History in Mystery
History, Books, Wine and ME
It’s ALWAYS Happy Hour somewhere, right? So, you can listen to this fabulous podcast morning, noon, or night (drink optional). Today I’m DELIGHTED to be the guest author on the “History, Books and Wine”. Listen wherever you download your favorite podcasts as chat with fellow authors Eliza Knight and Lori Ann Bailey covering some of…
Read MoreFinding Notes In Books—it’s not just a plot point
My novel, And by Fire, involves a collection of “case notes” discovered by my modern London detectives—DIs Nigella Parker and Colm O’Leary—but written by a pair of amateur sleuths more than three-hundred-fifty years earlier. Tucking things away in books not unheard of. I find everything from receipts to old school pictures tucked in mine. But…
Read MoreToo Damn Hot!—the Great Fire of London reached unimaginable temperatures
In And by Fire, Detective Inspector Nigella Parker has a fear of fire deeply rooted in her childhood. But even people who generally aren’t pyrophobic would be terrified by the heat generated by London’s Great Fire of 1666—legitimately so. How hot did things get inside London in September of 1666 when, in just under five…
Read MoreNo Tea No Shade . . . King Charles II’s Queen Did NOT Introduce Tea to England, But She Made It Fashionable
So, here’s the skinny: Catherine of Braganza (wife of England’s King Charles II) loved tea, but she cannot be credited for introducing tea to the British. Catherine did, however, almost single-handedly turn tea into widely consumed and very fashionable beverage. Where did Catherine’s penchant for tea come from? Portugal. After all she was a Portuguese…
Read MorePoint of Ignition: Where the Great Fire of London REALLY Started
For precisely 350 years, everyone in England believed that Pudding Lane was THE London hotspot—the place, on the property of Thomas Farriner’s bakery, that the Great Fire of London sparked. Then a historian and House of Commons Clerk said nope, not so. Yes, the Great Fire began—as generations of British school children had learned—on the…
Read MoreWorst Beauty Product EVER
History is fascinating, frustrating, and occasionally downright gross.1 In And By Fire—while my modern-day police detectives are chasing a murderous arsonist creating sculptures from burnt flesh—a pair of 17th century amateur detectives search for a friend gone missing during London’s Great Fire. During that hunt, Margaret Dove (a lady-in-waiting to the queen) and Etienne Belland…
Read More1666: The Devil’s New Year
Happy New Year all! Here we are at the start of 2022 in the midst of a pandemic. Gloomy times for sure. But at least we aren’t fearful of the violent wrath of God (are we?). In that we have an advantage over many residents of London at the start of the year 1666. If…
Read MoreLondon’s Great Fire—A Selection of Fearsome Facts
The Great Fire of London was an event of HISTORIC proportions. While researching the 17th century timeline in AND BY FIRE, I read a collection of exceptional books on the Fire. In fact, let me drop a footnote in here with a couple of recommendations for those of you who would enjoy a deep dive…
Read MoreSir Christopher Wren’s Stamp on a NEW London
In 1666 when London caught fire, Christopher Wren wasn’t the city’s most famous architect—not by a long shot. Just thirty-three years old, Wren was considered an amateur in the field, albeit a passionate one. His actual job was as a Professor of Astronomy at Oxford (where he’d also been commissioned to design and build a…
Read MoreHelping London Rise Again . . . Allegorically
While London’s Monument to the Great Fire is, as a whole, splendid, its most significant artistic element is Caius Gabriel Cibber’s stunning bas-relief stone panel on its West face. So lets have a closer look (see, told you in my Monument Post that I’d get back to it). Cibber’s carving is allegorical, depicting post-Great-Fire London…
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