumn is here . . .
And so is a NEW Wrexford & Sloane!
As autumn here in the northern hemisphere is giving way to the first flutters of winter, I am happy to report that my new Wrexford & Sloane mystery, Murder at King’s Crossing, is now available at bookstores and online retailers! Charlotte and Wrexford have a new crime to solve—one that draws them and their inner circle of friends into an investigation filled with dangerous twists and turns—and unexpected personal revelations! (And p.s.—next September’s release has just been turned in to my editor, stay tuned! I will be revealing the title and the cover soon!)
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Murder at King’s Crossing is available for order here. And you can read an except here.
Here’s a teaser blurb:
A joyous event brings Wrexford and Charlotte and their inner circle of family and friends together for a long-awaited day of merriment and good cheer.
But when a terrible discovery quickly entangles all of them in a twisted maze of lies and deceit, Wrexford and Charlotte must ask themselves just how far they are willing to go for the sake of Justice . . .
A new Lady Arianna Regency mystery is also available! This latest adventure takes her and Saybrook to Greece, where ancient myths and artifacts collide with murder, treachery and political intrigue that threatens to explode the fragile peace in the region. The Thunder of Stones is now available here! And you can read an excerpt here.
Here’s a teaser blurb:
Athens. A city where the ancient past and present tangle in a web of intrigue. As Saybrook and Arianna seek to unravel the truth about her brother’s disappearance while on a clandestine mission for the Crown, they find themselves threatened by shadowy enemies—and a mysterious ancient talisman . .
I recently recently did an interview with Jenny Wheeler of The Joys of Binge Reading, and had a really fun conversation on what makes the series tick, the craft of writing and making characters and settings come alive. You can listen to it here.
An Inside Peek
You can read more about the backstories to my mysteries and see wonderful images from the Regency era in the DIVERSIONS section of my website. Just click on the drop-down menu of the top navigation bar and start exploring! Be sure to check out the fun real life people and events that add color and texture to the plots, along with the accompanying slideshows of vintage art that illustrate details in the stories.
I recently joined with the fabulous fellow historical mystery authors Anna Lee Huber, Jennifer Ashley and Amanda Flowers to dish on our new books and the craft of writing with the fabulous John Charles of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore. You can see the video interview here on YouTube!
And Team Penrose is happy to report
on other news
The series as a whole has been garnering kudos throughout the book world, including this wonderful review from The New York Public Library: “[Penrose] mixes well-thought out mysteries, early forensic science, great details of the era and a slow burning attraction creating a compulsive read.”
I’m also delighted to announce that it has been included in the New York Public Library’s list of mystery series to get you through any crisis!
Secondly, for all those of you who have been writing and asking about future books in the series, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve just signed a new contract to continue the adventures of Wrexford and Charlotte (and the Weasels, of course!) They—along with their family of friends—will be solving mysteries for three more books! So stay tuned!
And p.s.— if you’re looking for more reading entertainment to download, all of my Lady Arianna Regency mysteries are priced less than a Starbucks latte—and tickle your taste buds for far longer than 15 minutes! (Hint: there is chocolate involved in the stories!)
You can check them out here and read sample chapters. The swashbuckling adventures take Arianna and Saybrook from England and France to Russia and Greece!
I’ve been having great fun filling my new built-in wall bookshelves, and curating all my quirky research books, vintage editions and assorted novels and non-fiction according to my own esoteric catalogue system. It’s blissfull to have finally liberated boxes of books that were stuffed in closets.
From My Weekly Plotting
I’ll occasionally feature a photo here from my daily plotting walks (that’s how I untangle all the plot knots that I tied myself into while madly typing away all day at my writing desk!) I have an MFA in Graphic Design, so I always have my camera with me, looking to capture a snippet of natural beauty or bit of history. Many turn out to be inspiration for my scenes!)
You can also follow me and my plotting walks on Instagram
I’ll also be posting a snippet each week from current WIPs, so be sure to check in often and take a peek!
Snippet from the daily plotting walk
September was glorious here in New England. My daily plotting walks took me past some gorgeous sunflowers reaching their full bloom outside my local library.
Snippet from the current WIP
Rolling her pen between her palms, Charlotte, Countess of Wrexford, huffed a sigh as she stared at the blank sheet of watercolor paper on her desk. It wasn’t often that she dithered over a subject for one of her drawings.
As London’s most popular—some might say infamous—satirical artist, she felt it was her solemn duty to keep the public informed about the important social and political issues of the day that affected their lives. Corruption, misuse of power, the personal peccadilloes of the high and mighty, laws that placed unfair burdens on the poor—her sharp-tongued commentaries spoke out for the masses who had no real voice of their own.
Of late, however, things had been awfully quiet in Town.
“No wars, no political crisis, no scandals,” Her lips quirked. “Which, of course, is a good thing.” The only bit of current news was the daring escape of an exotic monkey—a gift to the king from an Indian sultan—from the Tower Menagerie. Having taken Hawk, a budding artist and one of the three orphan boys for whom she and her husband served as official guardians, on a recent expedition there to sketch the famous lions, Charlotte had actually seen the creature.
Long, feathery silver-grey fur framed an ebony-black face, whose darkness was accentuated by a pair of luminous yellow eyes . . . After quickly dipping her pen into the inkwell, she began to doodle. Elongated arms and legs, curious fingers that seemed to be constantly exploring his surroundings . . . Apparently a keeper had left a key in the cage’s lock, and the clever monkey had let himself out—
“Are you perchance going to comment on the Maurading Monkey?” asked McClellan as she nudged open the workroom door and placed a tray replete with tea and pastries on the side table. Officially, her title was lady’s maid to the Countess of Wrexford, but that did not begin to encompass the full range of her duties. Taskmaster of the three Weasels, sometimes sleuth, baker of ambrosial ginger biscuits—she was, in a word, the cog who kept all the various gears of the admittedly eccentric household running smoothly.
“Apparently, the animal broke into the kitchens of Carlton House last night and ate all the special fruit and custard pastries that had been prepared for the Prince Regent’s supper,” added McClellan. “Which, of course, has captured the public’s fancy. They are all cheering for the monkey to remain on the loose and can’t wait to hear what havoc the rascal will wreak next.”
Charlotte pursed her lips in thought, and then let out a chuckle. “Ah, I have it—the Pirate Primate!” she announced, already envisioning a composition featuring a gleeful monkey eluding a crack regiment of the Coldstream Guards led by the apoplectic royal regent. “Prinny must be furious. Not simply because of the ridicule that is about to explode, but because he is a glutton for sweets.” . . .
—Title to be revealed, coming in September 2025
The Inspiration Behind the
Wrexford & Sloane Series
I confess, given that my academic expertise in science ended in 9th grade biology class (you know, the one with formaldehyde, dead frogs and very sharp knives!) it might strike you as rather strange that science plays a big role in the plots of my Wrexford & Sloane mystery series.
I have an art background, which may seem like the polar opposite of the world of laboratories, microscopes and bubbling chemicals. I thought the same thing until I read a marvelous book called the Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. In it, he talks about how during the Regency era, the artists and scientists all thought of themselves as kindred souls. Exploration and discovery required imagination and creative thinking—painters, poets, chemists, astronomers—they all pushed themselves to think outside the box.
Hmmm, I thought . . . these are just the same qualities required to unravel diabolical mysteries. So it suddenly struck me that having a scientist and an artist could be a really fun combination. In the Earl of Wrexford and Charlotte Sloane, I’ve sought to create two lead characters who embody the intellectual curiosity—and gritty courage—of the times. They are opposites: a brooding aristocrat whose extraordinary mind runs on the rational new principles of scientific inquiry, paired with a struggling artist whose innate cleverness and intuition are the keys to her survival. Forced to work together, Wrexford and Charlotte find they make a formidable team, despite their differences. (Ah, but as science tells us, opposites often attract!)
Okay, now I have a second confession to make—I may not be a science expert, but I’m a total Regency history geek. So it was great fun researching science during the era. Like in our own times, new discoveries and new technology were changing society. The top scientists were the hot celebrities. All the trendy people flocked to hear the public lectures at the Royal Institution, the leading scientific society in London. And yes, there were science groupies! The charismatic Humphry Davy (he’s pretty dishy, isn’t he?), the most famous chemist of the day, routinely had love letters and invitations for private hanky-panky—often wrapped in frilly undergarments—delivered backstage! (There are several scenes in my book set at the Royal Institution—I hope they will forgive me for creating intrigue and skullduggery within their hallowed halls!) You can read more about some of the real-life scientists of the Regency in the DIVERSIONS section. Just click here.
Now, on to more Regency goodies …
I also hope you’ll enjoy doing more exploring in the Diversions section here, which features some fun background on the Regency
and some of the people and places who appear in my books.
Just a few other things on logistics: The BLOG button in the social media icons will connect you to The Word Wenches, where Mary Jo Putney, Christina Courtenay, Patricia Rice, Anne Gracie, Nicola Cornick, Susan Fraser King and I blog about books, history, the craft of writing, and just about anything else you can think of!
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