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Another one for the holidays:

12/16/2011

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I also set a Regency at Cotehele--my sister lives very close to the house and the first time I saw it I knew it was the perfect setting for a story. Or two.

In SMUGGLERS' SUMMER,  though I described the house pretty accurately, I did add a secret passage. Somehow it also turned up in Mistletoe and Murder...  
    This is the original cover of Mistletoe and Murder. Though somewhat murky, and apparently showing a summer scene, it is a picture of the actual house where the story is set, Cotehele, though I called it Brockdene, so as not to upset surviving family members NOT related to the odd goings-on that Christmas of 1923.  
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E-book edition
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Just for the holidays:

12/08/2011

 
A collection of Regency novellas, available in Kindle, Nook and other ebook formats.

The Match of the Season: The heir to a dukedom is about to propose to Lady Cecily. Lord Avon is rich, handsome, charming. Cecy is rich, beautiful, an obedient daughter. Both families look forward with delight to an announcement...except Cecy. And when she meets Lord Avon's cousin, a mere commoner, her vague dissatisfaction turns into something quite different.

He Stoops to Conquer: Prudence, alias Seraphina Savage, is just an actress with a troupe hired by the marquis to entertain his Christmas guests with a performance of She Stoops to Conquer. But something about her intrigues Lord Rusholme, heir to the marquis, and he'll stop at nothing to find out exactly what she's up to at his family seat.
 

Out of print in US--New UK editons

02/19/2011

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Two of my Daisy Dalrymple mysteries that have been practically impossible to find for a long time will be reprinted in the UK this month, release date February 24th.
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The 10th Daisy mystery

In The Case of the Murdered Muckraker, Daisy is in New York (following her transatlantic voyage in To Davy Jones Below). After witnessing a murder, she finds herself mixed up in Tammany Hall politics, just before an election. Alec comes to the rescue from DC, where he's been advising J. Edgar Hoover. They end up chasing a suspect across the country in a biplane!


They end up in Eugene, Oregon, chiefly because so many people here asked me when I was going to set a book here. The Eugene characters are almost all real people I found in histories of Eugene.

This is my only book set in the US, so I was very happy with this review in Publishers Weekly: "Dunn captures the melting pot of Prohibition era New York with humorous characterizations and a vivid sense of place...Throughout her travels in the States, Daisy is keenly attuned to people and place: race relations, regional accents, even foods all add to the texture of the story."
http://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=case+murdered+muckraker&search=search
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The 11th Daisy mystery




Mistletoe and Murder: Daisy and Alec are back in England and off to an ancient fortified manor house in Cornwall for Christmas. Daisy plans to write about it. The family of poor relations living there is decidedly out of the ordinary, and as peculiarities multiply, animosity culminates in murder.








The setting is a real house, Cotehele, and though I've changed its name to Brockdene for the story, since descendants of the then owners are still around, I've described it as is, including a bit of its history since the 15th century. The main departure from reality is a secret tunnel, which I invented for a Regency I set there (Smugglers' Summer) and thought I might as well make use of again!
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Cotehele, Cornwall, now a National Trust property
http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781849017060/Mistletoe-and-Murder
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A spot of holiday cheer:

12/20/2010

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A spot of holiday cheer for your Kindle or Nook: two "happily ever after" novellas set in Regency England.

"The Match of the Season"--an eligible young lady about to be engaged to a very eligible heir to a dukedom meets his thoroughly ineligible brother...

"He Stoops to Conquer"--a most unusual actress catches the eye of the heir to the lord who's hired the theatre company to perform She Stoops to Conquer for his Christmas house-party.

http://www.RegencyReads.com
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Win a signed Christmas mystery!

12/04/2010

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Read a review of Mistletoe and Murder, Daisy's Christmas mystery at http://kingsriverlife.com/12/04/christmas-mystery-reviews/  for a chance to win a signed copy!
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US paperback Edition
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UK edition (Feb '11)
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Where are the snows of yesteryear?

12/30/2009

 
No white Christmas in Eugene this year, only endless fog and rain. In 17 years here, I can't remember ever having snow at Christmas. Many years we don't get any at all, or only a sprinkling that melts at once. More than an inch at a time shuts everything down. The city doesn't even own a single snow-plough. If absolutely necessary, they fix blades on their big trucks. A couple of years ago, our 7th-graders had their first ever snow day. Last year it came in mid December:
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then never another flake.
I can remember only one white Christmas in England, though there may have been more. That year we went for our usual walk while the turkey was doing its thing in the oven. My godmother suddenly went mad and rugger-tackled my brother. Taken utterly by surprise, he went flying in the snow.

After Christmas one year, we went for a magical walk in the snow at night, with a full moon shining, down by the river in Henley.  Out from under the bridge sailed a pair of swans, a vision I'll never forget.

Then there was the year it was so cold and snowy, we girls   were allowed to wear trousers at boarding school, unheard of in those days. That must have been before Christmas, because I remember going home and being deeply envious because my brother and sister had built an igloo in the garden.

But on the whole, I'm quite happy to do without the stuff.

May 2010 be a wonderful year for all of you!