Tour Stop/Giveaway: Hidden Treasures by Kathleen Buckley

 

Check out Hidden Treasures by Kathleen Buckley today and make sure to enter the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win from the author a $ $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. The tour is sponsored by Goddess Fish Promotions and you can check out all the tour stops HERE.

Talking with Kathleen Buckley 

Tell us about your latest book, who are the main characters and what can we expect when we pick it up?

Allan Everard, natural son of a baron, is dismissed from his post as assistant steward on his father’s death. Rosabel Stanbury, not quite of age, is left to the guardianship of a distant, previously unknown cousin whose motives she fears. Rosabel and her little sister flee to London, where Allan has received an odd, secret inheritance and hopes to avoid the notice of his spiteful half-brother, the new baron. There’s mystery, danger, some romance, and no steamy scenes. It’s not “wholesome”; there’s some swearing/cursing a few readers might find offensive. It’s a “traditional romance” similar to the kind Georgette Heyer wrote.

Do you come up with the hook first, or do you create characters first and then dig through until you find a hook?

Neither. The plot comes first, and the characters and hook follow from that. In Hidden Treasures, I think the idea came from having read novels in which the illegitimate sibling is welcomed into the family. I enjoyed those books but doubted the premise. Once I knew the bare bones of the plot, I knew what kind of character Allan would be and that the only kind of woman he could aspire to would be one who had also been severed from her connections. The hook came last.

Which of your own characters would you like to have lunch with?

John Barlicorn, the protagonist in A Masked Earl and a minor character in Hidden Treasures and several of my other novels, would be my first choice. He’s an engaging rogue with a mysterious background and a heart of gold.

Tell us about what you are reading at the moment or anticipate reading in the future? Any favorite authors you enjoy reading in your spare time?

Lots of favorite authors! Carla Kelly, Jayne Davis, Mary Lancaster, Mary Kingswood, Susan Speers, Elizabeth Johns, Jenny Hambly, Louise Allen, Grace Burrowes, Mary Balogh…and those are just the romance writers whose books I always buy. I’m sure I’ve left out a few. For mysteries and thrillers, I prefer the older ones like Dick Francis, Robert B. Parker, and Ken Follett, among others, and the Golden Age writers like John Dickson Carr.

Which of your own books would you like to live in?

I can understand the attraction of living in a book with exotic locations, interesting/exciting activities and romance. However, my books are set in 1740s England, a period I find fascinating, but nothing would induce me to live then.

Modern sanitation was unknown. In London, the Fleet River (also known as “Fleet Ditch”) was an open sewer emptying into the Thames, and it was not the only one. Privies were emptied by “nightsoil men” who came around between midnight and four in the morning. They deposited their collection at dumps on the outskirts of town or at Dung Wharf on the Thames, to be barged away for use as fertilizer. Outside London, farmers composted their privy contents for the same purpose. I can only imagine the stench.

Then there’s the matter of medical care (bleeding for practically anything and the horrid ingredients of medicines), and no understanding of antisepsis or the cause of diseases. It is a mystery to me how anyone who had any sort of surgery survived.

The legal system left a great deal to be desired: many capital crimes, no presumption of innocence, no right to counsel, and punishments we would consider barbarous. There was almost no safety net for the poor. There were a few almshouses for the impoverished elderly or the disabled, guilds often helped their members who had fallen on hard times, parishes provided some relief for those who lived in the parish. The general attitude toward the starving or homeless was that it was their own fault for being lazy. Their last resort was the workhouse which many feared more than starving or dying of exposure.

What do you do when you have free time?

In my available time after writing, the activities of daily living, my little part time job doing legal billing and Quickbooks accounting, and three exercise classes each week, I read. It’s easy to sandwich that every day. Sometimes I test a recipe from the 18^th century or Regency period. Several times a year my local Jane Austen group meets. When I have a block of free time, I visit a flea market, thrift store or antique mall.

How do you approach character development in your stories? Do you have any specific techniques or methods that you find particularly effective?

When I get the germ of an idea for a book, I know what major characters I need for protagonists and the antagonist, and what kind of people they have to be to play that role. I know their names and have an idea of a bit of their backstory. Then I turn them loose on the page and they develop themselves. For me, that’s the fun part of writing. I’m a “pantser” and do not begin with a detailed, chapter by chapter outline which would require trying to make each character follow the script. Their ideas are frequently more interesting than what I come up with. In Hidden Treasures, this produced a twist that turned the story on its head.

What do you believe sets your writing apart from others in your genre, and why should readers choose to read your books?

I write historical fiction with romance and the historical background does not take a backseat. Some historical romances sketch in the period only lightly, and sometimes, unfortunately, the characters are really just 21^st century people in costume. I want my readers to feel they’re experiencing the mid-18^th century in all its elegance and squalor. My characters are not all titled or privileged and don’t spend much time in ballrooms. Some of them work for a living. My fans seem to like the historical detail and that my characters’ problems are not limited to angst over their love lives.

Can you discuss any upcoming projects or books that you're currently working on? What can readers expect from your future works?

I’ve just submitted the book after Hidden Treasures and it’s a mystery with a thread of romance, set in the same time period. This is not a big change as all my books have had a touch of crime or legal shenanigans. The one I’ve just begun will also be a mystery, with a murder and issues of inheritance. The main characters will be a young lady who is the companion of a rather scatty older lady, and a gentleman who operates an office which is a sort of combined employment agency, lost and found, and advertiser of business opportunities.    

HIDDEN TREASURES

Author: Kathleen Buckley

GENRE:  Sweet Historical Romance

Allan Everard, an earl's illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father’s death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity.

 

Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women’s charity.

 

Drawn into Rosabel's problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang. A traditional romance.

Excerpt One: 

“Sir, we came to London to live with our grandfather, but he is ill, and we couldn’t see him, and our uncle’s wife didn’t believe we are his grandchildren, and now we have no place to go.”

 

Rosabel wished whoever he was might be able to aid them, knowing she dare not trust him, not after their encounter with the woman at the inn. He was probably a rakehell. Gentlemen did not otherwise concern themselves with females of the servant class, as they must appear to be, clad in their dusty, countrified clothing.

 

Blinking away her last tears, she was tempted to revise her opinion. His plain black suit, slight body, and untidy hair suggested quite another sort of man. His eyes twinkled when she met his gaze. “May I introduce myself, ma’am? Wilfred Simmons, curate, St. Giles-without-Cripplegate. If you and your sister have nowhere to stay, your situation is serious. London is a hard place even for men if they have no work and no money. A female without resources risks danger to both body and soul. Please let me assist you.”

 

She bit her lip. Mr. Simmons appeared to be respectable. He had a gentleman’s voice and was no more than four-and-twenty, she guessed. Beside her, Ory sniffed dolefully.

 

“You are wise not to be too trusting. I have friends who will vouch for me inside.” He smiled at her expression. “Ma’am, no one has ever been abducted from St. George’s Church, Hanover Square.” 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

Kathleen Buckley writes traditional historical romance (i.e. no explicit sex). There are fewer ballrooms and aristocratic courting rituals in her books and more problems than does-he-love-me/does-he-not. Sometimes there’s humor. Kathleen wanted to write from the time she learned to read and pursued this passion through a Master’s Degree in English, followed by the kind of jobs one might expect: light bookkeeping, security officer, paralegal. She did sell two stories to the late Robert Bloch, author of Psycho. And no, he wasn’t late at the time. 

After moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she wrote her first historical romance, striving for Georgette Heyer’s style, followed by nine more.    

In Kathleen’s gentle romances, the characters tend to slide into love rather than fall in lust. Their stories are often set against the background of family relationships, crime, and legal issues, probably because of her work in a law firm. 

When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys cooking dishes from eighteenth century cookbooks. Those dishes and more appear in her stories. Udder and root vegetables, anyone? 

Kathleen Buckley’s current work in progress is her first historical mystery, tentatively titled A Murder of Convenience. 

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/kathleen_buckley

Website: https://18thcenturyromance.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18thcenturyromance/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kathleen-Buckley/author/B072J2GPZ3