Tag: #bellesinblue Page 1 of 22

A New Feature

On May 9, 2026

The editor is pleased to announce a new feature, “On-dits From Abroad,” bits and bobs we receive in letters from loyal readers taking the waters or on a Grand Tour.

A note from the spa at Baden-Baden tells us Lady M K-S over imbibed one night and had to be rescued from the sulphur spring. Reports are she will be staying over several months restoring her health and dignity.

A shocked reader reports she attended two balls in Paris and almost swooned over the scandalous dress, outrageous flirting, and volume of traffic to and from dark alcoves. We are sending a reporter to investigate.

Meanwhile in Rome, and excitable lady believes she spied the missing Baron R, who disappeared from London two years ago. He was seen leaving the gardens of the Santa Spiritu Convent neatly dressed with a respectable woman on his arm. None of those details match our memory of the baron, even less the down on his luck major he was when he disappeared. We doubt this report.

About the Book

Hmmm. Baron Ross does indeed languish in Rome, ignoring a tarnished title, his honor in tatters. Will love and promises help him piece it together again?

When a little brown wren of an Englishwoman bursts into Jamie Heyworth’s private Hell and asks for help, he mistakes her for the black crow of death. Why not? He fled to Rome and sits in despair with nothing left to sell and no reason to get up in the morning. Behind him lie disgrace, shame, and secrets he is desperate to keep.

Nora Haley comes to Rome at the bidding of her dying brother who has an unexpected legacy. Never in her sunniest dreams did Nora expect Robert to leave her a treasure, a tiny black eyed niece with curly hair and warm hugs. Nora will do anything to keep her, even hire a shabby, drunken major as an interpreter.

Jamie can’t let Nora know the secrets he has hidden from everyone, even his closest friends. Nora can’t trust any man who drinks. She had enough of that in her marriage. Either one, however, will dare anything for the little imp that keeps them together, even enter a sham marriage to protect her.

This new edition of Dangerous Secrets, fully edited and updated with a new epilogue will be launched in July 2026. The first edition was a prize winning best seller.

About the Author

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carowarfield/

A Shocking Reminder and a Dire Warning!

By Barbara Monajem

On April 4, 2026

In Barbara Monajem, Bluestocking Belles, Teatime Tattler

One of our intrepid reporters, while on a walking tour near the coast of Lancashire, came upon a shocking sight. We feel it to be our duty to recount his experience – and thus to remind well-bred English ladies of the consequences of abandoning their virtue.

If, dear readers, you plan to visit that delightful area of the north, do not, we beg you, visit an inn known as the Diving Duck. It is patronized by the lowest sort of common people. Many of them are smugglers, who go to the Diving Duck to drink and carouse after a successful smuggling run. But that’s not the worst of it!

What will make you cringe with horror are not the smugglers, but the lady who plays the piano in the coffee room and sings vulgar songs. As if that were not bad enough, she resides in the Diving Duck and is exceedingly friendly with the patrons. Why, we all ask, would a lady demean herself in such a way?

The answer is sadly obvious. She has lost her reputation. In other words, she is ruined!

Our reporter recognized her as Miss D. W., cousin of the well-known rake, Lord G. He attempted to speak to her, but she ignored him most rudely. He then questioned the patrons of the inn about her, but their response was hostile to say the least. He was obliged to make his escape in a hurry!

What does their defense of the lady mean? We hesitate to conjecture further, but surely a ruined lady should retire to a life of loneliness and penitence, rather than expose her folly to a rightly censorious world! Has she no shame?

It seems not. Poor, foolish Miss D. W.! She serves as a dire warning to any lady tempted to misbehave. In the end, degradation and misery are the fate of those who step off the path of virtue!

Love and the Shameless Lady

Disgraced lady Daisy Warren serves ale in a tumbledown inn, sings crude songs for the smugglers, and writes romantic novels in her spare time. Shunned by her own class, she’s resigned to her lowly life—until someone tries to kill her.

Gentleman spy Sir Julian Kerr noses out seditionists and traitors. When he visits the inn to investigate two suspicious Frenchmen, he meets the lovely but hostile Daisy. He doesn’t intend to get involved with her—but then he learns that someone is threatening her life.

He must find out more—it’s part of his investigation. He needs to protect her—he’s a chivalrous man. More than anything, he just wants her. But will Daisy’s bitter past allow her to risk love again?

Love and the Shameless Lady is only 99 cents for the month of April!

https://books2read.com/love-and-the-shameless-lady

For more about Barbara Monajem and her books, go here: www.BarbaraMonajem.com

A Sneaking Reporter

By Bluestocking Belles

On March 21, 2026

In Teatime Tattler

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

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.