Bold As Brass: Women with an Attitude 

    

    A shop girl engages the services of an up-and-coming barrister to find out what caused the explosion aboard the ferry that killed her father.

           

             London barrister Edmund Caruthers’s ambition is to wear the silks of a King’s Counsel. Born into privilege, he loves to gamble with the old money heirs at his club.

            A milliner’s apprentice, Dolly Wycliffe pursues her dream to make fashionable ladies’ hats. She engages Edmund’s help to sue a powerful English lord for the wrongful death of her father who’d been in the lordship’s employ.

            Edmund obliges, especially with a sizable wager at stake. His friends have bet against him, believing he won’t be able to wrestle a shilling out of the titled gentleman, especially with a shop-girl as a client.

            Dolly and Edmund discover her father’s death wasn’t an accident and defy tradition to find out the truth.  

            As their mutual attraction grows stronger, they become aware more than her wide-brimmed hats keep them apart. 

 

         Read more at https://www.SarahRichmond.com   

         Cover Art by Dar Albert                           

 A Wayward Wedding: Book Three in the House of Caruthers 

You're cordially invited to the wedding of Dolly Wycliffe and Edmund Caruthers.

A whirlwind of activity surrounds the upcoming wedding of milliner Dolly Wycliffe to a London barrister, Edmund Caruthers but their plans are interrupted when a tragedy occurs. The rector of Dolly's parish church is murdered and Dolly is accused of the crime. The inspector in charge of the case believes Dolly has bashed the rector in the head with a paperweight. The magistrate agrees there’s enough evidence for Dolly to stand trial and she’s sent to Holloway prison to wait for her day in court. Edmund has made a reputation for taking on difficult cases, but the rector’s murder has him stumped. With Dolly behind bars and time running out, he mustn’t leave any stone unturned to find the killer.

Learn more at: www.SarahRichmond.com

New Release October 15, 2018

Angels With Dirty Faces

I've self-published my four novellas about pioneer women facing tough choices. Hope you like them. 

Today Ragtown is a ghost town in Nevada, but in the 1850's, the town thrived as a stopping off place for the wagon trains before they crossed the Sierra-Nevada Mountains into California.

When Kitty Cummings is asked to take in four orphaned children, she's not sure she's the mother they need. In her considered opinion, the Nevada territory is no place to raise a family. As the town called Mexican Spur grows into a community, Kitty and her husband, Ward, are ready to be a family again—until the renegades who killed the children's parents return.

Dory Watkins arrives in Ragtown in 1854 by wagon train. Her ma is too sick to travel and so Dory stays behind to take care of her while Pa and the boys continue on to California. She finds the love of a good man in the hard-scrabble town and must decide whether to stay in Ragtown or to leave with her ma with the next wagon train.

Lena Carlson and her husband come from the Old Country in 1861 and buy the Ragtown Mercantile. Lena's husband dies, leaving her alone and lonely in a foreign land until she meets Henry Barrett, a man searching for his kidnapped daughter. Lena and Henry join forces but will they risk a second chance at love?

Southern Belle Rosy Sherry overcomes her self-doubt and a traditional past to take her place in history as Ragtown's first school teacher in 1866. When she falls in love with a loner Yankee sheriff, she discovers forgiveness is the only way to heal a broken heart.

The Amazon link.

 New Release: Mrs. Pratt's War

 A soldier hiding from his past finds     redemption in the English countryside.

 When the widow Livinia Pratt meets a wounded officer recovering at the gamekeeper’s cottage of his niece’s estate, she learns some wounds go deeper than shrapnel.

 A career soldier hiding a past he’s ashamed of, Major James Gunnison has relied for years on discipline to protect his heart. He must reject his attraction to Livy. A war, he tells her, is the wrong time to fall in love.

 The irrepressible Livy believes love heals all wounds. With their country at war, love is needed more than ever. 
                                                          
                                                            Will she be able to convince the major?

Mrs. Pratt's War is available on 
Amazon.com

A Secret Engagement: An Edwardian romance from The Wild Rose Press

  Edmund Caruthers, London barrister and gentleman, defies his father and his class to represent the poor. With few paying customers and cut off from his inheritance, he struggles financially. He’s frustrated his betrothed, the lovely Dolly Wycliffe, won’t set a date to marry him.

     Dolly dreams of becoming a famous milliner. She loves Edmund, but the life of a society matron isn’t for her. Edmund’s family and friends remind her a girl who makes hats can’t become the wife of a distinguished barrister.

     When a woman is found murdered in fashionable Mayfair, their two worlds collide. The victim is a shop girl and Dolly enlists Edmund’s help to find a killer. Edmund keeps a friend’s involvement a secret and Dolly realizes the toffs have rules they’re unwilling to break.   

     Now Dolly must decide if their love is enough to overcome the obstacles ahead or if marrying Edmund will be a decision they’ll both come to regret?

     

INSIDE THE MIND OF A NOVELIST 

A Casting Couch Book Interview by Sheila Claydon:

 A Most Ineligible Suitor by Sarah Richmond 

What prompted the idea for this book? While on a visit to Lucca, Italy, we visited Puccini’s home. I wanted to write about a heroine who lived in the same era. Puccini wrote in the ‘verisimo’ or realism style. His plays show brutality and violence, poverty and want. My heroine has been sheltered. She knows nothing of the world outside her small circle of wealth and privilege. Her trip to Italy is an eye-opener for her. Another inspiration came from a painting by John Singer Sargent called ‘Group with Parasols’. The light he used reminded me of Italy. The ladies in the scene are dressed in white linen and are enjoying an outdoor picnic, something my heroine would love to do.

Did you work through the plot first and then cast the characters, or was it characters first?  I decide on the story I want to tell and then pick the characters who best help show the elements of the story.

In A Most Ineligible Suitor, the heroine is on holiday with a distant cousin. She is very much a free spirit who has escaped to a country with fewer social restrictions and a decorum different from English society. She is having the time of her life.

The hero is an Englishman. He is in disguise and his purpose for being in Italy—to catch an international jewel thief--is complicated by her antics. He is not comfortable being dishonest with her, and yet he has a duty to his profession to pretend to be someone he isn’t.

What she teaches him about life and love is the theme of the story.

Which characters were the hardest for you to develop and why?  The male POV is more difficult for me. The challenge is to make the hero strong without being brutal, decisive without being unkind. The reader must understand his motivation, even sympathize with his flaws, but he can never be pitiful or weak.

How did you decide how your characters should look? There are many wonderful websites that show pictures of the ladies in the late Victorian era. I especially took note of the couture dresses and bridal dresses of the times, which are a delight. www.Victoriana.com is one of my favorite websites to visit.

How did you develop your characters’ traits? I rely on Heroes and Heroine by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders. When I have a heroine in mind, I look through H and H and find the worst possible traits in a hero for her to fall in love with which leads to all kinds of delicious conflict.

I also use people I have met on my travels. Some characters are a combination of traits of the people I have known.

Marjorie is a misfit in some ways and doesn’t realize why until she comes to Italy. Edward, having been raised in a strict household with no mother, doesn’t know how to express love. He may not even know, in the beginning, what love is.

All characters have goals. Can you sum your characters’ goals in a word or two, or are they multi-layered? There are the short term external goals: he is trying to catch a thief, she is on vacation and wants to see the sites. There are the long term internal goals: To love and find love.

Do you like the characters in your book? Are they people you would want to spend time with and if so, which one is your favorite, and which one would you most like to meet and why?  Marjorie introduces herself this way: “My name is Marjorie Mayweather and people tell me I have a sunny disposition. Who wouldn’t with a name such as Mayweather?”

I like a heroine who can be at ease with people, probably because I have always been rather shy. She’s smart. She knows in her circle she must act totally defenseless so that the suitor will feel manly. This does not bother her until she meets the hero. He understands her better than she understands herself.

Meeting the right man makes all the difference!

As for who I’d like to meet, the villain of the story is my favorite character of all. The villain is so much fun to read about, trying to figure out a motivation, or what possible reason there must be for such bad behavior. I could have such a good conversation with my villain, I think.

Thank you for this opportunity to talk about A Most Ineligible Suitor. I had so much fun writing the book.

Best wishes to all.

Sarah Richmond

Available at Amazon.com

Past Forgetting

An Edwardian Time Travel Romance

Friends believe Joanna Blake suffers from agoraphobia. Joanna wants to live a normal life but when she steps outside, she finds herself in the past. 
     When the vicar sends the new doctor around, she is dismayed. Here is another well-meaning person who’ll try to talk her out of her house. 
     Dr. William Thomas is not who he appears to be. Malcolm Blake, Joanna’s grandfather, cheated his family, condemning them to a life of poverty. According to his family, the Blake’s stately mansion belongs to the descendants of Captain Thomas, his grandfather, who was hung for a murder he didn’t commit.

     Will finds Joanna suffering from anemia and in need of immediate medical attention. Joanna takes a leap of faith and confides her time travel to Will. He listens to her story and convinces her to take him to the past.  Surprisingly, she agrees. She is attracted to his determination and strength and believes he intends to help her find an answer to the curse she lives under.

Will thinks Joanna will confront her illness when nothing happens when they go outside. Much to his bewilderment, he also travels in the time slip. They stop to ask the date, and people throw stones at them. Will is injured and he and Joanna run back to the safety of her house.

During a visit his parents, Will asks for more information about what happened between the two grandfathers. Will’s father shows him an IOU. The IOU claims the Blake mansion as collateral for a loan to Malcolm Blake from Captain Thomas. Will shows the note to a solicitor who advises him to drop his claim. There is no way to verify the authenticity of the IOU after so many years have passed.

Will sees the time travel as a great opportunity to confront Malcolm Blake and claim what rightfully belongs to his family. His growing attraction to the heiress complicates this task. Even though he feels guilty about not telling her why he wants to go back to the past, he knows she will refuse to take him if he tells her the truth.

He can’t go back without her.

     Caught in a web of lies and deceit, Joanna and Will must solve the mystery of what happened so long ago. Their courage and love forges a bond that transcends all time.

SarahRichmond.com
www.amazon.com

Valentine's Day Release

Here's an excerpt from my new novella, an historical romance set in the Nevada Territory, called Mexican Spur.

 Ward watched his once vibrant wife. Kitty was still the beauty he'd married, the delicate girl from a well-to-do family who had favored him by becoming his wife. She wore a pink gingham dress, starched and ironed and looking ready for a garden party.

   He could fix just about anything but he couldn't mend a broken heart. They mourned their child. Losing the newborn had devastated them. Kitty didn't seem able to overcome her grief.

   Instead of clinging to each other for support, their loss had driven a wedge between them.

   Ward could not fathom what would bring her back to him. Sleeping on the divan in the parlor wasn't all that had him worried. Kitty talked more and more about going back to Chicago. She wouldn't give Mexican Spur a chance. She'd given up on just about everything including trying again for another baby. His beautiful wife had become afraid. Ward had wanted so badly to make a life for them here in Mexican Spur. His dream was crumbling. Maybe her pa was right. The territory was no place for a lady.

                                                                   
www.sarahrichmond.com
amazon.com

Excerpt from A Most Ineligible Suitor

A Most Ineligible Suitor by Sarah Richmond

Montlake Romance

Excerpt

The railway station was teeming with people. She searched for the ticket agent but stopped abruptly when she saw a familiar figure pacing in front of a stone bench, his head bent, his arms clasped behind him.

Edward had arrived ahead of her. How her spirit soared to see him. At the same time she wondered why he was here.

When he saw her, his dark, brooding countenance disappeared, replaced by a generous smile. She hurried to meet him, clinging to her hat, hoping beyond hope that he was here to take her home. His hand touched her gloveless hand as he reached to take her valise. Sparks raced to her core.

“How did you know I’d be here,” she rasped. Her voice failed her as did her decorum. She flung her arms around his neck and embraced him.

“I didn’t but I’m happy to have found you,” he whispered for her and her alone to hear.

She drew back and gazed into his eyes.

They had a moment before decisions must be made, of alternatives sought out and discussed. She would never forget this moment when they found each other.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“For what?”

“For involving you in such a sordid matter.”

“You did nothing wrong,” he said.

“So you do believe me?”

“I regret doubting you. It is in my nature.”

Again she saw the gentle curve of his mouth, a suggestion of happiness. She sensed no fear in him. She’d been terrified, but he was reassuring her that her fears were unfounded.

The sound of a steam whistle in the distance alerted her to the arrival of the next train. The milling crowd picked up their cases and parcels and crowded together on the platform. A little man wearing a blue jacket and cap waved frantically at them to step back from the track.

“We must hurry,” Marjorie said. “Have you brought money for a ticket?”

“Tickets won’t be necessary,” he said. “The police are satisfied you are innocent.”

“But how?”

He offered her his arm and she accepted. He steered her to the empty stone bench.

“Sit down, Marjorie,” he said. “I’ve something important to tell you.”

She heard the whistle of the approaching train and saw great puffs of smoke belching upward.

“The train to Naples is almost here,” she said. “I want to be on it, to go home where I belong.”

“Hear me out,” he said. “If you wish to return to England, I will understand.”

“Yes, I believe you are the most understanding man I’ve ever met.”

Mothers called to their children, and she heard their eager cries of excitement as the train squealed to a stop and sighed. People in the train lowered their windows and waved madly to those on the platform. People were getting on the train.

Marjorie wouldn’t be one of them.

She sat down on the bench shaded by a row of tall cypress. He took a seat beside her and reached for her hand. She held on to him with complete trust. His expression was very somber.

Instantly, she became apprehensive. All was not well. He’d told her the police no longer considered her a suspect.

What else could possibly be the matter?