While I’m off celebrating my thirty-second wedding anniversary, Liza O’Connor is going to tell you about her latest book, and she has a contest!
During Queen Victoria’s era, the royalty gene pool was a closed loop, so it was not uncommon for cousins to marry first cousins.
In Book 6, I create a cousin, Lady Haughton, for the Queen. Lady Haughton is what you would call a lesser royalty. There is no chance whatsoever that she would ever be offered the crown. So she prefers to go by the title of ‘Lady’. I have no idea if she has a fancier title. The real female first cousins of Victoria that I could find all had titles such as Princess and Empress. (There were at least ten of them) But none of these women would do, so I created a lesser cousin.
My Lady Haughton is unfortunately plagued by relatives who are frankly an embarrassment to all society. So her name has been erased from all social lists. For all practical purposes, she has been royally forgotten. Except by the Queen.
She and Queen Victoria look very much alike. Thus, Lady Haughton rarely leaves her home, least her cousin be embarrassed when people see her and think the Queen is not wearing black, or worse yet, she is laughing. (True Fact: The Queen loved to laugh, but she rarely did so in public.)
Instead, Lady Haughton lived a quiet, wealthy, solitaire life, until the ghosts came a banging.
She hires Xavier & Vic to remove the ghosts. Not believing in such silliness, their suspicion lands on a nephew she has bequeathed all her wealth to when she dies. She has a great deal of nephew and nieces, but the only one she loves is Leslie.
I must say, when ‘not quite royalty’ goes bad, they go very bad.
When the pot has too many cooks a feast can be ruined, and that’s exactly what happens with Xavier and Vic’s new cases. Each proves more complicated than initially thought with criminals dropping out of the sky, wreaking havoc upon Xavier, Vic, and their excellent employees. By the end, Vic threatens to open a school that teaches criminals how to stay out of each other’s way.
Worse yet, a treasured member of the staff is shot in the heart while attempting to save Vic and the Queen’s cousin.
Here’s a bit about Leslie, the lady’s nice nephew:
Gregory closed his eyes as if willing sufficient patience to deal with Vic. “Victor, I have no issues with you saving people. However, doing so does not preclude using proper etiquette. When bringing guests home, you must never open the front door and bellow for your butler.”
“What would you have me do? I’m not upset that you don’t spend your day standing at the door so it opens when I approach it. You were clearly busy doing something of greater importance, so I unlocked the door and entered. However, I was certain you would not approve if I settled Leslie in without letting you know, so I called, not bellowed, your name.”
“You should have knocked on the door and waited,” he scolded.
Vic stepped closer, determined to win this argument. “Well, the problem I have with your solution is that someone is trying very hard to kill Leslie. His body has more bullet wounds, garrotes and knife scars than Xavier’s. I was not about to let him die on my doorstep while I practiced proper etiquette.”
Book 6
Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited
Need to catch up?
Book 1
Book 2
Book 2.5
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
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Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats, left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast. There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous books. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.
You have been warned.
Mostly humorous books by Liza:
Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. And there’s a ghost cat that roams about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)
Saving Casey— Cass wakes up in the body of a troubled teen who has burned every bridge imaginable. Her only choice is to turn this life around, but that’s much harder than she ever imagined.
Untamed & Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, tells her story. A faithful spinoff from Pride & Prejudice.
A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)
Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.
Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.
Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.
Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.
The Hardest Love — Is to love oneself. Sam’s story.
The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)
The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.
The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100 servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.
A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from Bedlam?
The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.
Well Kept Secrets — The problems with secrets is that they always come to light, no matter how you wish to silence them.
Pack of Trouble — Changes are a part of life, but these changes almost kill Vic.
The Darkest Days — Muddled cases make Vic very grumpy.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
Investigate these sites:
Liza’s Blog and Website Facebook Twitter
ellaquinnauthor
Ella Quinn ~ Author 
Thanks Ella for having me over. Have a great anniversary!.
Hello, everyone! While The Darkest Days is not out yet, it is available for pre-orders. It will be coming out Jan 6. I will be giving a PDF optimized for e-readers or an Amazon Kindel ebook for one lucky commenter. This is the sixth book in my Late Victorian series, but if you would rather start at the beginning, I will offer one book in my series to the lucky commenter: winner’s choice. So you make request any book in the series.
Reblogged this on NEVA BROWN & BOOKS.
Thanks for sharing!
This is a wonderful story! It has laughter and many fears… ghosts, attempted murders, werewolves…A must buy!!
Happy Anniversary Ella!
Richard is not a werewolf. No one bit him. He’s just a very furry man! He read your comment and is now weeping. It’s okay Richard, Vic’s brother-in-law is making you the first ever to exist electric razor. Just be patient.
Thanks for all the nice things you said, Melissa. Richard isn’t crying anyone. David just brought him his razor.
Oh and the ghost aren’t real ghosts either. Melissa is in a pranking mood. Some fake servants are trying to kill a rich old lady by pretending to be ghosts.
But there is lots of fun to be had as Vic and Xavier work matters out. Then there is a really sad point in the story where I cry…
I do have some catching up to do! Sounds like another great installment, Liza. (Are you sure there aren’t any werewolves? )
Happy Anniversary, Ella!
Well, I have a guy completely covered in fur, that howls, and smells horrible, but he’s not a real werewolf. His problem is an actual disease. In fact, I have a blog coming up on Jan 7 that talks about his disease and I share real cases of it.
Haven’t come across these books before but am going to check them out on amazon
Vesper, that’s great to hear! It’s my favorite series.