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 18th
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 21st
century people in costume. I want my readers to feel they’re experiencing the
mid-18th 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
