Q. When will your next book come out? updated!

The Garden Intrigue (Pink IX) comes out on February 16, 2012!  As Napoleon pursues his plans for the invasion of England, English operative Augustus Whittlesby gets wind of a top secret device, to be demonstrated over the course of a house party at Malmaison. The catch? The only way in is to join forces with that annoying American socialite, Emma Morris Delagardie, who has been commissioned to write a masque for the weekend’s entertainment. Even so, it should leave plenty of alone time with Augustus’ colleague (and goddess), Jane Wooliston, who has been tapped to play the heroine. Or so Augustus tells himself. In this complicated masque within a masque, nothing seems to go quite as scripted… especially Emma. For more about the book-- and an excerpt-- check out the Garden Intrigue page.

Q. What are you working on now? updated!

Right now, I'm working on a non-Pink book, due to come out from St. Martin's Press in late 2012 or early 2013.  It’s the tale of the intertwined lives of two cousins, beginning in England in the 1910s and stretching up through late 20's Kenya. It’s a little Downton Abbey and a little Out of Africa. There’s also a modern woman trying to figure out what exactly happened back then and what this means for her and what she thought she knew about her family and herself.

Q. Does the 1920s book mean there won't be more flowery spies?

No!  As of this Q&A, I've signed up to write two more Pink books, Pink X & XI, respectively.  I don't have exact details yet, but Pink X, Miss Gwen's book, should be appearing in spring or summer 2013, shortly after the 1920's book.  In the meantime, we have Pink IX, The Garden Intrigue, coming out February 16, 2012.

Q. In what order should the books be read? new!

For both the short and the long answer to that question, check out the new Book Order page.

Q. Do you plan to continue giving characters and couples appearances in future books? new!

It would be hard to keep them out of it.  I would never bring old characters in purely for the sake of giving them a cameo, since that does a disservice to the current story, but my fictional world is a very interwoven one. Rather like real life, where you’re constantly running across people you know, my characters tend to bump into one another a fair amount, so it’s a good bet that you’ll see old characters in new books.

Q. Do you have any plans to write anything other than Pink Carnation in the near future? new!

Confession: I’m very superstitious. I don’t like talking about future projects for fear that I might jinx them. I’ve also noticed that the more I talk about an idea, the less likely I am to turn it into prose. So I’ll just say, broadly, yes. My literary tastes are pretty varied, so there are a whole range of books I want to write, from a young adult series, to an English Civil War-set epic, to a light romp of a mystery novel. Stay tuned….

Q. You mentioned that you were possible thinking about doing short stories to catch up with previous characters. Are you still planning on possibly doing that? new!

The answer to that is a qualified yes. I know just what I want to write about Henrietta and Miles’ first Valentine’s Day—and I also have some ideas about Letty and Geoff and Mary and Vaughn. It’s simply a question of finding time to write it!

Q. When are we going to find out what Jane has been up to? new!

The series veered away a bit from Jane in Night Jasmine and Blood Lily, but don’t worry. It veers back with The Orchid Affair, where we’re reintroduced to the workings of Jane’s league in Paris. We’ll also see a lot more of Jane in Pink IX.

Q. Will Jane and/ or Ms. Gwen get a book of their own? new!

Let’s just say that I have plans for both of them….

Q. What area of the law did you focus on and work in? How has your work in the legal profession influenced your historical writing? new!

During my very brief legal career, I worked as a litigator. It was Big Firm litigation, which meant that I was dealing largely with corporations rather than individuals, and found myself learning a lot more about abstruse accounting principles than I would have otherwise liked. As to the second half of that question, I really don’t have a pat answer. I do think that there are interesting similarities in the way one constructs a brief and the way one constructs a story: both are productions meant to persuade. Both rely on the mustering of examples and the creation of a certain type of atmosphere. Aside from that, I’m not sure. Although the hero of The Orchid Affair is a lawyer!

Q. What books and articles are you using to research your books? new!

You can find the background material for each book, as well as some basic references, on the Bibliography page.

Q. What are your favorite historical movies/costume dramas? new!

My favorite go-to costume dramas include the Anthony Andrews Scarlet Pimpernel, the Ciaran Hinds Persuasion, the BBC production of Clarissa (Vaughn owes a lot to Sean Bean as Lovelace), the Sharpe series (do you sense a Sean Bean theme?), and Horatio Hornblower. I’m also a big fan of Dangerous Beauty, although I prefer the English title, The Honest Courtesan.  Then, of course, there are the classics of swash and buckle: Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, and Zorro.

Q. Will Richard and Miles ever reconcile?

Many of you have expressed concern about the state of Richard and Miles’ relationship. Poor Richard. He didn’t have an easy time dealing with his best friend’s defection. Used to being the center of both Henrietta’s and Miles’ attention, it was a nasty shock to him when his adoring little sister and longtime best friend decided they were more interested in each other than him. I do believe that Richard will relent over time—he and Miles were friends for too long to remain entirely estranged—but it may take a while.

Q. How many Pink Carnation books do you intend to write? updated!

Oh no. I’m not falling for that one again. I already got myself in trouble by naming a number last time and then overshooting it. Let’s just say that it’s pretty open-ended at the moment. As long as you keep reading them, I’ll keep writing them! (Are there characters you think should have their own books? Email and let me know!)

Q. Do you outline your books in advance?

I outline constantly—and I save the old outlines, so I can laugh hollowly over them two months later, when they no longer bear any resemblance to what I’ve actually written. I’m always impressed by those people who can outline a book in advance and stick to it. Frequently, the bits on my original outlines I’m most pleased with are the bits that prove most unworkable in practice, and find their way into the dustbin. Despite their lack of utility as an actual blueprint, I do find outlines quite useful for organizing my thoughts, and working through plot kinks. In general, I tend to have a fairly detailed outline for whatever the next five chapters may be, and then a sketchier outline for anything that comes after that. It helps me keep track of the overall story and pacing, while still maintaining the flexibility to adjust to unexpected plot twists.

Q. Will Eloise and Colin finally get together in the next book?

Like all good chick lit heroes and heroines, Colin and Eloise must undergo a suitably prolonged period of suffering before they are allowed to reach the promised land of romantic bliss. Since they only get about six chapters of their own per book, they haven’t suffered nearly enough yet. However, I have been threatened with violence by several of my friends if Eloise and Colin aren’t at least allowed a smooch sometime soon. Let’s just say, things are going to get interesting for Eloise and Colin. A possible kiss… a few rivals… who knows? Well, I do, but I’m not telling. If I did, Eloise might find out, and there’s no telling what she would do.

Q. How much of the modern story is autobiographical?

Hmm, a handsome Englishman, a cache of never-before-seen papers…. If only. I did loan Eloise my basement flat in Bayswater, as well as a rather bizarre party featuring models and glo-sticks, but the rest is pure imagination. And, no, no boyfriend of mine ever smooched another woman in the cloakroom of the Faculty Club, nor did I go abroad because I was thwarted in love. (Believe it or not, I’ve actually been asked that several times since the book came out—including by an old family friend!). It’s called fiction for a reason.

Q. Where do you get your ideas?

Every now and again, the Good Plot Fairy will wave her magic wand over my head. When I fail to pay attention, the Good Plot Fairy will then bash me over the head several times until I sit up, stick a bookmark in whatever novel I’ve been reading, and take notice. At least, that’s what happened with The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. “What if…” a little voice whispered in my ear (most of my bouts of demented pacing and muttering to myself usually start with those fatal words, “what if”). “What if you paired a know-it-all English spy with a stubborn royalist heroine?” And once the idea appeared, it wouldn’t go away. That darned spy kept dashing back and forth through my head (sometimes swinging on a rope, just for variety), until I finally had to do something about him. But that initial, comet-blazing-across-the-sky, Big Idea is only the beginning. Each book is composed of a mosaic of thousands of little ideas, ideas that invariably come to me at two in the morning when my alarm is set for seven. Ideas like, “What if Amy sees Georges Marston standing outside the house in a black cloak?” In fact, the bigger the initial idea, the more problems it causes, and the more mini-ideas it takes to sort everything out. For example, for the book I’m working on right now, the Big Idea, the idea that clunked me over the head—repeatedly—and wouldn’t leave me alone for nights on end, was “What if my hero were to accidentally elope with the wrong woman?” This seemed like a great idea. Until I started working on it. At which point I had to start answering questions like, “How in the hell do two sensible individuals get themselves into that sort of situation?” and “What was I drinking—er, thinking?”

Q. Who are your favorite authors?

It’s always impossible to answer that without leaving scads of people out, since my favorite authors list stretches to an alarming length. But I do have a shelf of books that has traveled with me from my childhood room… to college… to various apartments in Cambridge… and even England. The Security Shelf basics are L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle, Robin McKinley’s Beauty, M.M. Kaye’s Trade Wind, Judith McNaught’s Almost Heaven, Paradise Lost, a complete Shakespeare, the collected poems of John Donne (featuring a rather cocky courtier glowering from the cover), ditto Yeats, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Stoppard’s Arcadia, C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces, and revolving selections by Nancy Mitford, Elizabeth Peters, Judith Merkle Riley, and Julia Quinn. Other favorites (which didn’t make it onto the Security Shelf, but are beloved nonetheless) include Karleen Koen’s Through a Glass Darkly, Diane Gabaldon’s Outlander, and anything by Georgette Heyer. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. My dream in life is to someday have an apartment with enough bookshelves to house all my books, without involving large piles in front of my couch and next to my bed and under my kitchen table….

Q. I’m just starting my historical novel—do you have any research tips?

Lots and lots! I gave a talk on the subject at a conference last spring, and one of these days I really will get around to posting my workshop outline on the website. In the meantime, here are a few research strategies that have worked for me. Start with biographies. Biographies often contain wonderful details about physical culture (clothing, food, architecture) that more straightforward political histories lack. They give you an excellent sense of what the time period was like as it was actually lived—and they also usually have excellent footnotes you can pounce on to locate other scholarly works and primary sources. For example, for my research on Napoleon’s court, I originally started with Theo Aronson’s The Golden Bees, Andre Castelot’s Napoleon, and Evangeline Bruce’s Napoleon and Josephine, and then tracked down the contemporary memoirs they had used as sources. Don’t neglect museums. Some museums have wonderful collections of furniture and other everyday objects, and many (like my personal favorite, the V&A in London), have posted substantial numbers of images on-line. Not quite as good as getting to go in person, but still a wonderful source of ideas for furnishing your heroine’s boudoir. I’m also a big fan of glossy coffee-table books about antiques with lots of pictures and diagrams—and, fortunately, there always seem to be lots of those available, for a fraction of their proper price, at used books stores. And then there are writers’ groups. I’m a member of the Beau Monde, the Regency chapter of Romance Writers of America. The sheer amount of esoteric information possessed by the members of the group could fill several libraries and quite a few history departments.