multi-author anthology

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A Bow Street Runner in WIP Wednesday

Some of the Bluestocking Belles’ more complicated box sets have had not just a common setting or event, but a bit of a puzzle – Who is sending gossip to the Teatime Tattler? (Storm and Shelter) Whose baby is the orphan with the amulet belonging in the village, delivered by a travelling couple who found him in France. (Under the Harvest Moon) And the one coming up, Love’s Perilous Road, in which the overarching question is, who is the highwayman?

Of course, that sets up a question about how to order the stories so we don’t let the cat out of the bag too soon! I hope, when you read our ten stories, that you’ll agree with the order we have chosen.

Of course, people in our stories were also asking that question, and one of them was Principal Officer Robert Pierce, sent by the Office of the Magistrate’s Court, Bow Street, London. My Bow Street runner’s case book forms a little vignette between each story, as he writes his thoughts about the events of the day, consigning his frustrations and sometimes his successes to paper, for his own eyes only. And yours, dear reader. Here is Casebook entry number 4.

The Casebook of Principal Officer Robert Pierce

The Office of the Magistrates’ Court, Bow Street, London

The clue of the trousers on the church steeple led nowhere. No one knows who put the trousers up there, and the curate swears he was the only man with a key. The locals are protective of “their” Captain Moonlight, but there will be a break soon. I am certain of it. Everyone makes a mistake sometime.

The second highwayman robbed another coach. Had ladies not been present, I am certain the man would have been shot, for the ladies were accompanied by some very competent gentlemen. It is a risky business, being a highwayman without a gang.

I am getting closer to Larcenous Lucy! Word has it she has been active in Brighton itself, so I am heading there in the morning.

If you’d like to know more about Robert, the trousers on the steeple, the two highwaymen (and possibly a third), Larcenous Lucy, smugglers, a ghost, a blackmailer, Fennians, and more – not to mention ten delightful romances, read Love’s Perilous Road, now on preorder, and published October 31st.

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Spotlight on Dukes All Night Long

Welcome to Dukes All Night Long…
One of the sexiest Historical Romance collections ever!

Get ready to fall in love with a delicious lineup of never-before-published stories filled with passion, scandal, and irresistible dukes.

Whether it’s a marriage of convenience, a fake engagement, or a rake ready to reform, these dukes know exactly how to turn up the heat after dark…

From glittering ballrooms to scandalous house parties, this steamy anthology brings together some of historical romance’s biggest names in over 1,000 pages of heart-racing, sigh-worthy, late-night reading.

Because let’s face it, dukes do it better after dark.

The Duke’s Delayed Wedding Night by Chasity Bowlin

Amnesia and an evil twin? What could be better. The Duke of Rosemere is summoned to the Hellion Club, more officially known as the Darrow School for Girls. He does not expect to meet the wife who abandoned him after four months of a marriage in which she made life hell for him and all around him.

Forever with a Pirate Duke by Gina Conkle

Miss Susan Pryce has been sent by her father to with the assignment of preparing the newly minted rough-around-the-edges Duke of Hawkland for Society. Not to fall in love with him, and decidedly not for him to fall in love with her.

With a Valet in a Wardrobe at Midnight in Dukes All Night Long by Jude Knight

Gareth Lord Versey comes in disguise to Congleton Hall, home of the Earl of Congleton and his six daughters. Garry wants freedom to observe Lady Jenna, the second daughter, before he goes through with the marriage arranged by his grandfather, the Duke of Dellborough.
The Seducer Comes to Call by Edie Cay
After being driven out of medical school and Society by lying rumours, Sibyl has been hiding out on her brother’s estate, living in the hermit’s cave. Until her childhood friend Archie stumbles upon her. He is a rake, a scoundrel, a fortune hunter, her brother’s best friend–and the man whose kiss ruined her.
Trusting the Duke’s Son by Christiana Diane
Jenny met Fin, the second son of a hard-headed, jerk of a duke, in her first season out, and they shared a few tender moments. She believed he would offer for her, once he convinced his overbearing father to support that match.
But then a scandal erupted amongst the ton painting Fin as the monster. Can she ever trust him again?
Midnight Masquerade by Christine Donovan
Widow Lady Charlotte Beauchamp dances with a stranger she has just met at a masquerade ball held at the private Club Knight. After one night with her, the Duke of Tremont feels things he has never felt before. But he fears that she will reject him when she sees under his mask.
Duke by Dawn by Sheridan Jeane
Evan Eldridge never asked to be Duke of Westbridge. He’s lost his family, his purpose, and the only woman who ever truly saw him. Now Violet Heatherington is back, carrying secrets that could shake the Empire–and a mission that puts her directly in harm’s way.
The Duke of Covent Garden by Kesley Swanson
When Lady Kate Bell is delivered to Duke, proprietor of a gaming hell, as collateral for her brother’s debts, she expects humiliation, ruination, and worse. But Duke was once the stable boy Kate had comforted in the wake of her brother’s cruelty. Passion flares, and a forgotten love fights to rise from the ashes of vengeance.
The Wanton Maid by E.L. Johnson
She is the eldest daughter of a disgraced baronet, now stuck working for a rude mistress. He is the cheerful nephew of a duke, holding his first-ever party after his return from university. Together, sparks will fly at a masquerade ball, but a thief might be among the guests.
A Duke at the Opera by Peri Maxwell
When Zara Blake agrees to play opposite Silas Archer on stage as the Duke and Duchess of Adderley, the widowed star soprano has no idea that her vagabond tenor co-star has long been in love with her. In a run-down theatre full of quirky artists who are more like a found family, can she find true happiness?
Dawn’s Light by Tess Thompson
At an exclusive Twelfth Night party, Lady Arabella Kingsley is partnered with Lucian Rothmere, the Duke of Rothmere. The man she once loved. The man who abandoned her. Then the hostess locks them together in a room, with a series of clues designed to help them dig up the past.
A Deal with the Duke by Margaux Thorne
Jo, a widow, is told by a fortune-telling witch that it is time to move on, to marry again – and immediately after bumps into the Duke of Winchester, Oliver, the first man she ever loved. Jo and Oliver are two secondary characters from Margaux’s Cricket Club series. This isn’t their book. Not yet. But it is part of it.
Music in the Night by Caroline Warfield
Expect a musician visiting an almost empty ducal mansion, two loyal servants for company, the nightly strains of a Beethoven sonata in the music room, a pianist who repeatedly escapes into the night, a haughty opera singer long gone, an evil uncle, a complicated past, fraud and manipulation, past sorrows, dual identity, and second chances.