More about Addie
later, but I thought I might start with…the start. Like so many romance authors,
I began my career writing Regency historicals, because who can argue with
Georgette Heyer? I wrote two series, the Courtesan Court and London List books,
although technically George the IVth was on the throne in the third Courtesan
Court although he hadn’t had his coronation. J
And
then, I came across a photograph of my grandmother and her sisters, known
collectively as “the beautiful Miller sisters.” She was the youngest of eight
siblings, and the seventh sister (her poor brother), born in 1887 or 1889. The
discrepancy results from all the sisters changing their birthdates in the
family Bible, the minxes.
Seeing them in their Edwardian finery around the turn
of the twentieth century inspired me to write the Ladies Unlaced series, all
featuring young women anxious to embrace societal changes. Telephones! Cars!
Jobs! Suffrage! All of the Miller sisters save for my grandmother were
redheads; some never married, and those that did were either very late to do
so, or wound up scandalously divorced. I believe they must have been forces to
reckon with.
After
a brief foray into the Victorian era (the Cotswold Confidential novels), I
turned again to the twentieth century, only this time I decided to try a
mystery—quite a challenge for a writer who loves research but does not plot.
At
all.
Thus came Lady Adelaide Compton, a widowed marquess’ daughter in
possession of seven automobiles. It would have been eight, but her late husband
crashed it, along with his French mistress, into a stone wall. There’s a strong
vein of romance in the series, because Addie is a pretty, rich widow—who
wouldn’t want to be husband number 2? Well, except for Detective Inspector
Devenand Hunter from Scotland Yard, an ambitious Anglo-Indian fully away of
society’s constraints. Will Addie break him down? TBD.
I’ve
discovered the 1920s were an absolute golden age of music. As a little girl, I
saved my allowance to buy a 45 of Connie Francis’ Who’s Sorry Now, loving her voice. Who could imagine it was written
in 1923? And who could imagine it would be the perfect title for a mystery set in
1925 amongst the Bright Young People in London, whose only goal was to have to no
goal but lots of fun? The more things change, the more they stay the same, with
apologies to the French.
And
here’s my grandmother, as a young mother during the Great War, and as a gay
divorcee sometime in the late twenties or early thirties. I think she’d be
tickled to know how she’s inspired me. Do you have favorite old family
photographs?Maggie Robinson is a former teacher, library clerk, and mother of four who woke up in the middle of the night, absolutely compelled to create the perfect man and use as many adjectives and adverbs as possible doing so.
A transplanted New Yorker, she lives with her not-quite perfect husband in Maine, where the cold winters are ideal for staying inside and writing historical mysteries and romances.A two-time Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice nominee, her books have been translated into French, German, Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Thai, Dutch, and Italian. Maggie is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Romance Writers of America, and Maine Romance Writers.
You can find Maggie's website at www.maggierobinson.net. She's also on Twitter @maggielrobinson and Facebook: https://www.
