I am trying to revamp my YouTube Channel (@jenniferashley6040), and have posted several new videos about what’s coming up, my writing process, and series insights. If you like vids, please give them a watch!
Meanwhile …
I suddenly got very busy. I’m proofreading the pages of Murder in Blackfriars (Below Stairs Mysteries Book 9) and still drafting Murder on the Rhone. On top of this, I’m prepping like mad for the Wild and Windy booksigning this week (Feb 12-14). Not to mention giving my cat two different meds twice a day and doing everything else in the course of my life.
The reason I don’t do more in-person appearances is that it takes a lot out of me. The prep eats time and energy, and sitting behind a table for hours can be grueling. I do enjoy meeting readers and chatting, signing books, and that sort of thing. But I don’t have a team of ten people taking care of all the details. My husband used to help a lot, but MS has robbed him of so much that he really can’t do physical stuff anymore. So packing and lugging boxes, setting up and tearing down tables, etc., is all me. (I do have a part-time assistant, but she lives across the country from me and can’t always be there to help with signings.)
I’m thinking after this signing, there will be limited places I go. I don’t mind jaunting to the Poisoned Pen, but I can only do that when they invite me. If I sat in their store offering to sign books every day, I think they’d soon tell me to leave. 🙂
What I am doing instead is reviving my YouTube channel, writing more books, ramping up my web store, where you can purchase signed books (as well as ebooks and un-signed books), and connecting more through my newsletters and blogs.
I’m trying to put all my writing focus into the Captain Lacey book just now (I’m so enjoying being back in his world).
Once I’m finished with that, I will make the announcement for a new Regency Romance series! I love the characters and setup for the series, and I hope readers love it to.
More on that anon.
I do hope you give my vids a listen. Please let anyone you think might like the videos on my channel that they are out there. I have advice for new authors as well.
I at long last have Murder on the Rhone (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 18) up for pre-order. Yay!
I am so happy I finally have time to write this book. I was working on four books at once at one point this fall, but thank heaven, they are all finished, turned in to my publisher, or already published. Leaving me time (starting at Christmas) to write just one!
Find the pre-orders for Murder on the Rhone here:
My Web Store: https://geni.us/A58OXA (Where it will be released the minute it is final and proofread).
As always when I write these posts, I lament the fact that Amazon refuses to let you preorder the paperback book. They used to, but then they took away that function. Maybe they got burned too often with people not delivering books on time.
In any case, the paperback will be out on release day, available from Amazon, BN, and my web store (US only in my case, and shipping takes a while.)
Hooray for Captain Lacey! It’s so nice to spend time with him and Brewster and friends and family once again.
After I finish this book, I will start Brother At Arms (Leonidas the Gladiator, book 4), which has also taken forever for me to find the time to write.
I have an appearance coming up (two actually):
Jan 27 at 7pm at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ. (Click here to go to the announcement). I will be discussing and signing the latest Kat Holloway release (A Silence in Belgrave Square) as well as Eloise and the Queen. Two other historical mystery authors will also be chatting and signing (Rob Osler and Dianne Freeman).
Feb 13-14 at the Renaissance Hotel in Glendale, AZ (just off the 101, the one by the big arena my husband and I call the bouncy house.) Wild and Windy West Book Event. Day pass tickets are still available for the signings only on Friday and Saturday. It’s a huge romance book fair, and I will be one of many, many, many authors signing. I am not a fan of crowds so send me good energy for this one. 🙂 https://tickets.wildandwindybookevent.com/e/wild-and-windy-phoenix-2026/tickets
After all this, I’m staying home to write! Or maybe take a quick vacation with my husband somewhere. We had to cancel our October vacay because our AC went out (and melted our house). It was a huge and expensive mess and we decided we needed to stay home and clean up instead of running around on planes, cars, and ferries. But I’d like to go somewhere to relax, even if we just jaunt to the next city. We can always find something to do there.
Anyway, please take care, enjoy the New Year, and I will get back to typing!
I try to write holiday stories whenever I can. This year I went through the timelines of all my series to decide which was in a good place to have a Christmas (New Year’s / Solstice / Etc) tale.
The answer was: Leonidas the Gladiator!
So here is his holiday tale: Saturnalian Gifts(written as Ashley Gardner)
The story:
Leonidas is celebrating one year of freedom in December of AD 63 when his old trainer asks him to open the Saturnalian games. Leonidas has no interest, but the fee Aemil offers will let him purchase the gift he wishes to buy for Cassia. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and Leonidas and Cassia find themselves pitched into another mystery and at the mercy of the temperamental Nero.
It was such a pleasure to return to Leonidas and Cassia. I haven’t written in this series in a while (not by choice, just time constraints), and I have enjoyed getting reacquainted with the world and everyone in it.
Also fun was to research Saturnalia traditions. Originally a solstice festival, it grew into a national holiday week by Leonidas’s time, with the Saturnalian games being only one part of the festivities. Later Christmas celebrations borrowed a number of traditions from Saturnalia that we still follow: Gift giving, card exchanges (they used scrolls), days off work, feasting, and communal activities.
I write my books mostly in the mornings, and some days, I groan and moan about having to drag myself up and start writing. But with this story, it was “Yay, I get to hang out with Leonidas and Cassia!” I love it when writing is like that.
Anyway: Thank you so much for all your support this year, Happy Holidays, and enjoy Saturnalia!
I am going to bring this out in both paperback and hardback as well, which will be available on release day (Nov 24) from the retailers.
You can pre-order the paperback or hardback from me, but in all honesty, it won’t be any faster. I have to drop ship from the printers, and they can be slooowww. Also I can only ship within the US, because shipping costs outside the US are way too high. You’ll save by ordering from a vendor in your country.
If you do wish to pre-order the paperback or hardback directly from me:
Eloise and the Queen follows Elizabeth I from girlhood (story starts when she and the heroine, Eloise, are both fourteen), through the hardships and setbacks she endured as princess (house arrests, accusations of fomenting rebellions, a stint in the Tower, more house arrests) before finally becoming queen.
Eloise (niece of Elizabeth’s governess Kat Ashley) is Elizabeth’s personal seamstress, creating the beautiful gowns the princess wears throughout the years. Eloise is also Elizabeth’s confidant and later spy, keeping Elizabeth informed of what is happening while she is confined.
The books takes us through the accession of Edward VI, the machinations of the Seymour brothers, Mary’s rise, Jane Grey’s fall, Elizabeth as prisoner in the Tower, and her growing friendship with Robert Dudley.
I also introduce a romance between Eloise and one of Elizabeth’s gentlemen (James Colby, a fictional character, who is a close friend of Robert Dudley), but that romance has a twist (I can’t stop writing mysteries).
It is overall a historical novel, with elements of romance and mystery.
The Story Behind the Story
Long ago, I wrote a book called The Queen’s Handmaiden, at my publisher’s request when Tudor was all the rage. This followed another book I wrote for them: A Lady Raised High (a novel of Anne Boleyn).
By the time I finished and turned in the book, I think the publisher lost interest in all things Tudor. They cancelled the wives of Henry VIII series they’d been doing (he only got to have three wives), barely edited my book, and brought it out with no marketing whatsoever.
It went out of print very fast, which was good news (I didn’t think so at the time), and I was able to get the rights reverted to me.
Then it sat in my drawer for a very long time. I had so many other books to write, new series (like Shifters, Mackenzies, re-releasing the Captain Lacey series). Lots of exciting things happen in my career.
Every once in a while, I’d take out Eloise’s book, read it, and think—I need to revise this and republish!
A couple of years ago, I pulled it out *again*, and started the revision process, then sent it to my editor for close scrutiny.
Then it went back into the drawer, because still I had so many other books to work on (mainly the Kat Holloway series, but many others too!).
At long last, this year, I said, “I’m doing it!” I took out the book I’d already rewritten and had a deep dive edit on, and revised it yet again.
In the years since I wrote the first version and this one, my writing skills have vastly improved, plus there has been much more research done on Elizabeth I and the Tudor and Elizabethan eras, uncovering new facts and busting myths.
I’ve done more research this time around than I ever did for the first book!
Therefore, retitled it and am bringing it out as new (or new-ish). Also I grew so interested in the history that I will likely write another, continuing Elizabeth’s and Eloise’s journey through Elizabeth’s reign.
I hope you enjoy this book. I absolutely love it, and it has been a pleasure re-writing and revising it so it can have a new life.
More about Eloise and the Queen and also A Lady Raised High, can be found here:
I continue to finish projects I’ve been trying to get to since forever.
This time it’s The Mackenzie Chronicles (Volume 1), which has been updated.
The Mackenzie Chronicles is a non-fiction guide to the Mackenzies / McBride Series with character sketches, my thoughts on each book, a reading list, etc. It is now up to date through Jamie’s book (which will end Volume 1).
If you already have the first version of this ebook: Go to the vendor from where you purchased it (except Amazon, see note) and redownload it. The update should automagically go to your device.
Note on Amazon: You have to email them to get the updated version. They have to be special.
All Mackenzie books I write henceforth will be discussed in Volume 2 (when I start writing more books, that is).
I’d love to do something like this for the Shifters, but oh my, what a daunting task. There are 28 entries in that series if you count the novellas. Same with the Captain Lacey series, which is up to 18. Yikes! I’ll have to think about it.
Regardless, I’m working on many more new (and new-ish) things! This is so much fun.
The mystery The Bishop’s Lady I’ve penned as Ashley Gardner is out tomorrow (yay)!
Next new thing (truly brand new) is a historical romance novella for Halloween out at the end of October (Oct 26), in the Ghosts, Graveyards, and Grey Ladies anthology which you can pre-order here:
My novella is called “Lady Clara’s Ghost,” and features a young woman who lives with her warm and close family on Hampstead Heath and a reclusive gentleman who lives three doors down from her.
Lady Clara and Lord Alden encounter each other in Highgate one afternoon, where a mournful cry sends them on a hunt that ends in a way they least expect.
It’s a sweet romance with paranormal elements, and I enjoyed the heck out of writing it. I fell in love with Clara and Alden, as well as her charming family and his eccentric friend.
Writing this novella let me take a good step back and write for the creative joy of it.
This anthology is being published by Dragonblade, and they are exclusive to Amazon (though I believe they will have a paperback edition). Whenever I have rights back to my story, I’ll release it wide, but currently it’s Amazon only.
I have other new things coming up, which I will post about here when they’re ready. I’m so close to being done with the next Below Stairs mystery (Murder in Blackfriars) and I will breathe a great sigh of relief when I turn it in. Once I do, I’m taking a short break to deal with real life things (like plumbing woes and also just resting) and then dive into the Captain Lacey novel.
My best wishes as we move into the busy autumn season.
First: For Mystery fans: Next week I’m releasing The Bishop’s Lady (writing as Ashley Gardner), a novella in a mystery series I’ve been noodling with for years (but have not yet published).
The Émilie D’Armand Historical Mysteries are set in the time of Louis XIV, where Émilie is a lady-in-waiting to the queen of France. Left destitute when her husband is killed (he owed many debts), Émilie has to live by her wits, finagling a post with the queen via Madame de Monstepan, the king’s mistress.
In this brief introduction to Émilie’s character, she is visiting a friend in Paris where a cold case crime involving her friend’s family awaits her.
You learn a little bit about Émilie here and will more when I get the first novel finished and out!
The Bishop’s Lady is available immediately on my shop or you can pre-order from the other vendors for a release next week:
Full disclosure: This story was previously published in the Murder Most Historical anthology (where it still is in print), so if you have that, you have the story. However, this version has a pretty, new cover! (And if you want it in print, please see the Murder Most Historical anthology).
This has been a busy couple of months! We returned from our long vacation and moved into our mountain house, and since then I’ve been buried in deadlines (that is, after my husband went to the hospital for a day. He’s ok–it’s just life with MS). I’m happy to be in the cool pines now, but I haven’t been out of the house! Well, for errands and to eat a few times, and to drive my husband home from the ER.
Anne-Marie Piazza spent much of her spring and summer recording Kat Holloway audio books: Three novellas (Mrs. Holloway’s Christmas Pudding,The Price of Lemon Cake, and A Measure of Menace) are out now, and A Silence in Belgrave Square will be out in audio in a few weeks.
The audio book is pre-orderable at Audible, Chirp, Kobo, Audiobooks.com and wherever you like to buy audio books.
I’m very fond of A Silence in Belgrave Square, and I hope you like it. I introduce the character of Hannah, whom Kat knew in her cooking past. I loved writing her! Also there are more developments in the Kat / Daniel relationship, but I won’t spoil it …
I am now writing Book 9 of this series: Murder in Blackfriars, which will be out next year. If I get it done! This is one of the deadlines that is making me insane. I will need to do nothing but type for the next couple of weeks to get it written.
After that, I’m taking a break. (For me, this means days to a week.)
Now for the news part:
Book 9 will be my last contracted book for the Below Stairs Mysteries series. I don’t know if I’ll go back to contract for another one. Publisher almost said no to Book 9, which shows me the writing on the wall. The books, in my opinion, are doing well, but publishers are saying historical mysteries aren’t the “thing” anymore. I totally disagree (Captain Lacey, for instance, is my bestselling series), but they like to chase the new shiny.
That does not mean I will end the series–I will continue it indie, but I’m ready to be finished with deadlines, contract clauses that try to stop me writing other things, and not being able to publish what I want when I want to. I have other series I need to catch up on, and one reason they are behind is contracts that restrict me from publishing other books within certain time parameters.
The thought of setting my own schedule and not having to change it (barring personal emergencies) is so freeing! So, I’ll let you know. After my week off once I turn this book in, I will be writing hard on my other mystery series, then the romance series (all of them), and also starting brand new series!
I get excited when I think about it, which tells me this is the right direction to go.
But first … I have a book to finish! Sunday is my day off, then Monday it’s back to work. I love writing Kat Holloway, so it’s only so daunting.
Have a good rest of your weekend! Hope you find a good book to read, no matter what.
What it’s about: Kat Holloway is dismayed when her employer orders her to cook Easter dinner in a house in Portman Square at the very last minute. Things are chaos when she arrives, and only go from bad to worse when murder enters the house.
You’ll also find a sneak preview of A Silence in Belgrave Square (Below Stairs Mysteries, Book 8) at the end!
I recently took a trip to London and ended up in Iceland (highly recommend Iceland as a vacation destination, which is much easier to reach than it seems). This was partly a working vacation / writer’s retreat, which gave me time to finish A Moveable Feast and start on Book 9 of Below Stairs Mysteries.
The time also let me make some decisions, some of them painful, about my writing business, and what I will do next. These decisions will be good for readers and in the long run, for me, because it will free me to schedule my books when I want them to be scheduled, instead of having to change things up and work around publishers’ sometimes onerous contract restrictions. It was difficult to face these decisions, but the relief after I made them told me I was doing the right thing.
All this means more books are coming. I’m taking this summer to firm up a release schedule (while writing the books, of course), which will be posted on my website when I have more definite dates.
I do have more books coming up this year, which you can see on my “Upcoming” page on my website: https://jenniferashley.com/coming-soon/ Right now, it’s a lot of mysteries, but romances will return after that.
More about my wonderful trip to London and Iceland in another post! I also began the trip in Brooklyn, which was awesome, and ended it in Boston, another great city.
Please note that the paperback is not pre-orderable at Amazon but will be available there on May 14. For some reason, they are allergic to pre-orders for print. The paperback is available for pre-order from Barnes and Noble (who are more sensible, so far). You can also order the paperback from my web store (now), but in all honesty, it will not get to you any faster, because I have to order it myself from the printer, and shipping will not be any cheaper.
For Audio: The lovely Cris Dukehart is working on it now, and I’ll announce when that book is ready.
What’s Next for the Shifters?
I still have so many Shifters whose stories I want to tell: Neal and Kiera (you meet Kiera in Bear Facts). Brody and … (you’ll meet her in Stray Cat 🙂 ). I’d also like to go back to the North Carolina Shiftertown and revisit a few Shifters there, like Kenzie’s fierce uncle, Jamie the cheetah, and Cade the grizzly (“Bears just wanna have fun”). All these characters were introduced in Mate Bond. Plus there are a few hanging around the Austin Shiftertown. I also have many requests for stories about the cubs when they get older.
However, I am thinking I’m next going to do the book I’ve long been pondering about Dylan (simply called Dylan). While it will be a romance with a HEA, it will also be a saga and Dylan’s history, how he came to be who he is, and where he’s going. More about Fae / Shifter history and settling those issues. Basically, all about Dylan! Plus his family, his loves, his losses, etc. It’s Time for this book.
I can’t guess how long it will take me to write it, but Dylan will be the next Shifter book I work on.
Before then:
I am now writing (about halfway done) A Moveable Feast (Kat Holloway novella), which I’d hoped to have out at Easter, but that wasn’t going to happen. It is still set at Easter, but it won’t be out until June. When I’m finished with the draft (next couple of weeks if all goes well), I’ll put it up for pre-order.
Then I’m contracted to write a new Kat Holloway novel (probably titled Murder in Blackfrairs)which will be out next year. (A Silence in Belgrave Square is this year’s Kat Holloway novel, out this August.)
Continuing with mysteries, I will then write Murder on the Rhône (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 18), and at long last another Leonidas the Gladiator mystery!
Then back to romances. I have a lot on my plate as usual, but I’m getting to all the series as I can.
I have some new things on the horizon as well, as my creative brain never ceases to bother me.
I hope you enjoy Stray Cat (if you’re a Shifters Unbound reader). Happy spring!
Writing from My Heart 