In my latest historical mystery, Widow's Peak, the characters are seated at the dinner table, engaged in conversation. One of the women asks about the beaches in Scotland because she loves to go sea-bathing. Many might believe, because of the modesty of our British predecessors, that they would never dare strip down to go swimming at the beach. Especially in mixed company! Perish the thought! Well, that's both wrong and right. Sea-bathing was a favored past time, as well as

Widow's Peak , the last book in the Widows & Shadows series, takes place in 1803 in the height of the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution began around 1760 when inventions, science, and technology began making great strides to make our lives easier and more comfortable. However, as a result, those in the working classes were the most deeply affected as they lost jobs to advancing technology. As they lost work, they often lost homelands too as they migrated from

Mary King's Close A few years ago, I had the great fortune to visit Edinburgh, Scotland. One of the sites I visited was a place called Mary King's Close, which was essentially an underground village of sorts. I'll have to write a blog post about that someday because it certainly deserves attention. Mary King's Close was the most fascinating things I'd ever seen and it has stayed with me ever since. To my dismay, after my return home, I discovered that I had completely missed

Deacon Brodie's Tavern on Edinburgh's Royal Mile Edinburgh, Scotland was a major source of inspiration for Widow’s Peak , the final installment in the Widows & Shadows  historical mystery series. I had the chance to visit in 2023 and fell completely under its spell—so much so that bits of the real city found their way into Ravenna’s latest adventure. One spot that stood out was The Deacon Brodie Tavern on the Royal Mile, which I reimagined as Brodie’s Docket in the book. It’s