1–What is the title of your latest release? THE BACHELOR BETRAYAL   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?  Gazette insiders tell us there was an unchaperoned encounter between a certain deliciously mysterious earl and a flame-haired lady who’s rumored to keep daggers hidden within her skirts. Things are about to get dangerously scandalous in Maddison Michaels’ next Secret, Scandal and Spies release.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?  I love setting my books in the mid to late Victorian era – there was so much innovation and inventions happening during this period of history, that it really gives so much more depth to a story line! Plus I loved the ballgowns of the period, lol!   4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?  Absolutely!! I want her to teach me some of her fighting skills!! She’s a no nonsense, kick ass female!!   5–What are three words that describe your hero? Honorable, masculine, and a protector.   6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?  I learned all about the history of the War Office – which was fascinating! I also learned that one could purchase rubber sheaths…

What can you tell me about your new historical mystery THE DEBUTANTE’S CODE? THE DEBUTANTE’S CODE is the first book in a new mystery series that stars Lady Juliette Thorndike, an aristocrat, and Mr. Daniel Swann, a Bow Street Magistrate’s Court detective. Lady Juliette, newly returned from finishing school is eager to be reunited with her parents and begin her debut season in London Society, but upon her arrival finds her parents are missing. Lady Juliette uncovers the truth about her parents, a family secret they’ve been hiding for generations, and she determines to carry on their legacy. In addition to her parents going missing, artwork and valuables are also disappearing from the homes of the Beau Monde. As Juliette embarks on her new life, she must keep her secrets from the dashing Detective Swann, who is growing ever closer to discovering who is stealing the artwork, and who the Thorndike family really is. From the book’s description, it seems like there might be a hint of romance in this book. Do you try and have a balance of mystery and romance? In THE DEBUTANTE’S CODE, there is more mystery than romance, as the characters from this book will feature…

How great a debt we owe to valiant women of the past, who strained against conventional rules to expand a woman’s ability to be independent and direct her own life! In honor of the recent trend to offer valentines to our BFFs, this month we look at stories about three real and one fictional woman who pushed the boundaries of their eras. We begin chronologically with MONTICELLO by Sally Cabot Gunning.  Gunning’s story focuses on the relationship between Jefferson and his eldest daughter, Martha. After her mother’s death, young Martha accompanied the father she idolizes on his diplomatic posting in France. Returning to Monticello at age seventeen, she is married a year later to Thomas Randolph, a charming but difficult man. Though both Martha and her father have anti-slavery leanings, Jefferson ultimately decides emancipation is not politically possible and Martha, charged with running both her husband’s properties and Monticello while her father pursues his political career, finds she cannot make a plantation function without slave labor. Even with her best efforts, the Jeffersons and Randolphs fall farther into debt.  Often working almost independently to manage family property while giving birth to eleven children, intelligent, competent Martha, like most women of…