In my next installment of The Fairbourne Quartet—The Conquest of Lady Cassandra—coming in late February—a secondary character emerged as I wrote who developed in unexpected ways. It was not some hunk who would require his own story (although Viscount Kendale, while still secondary, filled out quite nicely as I wrote this book.) It was not some sweet miss who would be a future heroine either (although Lydia, Southwaite’s peculiar sister, also came into her own as the pages passed.) Instead it was an elderly woman, Cassandra’s Aunt Sophie.

A little bawdy, a tad outré, and suspiciously independent like Cassandra herself, Aunt Sophie is having senior moments at best and slipping mentally at worst. Protecting Aunt Sophie from those who seek to use her to further their own agendas becomes Cassandra’s goal. Accumulating the funds to take Sophie away brings Cassandra into conflict with Viscount Ambury, the charming man about town who was Southwaite’s friend in the first book of the series. He wants both Cassandra and Sophie to stay in London because he is investigating a mystery that involves them.

Aunt Sophie reminds me of the actress Betty White. At an age when she has no one to impress and nothing to prove, having lived a nonconformist life for which she will never apologize, she feels free to speak her mind no matter what outrageous direction her mind takes. Whether flirting with Scottish footmen half her age, or commenting on women who rouge their bottoms, she was a delight to get to know. Cassandra takes after her in many ways, much to their family’s dismay.

Only after I finished the book did I notice that Cassandra’s story reflected experiences I have had, as have many of my readers. Caring for an older relative is becoming very common. The relationship reversals and the delicate negotiations involved are familiar to me. So are the emotions of watching a loved one who once protected me now need my help. This book is humorous, like Sophie is herself, but those poignant emotions are in it too.

I should have an excerpt of The Conquest of Lady Cassandra up on this web site by November, once copy edits are completed. It is available now for pre-order, however.

In other news, The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne is being rereleased this October in a special edition as part of Penguin’s Read Pink campaign. This edition is immediately identifiable because it has a pink ribbon on the front. Read Pink is my publisher effort to bring awareness to breast cancer research sponsored by The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Penguin is making a generous contribution to the foundation and it is everyone’s hope that readers will consider making contributions as well, to this good cause or to other nonprofits that work toward a cure. You can learn more about this initiative at www.penguin.com/readpink.

I will be giving an all day writing workshop in Raleigh (Cary), NC on October 13. If you are in that area and want information, click HERE.

Finally, if you live in the Pittsburgh area, I will be at a large group signing on October 27 from 1-6 pm at the Mt. Lebanon Galleria.

Enjoy the cool weather of autumn! For those of us who endured heat waves and drought this summer, the change of season is delicious this year. Whenever crisp breezes flow I think about snuggling in with a good book. Don’t you? My To Be Read pile is calling.

Madeline

Introducing the Fairbourne Quartet’s Characters

In less than a month, on March 6, The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne will be released. It has already received wonderful reviews, and readers are writing to me about their anticipation for this first book in my new series, The Fairbourne Quartet.

While an excerpt is posted already on the book’s page on this site, I thought I would profile the two main characters in this update, and describe their battle of wills as each tries control the future of Fairbourne’s, an eminent London auction house. I have also sketched in some of the other characters who populate this world.

***The book is available for pre-order now at all of the main online sites. I have also partnered with a bookstore near me to offer signed and personally dedicated copies, if orders are place with them before February 24. You can find the details to that at the bottom of this note. ****

It is 1798, and Emma Fairbourne is the daughter of Maurice Fairbourne, the recently deceased owner of Fairbourne’s auction house, an up and coming rival to the famous Christie’s. Unmarried, she is on the shelf in part by choice and in part due to her frank disposition and lack of artifice, which the men of her day find more than a tad discomforting. She acquired her own expertise in art while working at her father’s side, and she truly loves the business she ran with him. She also feels a responsibility to preserve this inheritance for her brother, who was lost at sea when a ship went down two years ago, but whom she refuses to accept is dead. She is determined to find a way to continue the auction house, and concocts a strategy of deceptions with her friend Cassandra’s help in order to do so.

Executing her plans would be easier if Emma did not also have to manage the interference of the Earl of Southwaite, who, she learns to her consternation, became a silent partner in the auction house prior to her father’s death. He shows up to meddle at the least convenient moments. Southwaite keeps insisting that the auction house must be sold, and has little faith in what Emma is planning. Emma must juggle him, and the spiking attraction between them, with one hand while forging forward toward her goals with the other hand (which she manages to keep out of his view.)

Darius Alfreton, the Earl of Southwaite, is a man comfortable with command, the king of his own domain who assumes he knows best about most things. Since he is very smart he often does, but that does not entirely excuse his arrogance. That arrogance is easier to accept because his manner on the whole is urbane, very cool, and, due to expressive eyes, he rarely needs to communicate his displeasure in words. He is famous for his discretion, but no saint due to the normal sins committed by men of his world.

He is not very enlightened about women. He finds some of them incomprehensible and others merely tedious, and after the first blush of passion he is usually disappointed in his affairs. He is a man ripe for the picking by some clever girl who presents herself as sweet, innocent, obedient, and helpless, as befits his stereotypical expectations regarding proper womanhood. He is thus totally unprepared for Emma’s plain speaking and stubbornness, let alone her tactical moves that outflank him. Sparks fly in more ways than one whenever they meet.

Darius invested in Fairbourne’s much as wealthy men today purchase sports teams. He certainly never expected it to cause him so much trouble, and have him engaging in rows with Maurice Fairbourne’s daughter. If he did not find Maurice’s death suspicious, and Emma fascinating as well as irritating, he would leave the entire matter alone. He dare not, however, when the evidence keeps mounting that Fairbourne’s has been involved in criminal activity, and that scandal could soon erupt around the auction house, tainting everyone associated with it, including him.

Colorful secondary characters fill this world, many of whom will be prominent in later books. There are Darius’s friends Ambury and Kendale, who have helped him set up a system of watchers on the eastern coast, to provide privately what the navy, stretched to its limits in the war with France, can no longer provide officially— a way to monitor what is a very porous border, one that is vulnerable to the infiltration of spies and the exportation of information.

Readers will also meet Emma’s dear friend Cassandra Vernham, the sister of the Earl of Barrowmore, who enjoys more independence and endures more gossip than is proper for an unmarried woman, even one who is no longer an ingénue. Emma will rely heavily on Fairbourne’s auctioneer, Obediah Riggles, whose unimpressive appearance and manner lure people into bidding much higher than they had intended. The mysterious French émigré Marielle Lyon will play a pivotal role as the intrigue deepens, and two of Darius’s old friends will cast their shadows: Lakewood, who died in a duel, and the Duke of Penthurst, who pulled the trigger that killed him.

Since my first book was published in 2000, I have often been asked what makes a Madeline Hunter romance a Madeline Hunter romance? I am too close to my own writing to answer that, but I think the following review of The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne may have nailed it:

“Hunter’s unique talents for blending sensuality and suspense along with the color and atmosphere of the era are what make her a fan favorite. Add to this intelligent, three-dimensional characters and strong plotlines and you have another fantastic read.” RT Book Reviews 4 1/2 stars Top Pick

***If you would like to purchase a personally signed and dedicated copy of this book, The Mystery Lovers Bookshop, which has online purchasing, will take orders until February 24. I will autograph the copies and they will be mailed the week of release. Be sure to indicate in the special instructions section during check out to whom you want the book dedicated. Shipping is $3 media mail to the lower 48 states, but if you order another book and the total is over $10 shipping is free. Inquire for the costs of other shipping: international, priority, etc. This link takes you directly to their order page for The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne:

Madeline

It was a long, busy summer, but life is becoming manageable again. After a lot of travel early in the summer, I attended the Romance Writers of America conference in June. We were in New York City this year, which is one of my favorite cities to visit. The conference hotel was right on Times Square, and that was a new experience for me. It seemed the hectic pace of Times Square affected everything, and so did the noise, but I enjoyed it anyway. I had the honor of delivering one of the main luncheon speeches, and was not as nervous as I expected. I think it went well.

Besides travel, I have of course been busy with writing! I completed the first book of my new series. It is titled The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne, and I am unveiling the cover here. The heroine is Emma Fairbourne, who is the “last” Fairbourne, a family that owns a prestigious auction house in London. She discovers upon her father’s death that he took in a silent and invisible investor, Darius Thorncroft, Earl of Southwaite. Unfortunately the earl has his own ideas about the future of Fairbourne’s now that Emma’s father is gone, and their notions of that are not at all the same. Indications that Emma’s father and the auction house were involved in some illegal activities only increase the stakes and the conflict. Southwaite is accustomed to getting his way, and also used to the sophisticated women of society, so he finds Emma’s disconcerting forthrightness and lack of artifice both exasperating and fascinating. To say that “sparks fly” is an understatement.

This book is set in 1798, when England was at war with revolutionary France, and Napoleon was on the rise but not yet the force he would later be. The series will reflect this setting and time when everyone prepared for a French invasion, when French émigrés crossed the channel to escape an unwelcoming government at home, when the Irish were in rebellion and when men cut off their queues and women let their hair flow down and might dress in either the Greek style or even ‘a la sauvage.

The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne introduces the characters who will populate this world in the future books. Fairbourne’s auction house will continue to be a feature as well throughout the series, with its grand preview parties and its great exhibition hall where a diverse population gather to compete for rarities to enhance their homes and collections.

In other news, I continue to participate in the group blog The Goddess Blogs. We have two authors joining us this month as new regulars—Barbara O’Neal (also known as Barbara Samuel and Ruth Wind) and Susan Mallery! We have a lot of fun on this blog, so stop by if you have the time and join us.

I am also more active on Facebook these days. Among other things I hold special contests there, in addition to the one on this web site. In the month of September I am giving away a book a day (M-F), or 20 books in all. The contest form can be found on a special tab off my Facebook page. If you want to “like” me, that is cool too, but not necessary.

Finally, I am embarking on a redo of this web site soon. Yes, it is long needed! I have found the right people to help me at long last, so in a few months hopefully I will have a new look here.

Enjoy the Fall weather, and the peace before the storm of the holidays! I plan to, as I dig into my next book.

Madeline