Mystery writing
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The Real Lucy Turner
Why Lucy Turner? Why, you might ask, if I am such a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, would I choose Lucy Turner as my amateur sleuth? Because, as Gilbert’s wife, Lucy had a ring-side seat when it came to nearly everything that Gilbert and Sullivan did during the twenty-odd years of their working partnership. And because she isn’t as well-known to history as the two men, she might well have had certain adventures that are unknown to history! What sort of a person was Lucy? As history tells us, Lucy Agnes Blois Turner was born on November 14, 1847. Her astrological sign was Scorpio. To paraphrase Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs,…
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30 Victorian Mystery Novel Series to Read Now!
The following books are some of the best Victorian-set historical mysteries that I know about. The books named are the first in each series – the sleuth named appears in all the books. Most are set in Victorian England, but a few are set in the USA and some others (particularly the Sherlock Holmes-related ones) spill over into the Edwardian period. You can read more about them on Goodreads and Amazon. I’ll include links to Goodreads so you can find out more about the ones that interest you. For even more historical mysteries, you can check out this amazingly comprehensive list (just watch out for the pop-ups): http://brerfox.tripod.com/historicalmystery.html Enjoy…
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Skittles the Victorian Courtesan
In the first of my upcoming mystery stories featuring Lucy Turner and William Gilbert, Lucy gets to know the Duchess of Sanditon, a young woman with a checkered past – before marrying her older, war-hero Duke, she had worked as a “pretty horsebreaker” just like the famous real-life courtesan, Skittles. Who was Skittles, you ask? Skittles was the nickname of Catherine Walters, Small and slender with blue gray eyes and chestnut hair, she was exceptionally beautiful and dressed with excellent taste. Her personality has been described as bubbly, outspoken, direct and bawdy, as well as affectionate and sympathetic even toward lovers who had left her. She never wrote…
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An Interview with Lucy Turner
Allow me to introduce you to Miss Lucy Agnes Blois Turner of Victoria Road, Kensington. All Lucy really wants is to be the mistress of her own destiny. Sadly, in the Year of our Lord 1866, young ladies – especially those who are members of the large Turner clan, with sisters, aunts and cousins that are reckoned up by dozens – are distinctly NOT encouraged to become mistresses of anything! The Victorian ideal of womanhood is the Angel in the House, sweet and modest, caring and self-effacing – although it is likely that, in the Turner family, this ideal is honored more in the breach than in the observance. Today, The Author…
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Victorian Slang!
As I was browsing over many an Internet page, I came across a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore – Victorian Slang! Many fans of author Georgette Heyer will recall with fondness her characters’ delightful use of Regency-era slang, but I haven’t found too many resources dedicated to the particular lingo of the mid-to-late Nineteenth Century. So it was with great pleasure that I began to read J. Redding Ware’s “Passing English of the Victorian Era” http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/a-dictionary-of-victorian-slang-1909/ Here are some of the cool slang words that this intrepid lexicographer collected: Adam and Eve’s togs – Naked Adam’s Ale – Water Back-hairing – Female fighting, in which a woman had…