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A Sneaking Reporter

On March 21, 2026

Note to one Shadrack Gumpfile from his sometimes employer, Sam Clemens at the Teatime Tattler

Sparky,

Drop what you’re doing lurking around in Hamstead. I have a better job for you. Turn your tail around and head for Oxford.

We’re getting a whiff of something juicy out of there. Some woman has been causing talk by pretending to be a scholar. She’s irritated some fellows, tried to gain entry to the library (as if they’d let a woman in), and had an altercation with a high class book seller.

Now we’ve heard rumors she isn’t at all what she should be and is carrying on with a local man just back from the late war. What makes it good press is the woman in question is none other than the daughter of the Duke of Sudbury. Sudbury! As high a stickler as they come.

This one should be easy. Hang out in the pubs and seamier establishments. Students have notoriously loose mouths and should spill what they know, what they guess, and the worst possible interpretations.

But move quickly. The woman’s brother is the Marquess of Glenaire who will come down on us like a hammer if he finds out. We need to get the article out there before he does.

Sam

About the Book: A Lady’s Honor

She may be skirting scandal in the opinion of some, but Lady Georgiana has her own code of Honor

A little Greek is one thing; the art of love is another. Only one man ever tried to teach Lady Georgiana Hayden both. She learned painfully, a young age to keep her heart safe. She learned to keep loneliness at bay through work. If it takes a scandalous affair to teach her what she needs to complete her work, she will risk it. If the man in question chooses not to teach her, she will use any means at her disposal to change his mind. She is determined to give voice to the ancient women whose poetry has long been neglected.

Some scars cut deeper than others. Major Andrew Mallet returns to Cambridge a battle scarred hero. He dared to love Georgiana once and suffered swift retribution from her powerful family. The encounter cost him eleven years of his life. Determined to avoid her, he seeks work to heal his soul and make his scholar father proud. The work she offers risks his career, his peace of mind, and (worst of all) his heart. Can he protect himself from a woman who almost destroyed him? Does he want to?

Even poetry, with its musical lyrics and sensual traps, is dangerous when you partner with the love of your life. In Regency Cambridge it can lead a lady quickly past improper to positively scandalous.

Preorder it for $1.99 now. It reverts to full retail price after launch March 24. https://books2read.com/aladyshonor

About the Series

Honor at Heart follows an intertwined group of characters, family and friends, in their path to adventure, honor, and above all love.

About the Author

Caroline Warfield – Authorr

Award winning author, Caroline Warfield, grew up in a peripatetic army family, and the need to travel never left her. After a varied career (largely around libraries and technology) she retired to the urban wilds of eastern Pennsylvania to be closer to family and to write. She remains a traveler and adventurer, enamored of owls, books, history, and beautiful gardens (but not the act of gardening).

Caroline calls her books family-centered romance, and this one is no exception. Family makes her characters what they are, for better or worse. She takes them as they are, scarred and wounded, and sets them on their path to their own happily ever after, because love is worth the risk.

Soli Deo Gloria

Find Caroline on the Web:

Website http://www.carolinewarfield.com/

Amazon Author http://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Warfield/e/B00N9PZZZS/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/WarfieldFellowTravelers

Newsletter: http://www.carolinewarfield.com/newsletter/

BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/caroline-warfield

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCycyfKdNnZlueqo8MlgWyWQ

How Not to Avoid a Curse

By Barbara Monajem

On February 21, 2026

In Barbara Monajem, Bluestocking Belles, gossip, Regency (19th century Britain), Teatime Tattler

Dear Readers!

You, we are certain, are guided by reason and common sense.

Sadly, this is untrue of one of our noble peers. We refer, alas, to Lord N, who is labeled by the caricaturists as the Carpentry Earl.

Lord N‘s marquetry and inlay work is superb. No one denies that. But why did he enter into partnership with a man of low estate and indulge in (shudder) trade? This was deplorable enough when he was a mere second son, but after succeeding unexpectedly to the title, Lord N continues to eschew the ton in favor of laboring in his London shop.

We at the Tattler wonder if perhaps his diligence has something to do with avoiding marriage—or, to put it more plainly, the inevitability of an unfaithful wife. Why, you ask, would his wife be unfaithful? Lord N is a good-looking man, and physical labor renders him quite delightfully brawny.

But brawniness is no proof against the supposed Infidelity Curse laid upon his noble line by the Lady N of two centuries ago. Ever since, every Lady N has been unfaithful to her lord. No wonder his lordship would rather avoid marriage.

But if so, why did he commit the folly of entangling himself with the excessively beautiful Lady T, who (it is whispered) betrayed her elderly husband and then poisoned him? Does she have her clutches firmly into Lord N? If so, which fate will assail him first: poison or the dreaded curse? https://books2read.com/infidelity-curse

Here’s an excerpt from The Infidelity Curse:

Setup: At the reading of Sir Matthew Tifton’s will, all is going well except for the unpleasant presence of Sir Matthew’s nephew, Mr. Welton, who has already disrupted the proceedings twice. And then…

“There remains the question of guardianship, which is somewhat unusual,” Mr. Briggs, the solicitor, said.

Oh, God. Lucretia hadn’t thought of that.

“Sir Matthew appointed the Earl of Netherbroke as guardian of his child.” He paused. “Also as trustee, jointly with myself.”

“What the devil? I am meant to be the guardian!” Mr. Welton sprang up. “And the sole trustee, damn you!”

“Mr. Welton, if you cannot restrain yourself,” Mr. Briggs said, “Lady Tifton will be obliged to ask her footman to remove you.”

“Pah! She wouldn’t dare,” Welton said, “not with what I know about her.” He jabbed an accusing finger at Lucretia.

She shrank away. What could he possibly know? She’d never done anything wrong, except . . .

“Who is the Earl of Netherbroke?” demanded Lucretia’s niece, Noelle.

“He is an elderly peer who lives in Gloucestershire,” Lucretia said. “Sir Matthew and the Earl of Netherbroke were enthusiastic medal collectors. They met once at an auction and corresponded for a short while well over a year ago. Sir Matthew’s passion for marquetry was due to the Earl’s influence. I suppose my husband decided, judging by a brief acquaintance and some expensive furniture from the shop the Earl recommended, that the Earl would make a suitable guardian.” Fury swelled within her, but she strove to keep it from her voice. Surely a doddering earl was better than horrid Mr. Welton.

Mr. Briggs nodded. “Most likely due to his position in society.”

“Society be damned. My uncle feared for his life and the safety of his child.” Welton’s spittle flew. “He knew his precious wife had cuckolded him over and over, and then she tried to poison him with her noxious brews. What sort of mother would she be?”

Aghast, Lucretia clapped a hand to her breast. “No, no! I made him tisanes of healing herbs.” Her voice trembled. “He was ill. I tried to cure him!”

“Hah! You would claim that, wouldn’t you—but you don’t deny that you cuckolded him.”

Before Lucretia could gain control of her voice, he turned to Jellicoe, the valet. “You know all about this, don’t you? Sir Matthew valued you. He confided in you, didn’t he?”

“Yes, sir, he did,” Jellicoe said. “He believed Lady Tifton was trying to kill him. He feared the consequences to the child’s immortal soul if it was left to its mother’s care.”

Welton shook his fist at Lucretia. “You killed him because he was going to change his will. No. More likely he had already changed it, using the services of a more competent solicitor than this fellow. And then you burned it so no one would ever know.”

Lucretia quailed, shaking her head. “No, that’s not true.”

“You’re a whore and a murderess,” he shouted. “You may try to cozen the Earl of Whatshisname, but you won’t succeed. I’ll do whatever it takes to see that he takes the child away from you. You’ll be lucky if you don’t hang!”

A dark cloud swept over Lucretia. She opened her mouth to protest, but no words came, and she fainted dead away.

The Infidelity Curse is only 99 cents at Amazon until the end of February! https://books2read.com/infidelity-curse

Another Encroaching Caulfield

By Bluestocking Belles

On November 8, 2025

In Caroline Warfield, Teatime Tattler

Dear readers, new events have brought an old scandal, one you may have thought had faded into the shadows, back into the light.

You remember no doubt the immense uproar caused by the Earl of Clarion’s outrageous will, that named his, shall we say, “informal”, offspring. Worse was the furor caused when his son, the new earl, appeared to welcome the lot of them as if they were true siblings.

Recently, one Seth Caulfield, boldly bearing the earl’s surname, appeared in London wearing the uniform of a naval officer of sorts. One gathered he bore the rank of surgeon, a warranted rank, not one of a gentleman to be sure. He had the look of a Caulfield about him, however, and no sooner than he had appeared than he was welcomed to the earl’s table and given full support. It appeared that another one of the, if you’ll pardon our language, Clarion Bastards has appeared on the scene. (I apologize if ladies take offense but we do like to speak the truth, and the man is well, not legitimate at all.)

Loyalty is well and good, but really, should such a blot on the family escutcheon be been pushed forward? For that is what the earl did, introducing the man to some of society’s best as his brother and inviting him to social events and house parties. One even heard the family pushed him toward a university, no doubt to raise his status from mere surgeon to physician.

The highest sticklers did not, of course receive him. But then, the highest don’t approve of Clarion himself. The earl’s radical politics caused more outrage in recent years, quieting the old scandal.

At least the newest Caulfield seems to have done society a favor by withdrawing from London. Rumor has it he has gone off to some obscure village in the north to practice medecine. We can only hope he stays there!
*****

Seth Caulfield is the hero of “The Angel’s Announcement, a Holiday Homicide,” in Merry Belles, the Bluestocking Belles’ newest collection.

You can order it here: https://books2read.com/u/mvRGPj

About the Story

Sybilla Somer was seventeen when Seth Caulfield disappeared without a word. For nine long years she wondered why. Now he’s back and she needs his help to solve a murder. There is no one else to do it.

Seth hadn’t been much older when Sibby’s father and brother drove him out with shouts of “bloody presuming bastard.” They delivered him to press gangs in Great Yarmouth. He assumed she knew. She didn’t, and she certainly didn’t care that his birth was irregular. The navy set him to helping the ship’s surgeon, a stroke of luck. He has returned a warranted surgeon himself.

They found the shepherd eight days before Christmas. Dead. When Sybilla and Seth are thrown together to solve the murder, to care for a small angel with a broken ankle — and to face the hurt between them, will the work and the season heal what lies between them?

About the Author

Caroline Warfield, former army brat, librarian, traveler, history-lover, and storyteller is a Bluestocking Belle. The story of the Earl of Clarion’s Bastards, the new earl’s radical politics, and his reconciliation with his siblings was told in the Ashmead Heirs Series. “The Angel’s Announcement” brings a lovely addition to their ranks.

Is the Beauty Off The Market?

By Bluestocking Belles

On October 18, 2025

In Jude Knight, Teatime Tattler

Further news from Sussex, dear reader, as the Somerville house party continues to provide enough gossip to keep the ton amused over their breakfasts for months to come. Our readers will be familiar with the name of the lovely Lady F., who has delighted this newspaper since she was first presented to the ton and proclaimed a rare beauty – can it truly be six years ago? In that time, this flower on the tree of the venerable B. family has proved ever popular with marriage-minded gentlemen, their mothers and sisters, and matchmakers of both sexes. But, ever elusive, she has escaped whatever entanglements were dropped before her feet, and has instead accompanied her brother, the distinguished Earl of H., assisting him with his political and diplomatic duties by managing his household and planning his entertainments.

Dear reader, word from Sussex is that this most original of all social butterflies might be about to land at last on a respectable suitor. According to our correspondent, she has caught the eye of a certain Mr. V. G., whose links with a princely family in Italy are well known. He has made his intentions clear and a proposal is certainly in the offing.

But will the lady say yes? We wait, perhaps no less impatiently than Mr. V. G. to hear the lady’s answer!

(The following is a note hastily delivered too late to stop the print, so it will have to go in a later edition.)

Sam, pull the article about Lady F. She is to marry the local schoolteacher and Mr. V. G. has been arrested under mysterious circumstances. We have been able to learn that the lady’s brother was involved in the arrest, but in what way and why? No one is saying. I’ll keep digging around to see what I can find out. Meanwhile, the lady and the schoolteacher are smelling like April and May, and even the sober Earl of H. has been seen to smile! Who would have seen that coming?

A Bend in the Road in Love’s Perilous Road

By Jude Knight

Justin is not worthy of Lady Felicity Belvoir. He hadn’t needed her brother to point it out. Felicity is determined to marry Justin Weatherall, her brother be damned. Now that she has found where he is living, she needs only to convince him.

An Excerpt from A Bend in the Road

Justin dragged himself out of bed to answer a thunderous cascade of knocks on his door. It was Victor Grant, who raised his brow at Justin’s appearance and said, “What does the schoolmaster get when he is late for school? Six of the best? Would you like me to administer them for you?”

“Get lost, Grant,” Justin said. “I have nothing to say to you.” He tried to shut the door, but Grant put his boot in the way.

“I have something to say to you, however,” Grant said. “You have been annoying Lady Felicity Belvoir, and I won’t have it. Stay away from my betrothed.”

As had often happened in battle, Justin suddenly felt very calm, very much in control, all his emotions set to one side to be picked up again on the other side of the conflict. “No, Grant. It is I who say those words to you. Stop annoying Lady Felicity. We are to be married.”

The reward for sins often arrived before the payment, and so it was in this case. Grant’s jaw dropped, and his attempt to speak caught on a stutter. The payment would come when Felicity discovered what he’d said. No matter. Justin would pay whatever penance she demanded, and it would be worth it for the expression in Grant’s eyes.

“Nonsense,” said the man, gathering his usual cloak of supercilious dignity around himself. “Marry you? You are nothing and no one. She is a Belvoir, and one of the great beauties of our age. You are penniless, and she brings a fortune with her. You were a mediocre naval officer and are now a village schoolteacher. She is used to the highest of Society and is welcome in all the courts of Europe. A marriage between you? Ridiculous.”

How odd. These were the same arguments that Justin had been using, but hearing them from Grant he could see how petty they were. If Felicity loved him as he loved her, and if she wanted the life he could give her, then what else mattered?

“It is you who are ridiculous, Grant. Chasing after a woman who has already refused you several times.”

“A woman has a right to be pursued,” Grant said, loftily. “A sensible man does not regard it as discouragement.”

“A wise man assumes a woman like Lady Felicity knows her own mind. She has chosen me, Grant. Now go away.” As he said that, he gave Grant a shove to move him from the doorstep, and slammed the door in the man’s face. He latched it, locked it, and—for good measure—put the bar in place.

After a few minutes, he heard Grant’s horse leaving.

But before he could go back upstairs to his bed, another knock sounded, more gentle but equally insistent. By pressing his face to the window, he could just see a skirt. Not Milly again, please God, no. But the figure stepped back to glance from side to side, and when he realized it was Felicity, he could not get the door open fast enough.

“Was that Grant I saw leaving?” she demanded, as he drew her inside and shut the door to protect her from the eyes of scandalmongers. “What did he want?”

“To tell me I wasn’t good enough for you,” he blurted.

She raised her eyebrows and gave an unamused chuckle. “At least there is something the two of you agree about.”

I hurt her. Justin supposed he must have known it before, but seeing her use humor to deflect possible hurt brought it home to him.

“I told him we are betrothed,” he blurted. “I shouldn’t have. Not when I haven’t even asked you. I love you, Lady Felicity Belvoir. I have loved you since I first met you. For the past two years, even while I kept telling myself that it was hopeless, and that I was an arrogant bumptious fool for ever thinking I was fit to touch the toe of your shoe, I have loved you. Will you forgive this poor fool for running away without talking to you?”

Somewhere in that impassioned speech, he had caught up her two hands. He lifted them to his lips, and then said, “Will you marry me, and join me in a partnership to make our dreams come true? Will you, Felicity?”

Felicity lifted her lovely face and touched her sweet lips to his. “Yes, Justin. Yes, I will.”

A Widow of Questionable Virtue

By Bluestocking Belles

On June 28, 2025

In Caroline Warfield, Teatime Tattler

Dearest Mr. Clemens, thank you for the delightful Tea you arranged for my sister and I before we left London. As you predicted, there is much delicious information to be had at Sir Peter and Lady Somerville’s house party in the lovely Sussex countryside. My sister Prudence will have already alerted you to the goings on of the night rider Captain Midnight. There will be more on that subject!

My purpose this morning is to inform you about one particular story of potential interest to your readers. A stranger appeared in the nearby village a week or so ago. While he appears to be a gentleman, he is not, in fact a guest of the Somervilles. He has been staying at the common hotel all this time. He has taken close, even obsessive interest in a woman who lives alone with only her small son for company.

Mrs. Tessa Fleming is a war widow and as such should be admired, but really, is it proper for her to be living on her own? The stranger has made repeated visits to her home, and I’ve heard not one word of a chaperone. The ladies here about, both of high and low estate generally attest to the woman’s virtue. Still, one must wonder about these visits by a man of particularly attractive visage and form, and the ladies watch the situation avidly.

What led me to write today is that the identity of the stranger has been revealed. He introduces himself as Titus Flavius Brannock, lately major in His Majesty’s 11^th Dragoons. What was revealed last night is that he is the brother of the Earl of Astleigh! Lady Somerville, of course, immediately insisted that he be her guest when she discovered this. He will be at the closing ball. I am agog to discover how he will react when he finds that the widow has been invited also.

There will be more

Your most devoted correspondent,

Abigail Danvers

About the Book: Love’s Perilous Road

Travellers, a house party, smugglers, spies–and a mysterious highwayman. Who is the infamous Captain Moonlight? And how many lives will he change–for good or for ill?

Pre-order it for August: https://books2read.com/u/mqx0W6

About the Caroline Warfield’s Story: Charred Hope

Major Titus Brannock believes the charred painting that fell into his hands must be valuable to its owner. When he finds her, he finds a true treasure. Tessa Fleming’s first instinct was to burn the miniature her late husband scorned, but the admiration she sees in Titus’s eyes gives her different ideas. Perhaps the little gem will give them both a pearl beyond price.