Home of the Bluestocking Belles

Thomas, the second Baron Lyttelton, has died under mysterious circumstances.

Rumors concerning his death abound. He was an infamous rake, known for using his charm and talent to seduce women and gain influence. He fought duels, gambled away a fortune, and married the misguided Aphia Witts to pay his debts before fleeing to Paris with a barmaid. Upon his return in, he entered the House of Commons in 1768 and exited the next year after being accused of bribery.

Thursday last, 25 November, 1770 Lord Lyttelton told friends of an extraordinary dream he’d had the previous night. A bird had flown into his room, transformed into a woman wearing white, and informed him that he’d die within three days. He discounted the dream, attributing it to a recent party he’d attended where a robin had flown into the room. He was accustomed to a woman’s scorn, so that part of the dream seemed easy enough to explain.

By Saturday evening, he boasted he would “bilk the ghost” and ordered breakfast for the following day. He retired shortly after. Just before midnight, lying in his bed, Lyttelton’s valet said his master died “without a groan.” There was no inquest.

According to close friends, the only legacy he leaves behind is a reputation of questionable character as a compulsive gambler, drug addict, and debaucher of women. So, The Teatime Tattler asks, was his death an act of vengeance? Or did karma finally come calling for the wicked baron?

About the Book

Upon a Midnight Dreary is up for preorder and will release this month, October 21.

This amazing anthology contains dark, romantic tales of ghosts that haunt and taunt, written by some of your favorite historical romance authors. Each novella will include a romance and a “real” ghost story. Aubrey Wynne’s contribution includes the wicked Lord Lyttelton.

Buy Link: (https://books2read.com/midnightdreary)

**Excerpt from “Percy’s Perdition” in Upon a Midnight Dreary Halloween anthology**

Ellie nibbled at a candied apricot as she snuggled against Percy’s chest. They had foregone supper, moved to their bedchambers, and now ate a cold repast spread about the counterpane. “I heard the most delicious tale the other day. Did I tell you of the wicked Lord Lyttelton?”

Percy smiled and kissed the top of her head, the blond waves spread over her bare shoulders. His limbs were heavy, and he couldn’t care less about some rakish peer. “No, love.”

“He was a baron with no regard for mankind, wasting his money and seducing innocents. One mother was so horrified when her daughter succumbed to his advances, she died of a broken heart.” Ellie paused while she took sip of wine. “But the mother had the final word.”

“They always do,” he agreed.

She slapped his arm but grinned. “Anyway, she returned as a ghost and told him of his looming demise. Three days and he would be dead.”

“Ah, but one can do so much living in three days.” He picked up a hunk of cheese and offered Ellie a bite. She shook her head.

“Well, a quarter hour before midnight of the third day, he dropped dead! Can you imagine?” She sank her teeth into the blue and white Wiltshire and smacked her lips.

“People die every day, my dear. It doesn’t mean an apparition caused it.”

“This happened forty years ago, but there is much documentation. And it gets stranger.” She kissed his cheek. “The wicked lord stopped by his friend’s bedchamber on his way to Hell. The man saw the baron at the foot of his bed, miles away in another county, the same night he died. He woke his household to look for the scoundrel since Lord Lyttelton was known for his pranks. But alas, he was never found.”

“Because he was dead.”

“Exactly!” She beamed at him as if he’d done something very clever.

Percy snorted. “You have a way of maneuvering our conversations until it appears I agree with you.” He kissed her soundly on the mouth.

“Don’t you?” she asked, batting her eyelashes.

About The Author

Bestselling and award-winning author Aubrey Wynne is an elementary teacher by trade, champion of children and animals by conscience, and author by night. She resides in the Midwest with her husband, dogs, horses, mule, and barn cats. Obsessions include wine, history, travel, trail riding, and all things Christmas. Her Chicago Christmas series has received the Golden Quill, Aspen Gold, Heart of Excellence, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and twice nominated as a Rone finalist by InD’tale Magazine.

Aubrey’s first love is medieval romance but after dipping her toe in the Regency period in 2018 with the Wicked Earls’ Club, she was smitten. This inspired her spin-off series Once Upon a Widow. In 2020, she launched the Scottish Regency series A MacNaughton Castle Romance with Dragonblade Novels.

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Duke’s Mysterious Kin Sighted

By Bluestocking Belles

On October 9, 2021

In gossip, Teatime Tattler

Exclusive to the Teatime Tattler

The Duke of G__ arrived in town this week with a highly irregular guest. A Mr. K_, a Welshman with three children stays at the duke’s elegant townhouse where he is being treated almost, dare we say it, as family. Our usual sources—servants do talk, especially when in their cups at certain taverns—imply the men act like brothers.

That can’t be, of course, as this K__ is several years older than the duke. The previous duke acknowledged no illegitimate children so one is left to wonder. Who can this man from Wales be, and why is the young duke eager to spend time with him?

We’ve been told the man has a pronounced limp, and our sources tell us the previous duke once took in a young man with a similar disability, but was forced to show the ungrateful miscreant the door. Is K_ the same person? Of course they’ve attended no social events so it has been difficult for society to get a good look.

We’re led to understand that there was a recent reconciliation with his father’s wife, the Dowager Duchess. Can she be involved in this family tangle?

The Tattler can only wonder what the Duke of H_ thinks about this turn of events. The Duke of G_ is well known to have been courting H__’s granddaughter during the recent Season and an offer is expected. Indeed it may have already been made. Will an irregular family situation derail young G__’s hopes?

The Dowager Duchess of Glenmoor was indeed involved in her stepson’s complicated relationship with that mine owner from Wales. The story is in The Defiant Daughter.

About the Book

Madelyn assumed marriage as an old man’s ornament would be better than life with her abusive parents. She was wrong.

Now the widowed Duchess of Glenmoor, she wrestles with ugly memories and cultivates a simple life. She is content. At least, she was until her half-brother returned to Ashmead bringing a friend with knowing eyes and coal black hair to capture her thoughts.

Colonel Brynn Morgan’s days as an engineer in his father’s coal mines in Wales are long behind him. With peace come at last and Napoleon gone, he makes a life for himself analyzing the reports about military and naval facilities worldwide for a shadowy government department. What income he has is committed elsewhere. He has nothing to offer a wife, much less a dowager duchess.

More lies between the duchess and the man she wants than money and class. They have personal demons to slay.

Preorder for only 99 cents! October 21 release. https://bit.ly/TheDefiantDaughter

About the Series

When the old Earl of Clarion leaves a will with bequests for all his children, legitimate and not, listing each and their mothers by name, he complicated the lives of many in the village of Ashmead. One was his defiant daughter. He left her nothing.

One sleepy village

One scandalous will

Four tormented heirs

About the Author

Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.

Visit Caroline’s Website and Blog http://www.carolinewarfield.com/

Meet Caroline on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7

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Email Caroline directly warfieldcaro@gmail.com

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Disgraceful Behavior in a Small Town

By Bluestocking Belles

On October 6, 2021

In Guest author, Teatime Tattler

This letter reached our newsroom from a village in New York.

Dear S. Clemens,

As a faithful, God fearing Christian woman, I find your column is perfect to find those lost souls who are in need of prayer. You recently mentioned our town bachelor, Mr. David Moses Van Hoyton, was recently seen escorting an unknown female into his hotel.

I’m sure the people of the church will appreciate any further information you may acquire as we wish to pray for her by name. I’m sure she will not be found in the hotel register as she clearly was NOT a guest. I also am an eye witness to this event and I can honestly state, her clothes were definitely not of high quality. Though you speak of her being “a pretty thing with big expressive eyes”, I am only concerned with her soul and any possible harm she may cause the above mentioned man. We do not want any backsliding to occur on his part. I was told by a very reliable source, this very woman was seen near the train station earlier in the day. The train master, an honorable Christian, seemed infatuated by her and was seen enticing her with some sort of gift . It wasn’t long after that Mr. Van Hoyton passed by and she quickly chose our local hotel owner as a better–how do I say it–friend?

Again, any further news on this clearly lost soul will be used discreetly and shared only with the good people of the church’s sprayer group. Thank you,

A concerned Christian woman

About the Series

This bit of fiction is in reference to characters in a work in progress that is part of Camille Regholec’s series Looking on the Heart.

Book 2, Secret Way to the Heart

Though far from the battlefields, the Civil War brings many changes to Jayne’s family and neighbors in the Hudson Valley of New York. As she struggles to keep her family united in the midst of a country torn apart, Jayne seeks God for answers and protection to keep her heart from falling for a mysterious Southern preacher who appears on the scene.

Noted Hostess Has Breakdown

By Rue Allyn

On October 2, 2021

In Teatime Tattler

1813, the London Season

Our artist’s imagines how Lady Sevingswere feels.

A rare treat was offered to those attending last night’s crush at the home of Lady Elizabeth Sevingswere, where were presented her daughter Lady Mary Sevingswere and a distant cousin, Lady Elizabeth Bigglesworth, daughter of the widowed Earl of Seahaven. The treat came in the form of severe embarrassment to Lady Sevingswere, her daughter, the Earl of Seahaven, and most especially Lady Bigglesworth. It seems that, despite being an acknowledged bluestocking, less than graceful, and the possessor of both a splotchy complexion and some of the brightest orange hair known to man, Lady Bigglesworth had been able to engage the interest of no less than three eligible gentlemen, each with a respectable fortune and good name. Though not, we are told as good a name as that of Seahaven with whom these gentlemen no doubt wished to be aligned by marriage to Seahaven’s–dare we say at best–graceless female child.

What was found to be most entertaining was the outrage expressed by the astonished hostess when informed that young Lady Bigglesworth had refused all three offers. Lady Sevingswere, conscious we are certain of the curiosity running rampant among her guests, seized young Lady Bigglesworth by the arm and nearly dragged her to the card room where the Earl of Seahaven sat to a table of whist–we understand he was winning at the time. His hostess insisted that he leave the game instanter and attend her and his daughter in the library of the house.

Lady Sevingswere must indeed have been quite upset for she failed to recall that the library and the ballroom were located next to each other. Also, the evening being warm, the doors had been thrown open from both library and ballroom to the balcony bordering the garden. So irate was Lady Sevingswere, that she also failed to moderate her tone. Guests from the ballroom quite clearly heard that lady say to Seahaven.

“I wash my hands of her, Seahaven. On the basis of my distant relationship with your dead wife, you foist this impossible gel upon me, when I most wish to concentrate on my fair Amelia’s come out. You never bothered to prepare Lady Bigglesworth properly for a season, and she has become an embarrassment to us all. She dances very poorly. I cannot tell you the number of gentlemen who have been heard complaining about the state of their toes. She is the least graceful most unattractive girl I can ever recall in any London season I have attended. All of that could be forgiven if she had been sensible enough to accept one of three excellent proposals to come her way. But you need to know, she is so puffed up in her opinion of herself, that she believes she can gain the attention of a man who–and I quote to you her father–loves her for herself and not for her father’s connections. As if anyone would love a lady who attends a ball with ink stains–ink stains I say–on her fingers and sleeves. If you have any regard for me and the rest of the ton, Lord Seahaven, you will send Lady Bigglesworth to your country estate this minute. She is not worth your time or the money you have expended on her season. Better you should wait until one of your other daughters is eligible for her come out. That your lordship is my recommendation. Regardless of what you decide, I insist that Lady Bigglesworth leave my house immediately. I will arrange for her belongings to be sent to Seahaven house. The moment that is done, I refuse to have anything more to do with such an ungrateful burden as she.

Needless to say, the ton is agog at the venom spewed by Lady Sevingswere, and only forgive the lady because nothing she said was untrue. How unfortunate for Lady Bigglesworth to learn the sad state of her worth as a young woman in such a manner. One might have a great deal of sympathy for the girl had she not, as Lady Sevingswere so cogently pointed out, lacked the good sense to accept one of the proposals she received.

With Lady Bigglesworth’s departure from London, one of the most entertaining moments of the season has ended. What juicy gossip will unfold next to amuse and fascinate our dedicated readers? And one can only wonder what the future might hold for such a graceless dab. A long spinsterhood, no doubt.

The Dead Baron?

By Bluestocking Belles

On September 29, 2021

In Teatime Tattler

Dear Reader,

This correspondent gleefully shares the news with you the news that Sir James Branstoke and his new bride, Lady Cecilia Branstoke are not on their honeymoon in the Highlands as they would have all believe. No, no, quite the contrary. They were recently spotted at the theater in the company of Lady Elinor Aldrich.

There was no sign of Baron Simon Aldrich, and Lady Aldrich wore black. Though this correspondent has not heard of any official announcement, it is rumored Baron Simon Aldrich has lamentably met his death in a carriage accident along the White Cliffs of Dover.

Sir James and Lady B. don’t believe it.

We shall do our best to ascertain the truth.

About the Book: Rarer Than Gold, Book 2 of “A Chance Inquiry”

When newlyweds Sir James and Lady Cecilia Branstoke come to console a widow on the death of her husband, they discover some things don’t add up about the death of the young Lord. Worse, a man who won’t state his purpose, but is obviously military, wants a carte blanche to search the dead man’s library! The sheer effrontery!

What begins as sympathy and concern for a troubled neighbor escalates into a mystery with reverberations at the highest level of government.

Napoleon has escaped from Elba and someone has stolen a subsidy shipment meant for England’s allies in their renewed war against Napoleon. The shipment, a valuable mix of gold and guns, soon pits thief against thief and ally against ally with the Branstokes in the middle!

Instead of being on a blissful honeymoon, Sir James and Lady Cecilia Branstoke find themselves dodging knives, fires, and pistols as they search for the missing baronet and the stolen subsidies.

Maybe they should have traveled to the highlands for their honeymoon, as they’d told their friends had been their intention.

~ An Excerpt ~

“The ground is uneven here. It might be best if you stayed here while I search the area,” James suggested.

“No, I will accompany you. Two pairs of eyes. I shall be steady enough. If not, I shall just grab tightly on to you,” Cecilia said.

“And I should enjoy that,” her husband teased. “But be careful. There are fallen stones lying at odd angles that you could sprain an ankle on if you were to step oddly.”

“Yes, I can see that.”

They picked their way through the path of fallen stones toward the nave, wide open to the sky above with patches of blue and lavender and yellow wildflowers growing among the tall grasses shadowing the rocks.

“It is so beautiful and peaceful here,” Cecilia murmured. “Spiritual, though the church is long gone.”

“But not so spiritual that evil stays away,” James said grimly. He left Cecilia’s side to walk to a pile of stones beside a half-standing wall. He bent down to pick something up, then pushed the grass away from the rocks.

“What is it, James?” Cecilia asked as she hurried toward him.

He held out a lady’s glove.

“That’s Elinor’s!” Cecilia said.

He gestured back to the rocks. “There is evidence of blood on the rocks here. Not a lot, but it doesn’t show evidence of rain or time dilution, either. It is recent.”

Cecilia examined the rocks with their blood spatters. Then she looked around at the grass in the surrounding area. She found a few white threads as might come from ripped fabric. She pointed these out to James.

James looked beyond the rocks. “There is a trail,” he said, pointing to the trampled grasses leading to the back of the nave.

“It looks like whoever someone injured leaned against the wall here. There is a large smear of blood. By the location of the blood, I would guess it is from an arm or shoulder wound,” James said.

“Look, there is a bloody handprint.” Cecilia pointed to a partial handprint.

“A man’s hand.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “It appears Elinor bandaged whoever was injured, and then they left. I wonder if we can find traces of the direction they took?”

James glanced at the sky. “The clouds are building. We must hurry if we are to discover any signs of their direction before the weather changes and rain wipes all traces away.”

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Rarer-Than-Gold-Chance-Inquiry-ebook/dp/B096WLGYK8

About the Author

Holly Newman lives in Florida seven miles from the Gulf Coast with Ken and their six cats.

Holly decided to be a writer when she was in the fifth grade and filled notebooks with stories—until a mean-spirited high school teacher told her she had no talent for writing. Crushed, for several years she stopped writing, but the writing bug didn’t go away. Her first book won first place in the University of Texas at Dallas fiction writing competition and was first runner-up for the Rita award from Romance Writers of America.

Holly’s interest in the Regency period started in high school when she volunteered to re-shelve books at the community library. Every week there were Georgette Heyer novels to be shelved. Curious, she checked one out and became immersed in the world of the regency.

Website: Holly Newman | History, Mystery, Humor, and Romance . . . 19th Century Style

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HollyNewmanAuthor

Instagram: @hollynewman1811

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