Victoria Morgan on THE DAUGHTER OF AN EARL, unexpected romance, and dashing rakes

Victoria Morgan sits down with Fresh Fiction to talk about art, writing, and romance.

Jen: Victoria, thank you for joining us at Fresh Fiction. THE DAUGHTER OF AN EARL released July 7 and we’ve been waiting to return to Bedfordshire and the Chandler home. You’re a writer and artist! Your watercolors are beautiful and peaceful (at least that’s what I feel when I look at them). How do these two creative talents feed each other and where do you find the time for both?

Victoria: Thank you for the kind words about my paintings! Ah, the perennial “time” question. Wish I had much more of it :), but don’t we all? Writing consumes most of my time, but for the last five years, I have reserved my Thursdays for watercolor classes and I paint all day guilt free.

What is fun about the two creative outlets is that they both take an empty page and fill it with something beautiful. Painting gives you a more immediate, visual gratification as I literally see my work come to life. It is also quieter as there are no voices inside my head.... But both require revisions. I have scrapped whole scenes from a book, and I have redone paintings over and over. Once I was trying to master pumpkins, and I kept painting them again and again to get just the right texture and color. My teen-aged son finally told me to stop asking him what he thought of my pumpkins. And here I thought double entendres only happened in writing! :) Both share magical moments, like when I write a scene and the characters take over and move in an unexpected direction. Wonderful surprises can also happen in watercolor washes or glazes. A mistake can become a glorious sunburst or something else.

The best part of having both is that when one tries my patience, I can escape to the other.

Jen: Emily and Brett were introduced in THE HEART OF A DUKE. When you were writing THE HEART OF A DUKE did you already have a story in mind for Emily and Brett or did they surprise you with their chemistry?

Victoria: No! I had absolutely no storyline for Brett and Emily. I probably should not admit that?? In the beginning of THE HEART OF A DUKE, Brett was just being himself – a charming flirt, who couldn’t resist Emily. As the story continued, I let the connection grow, and, yes, their chemistry surprised me.  I also decided I wanted to explore Emily’s backstory more. I like broken heroes and found it interesting to deal with a woman who believes that madness is percolating inside her and then watch Brett help her come to accept that she is a strong and beautiful woman.

Jen: I love how you balance intrigue, mystery, and romance. There’s no denying the romance, but you also have a perfectly-paced intrigue that is essential to the story. Modern crime-solving techniques are different than investigations in historical times. Were there ever moments when you wished for fingerprinting technology or in your research you learn any surprising facts about criminal investigations in historical times?

Victoria: Thanks for the compliment! People certainly have commented on the mystery element of my stories. Readers are pleased (or annoyed) to inform me that they have determined who the villain is or what the resolution to the mystery is before the end of the book. That always amuses me because, as you said above, at the heart of it, my book is a romance. As long as my readers enjoy my hero and heroine’s journey to solve the mystery, I don’t mind if my readers beat them to it.

That being said, during my research, I did become enamored of the Bow Street Runners, London’s first professional police force, whom I imagined to be handsome, dashing rakes much like those in Lisa Kleypas’s Bow Street series. Fingerprinting would have been nice to have, but a telephone would come in handy as well. Letters take a long time to go back and forth...

Jen: What is the last book, TV show, or movie that completely sucked you in and why?

Victoria: I’ve always been a huge, (slightly obsessive) fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, so I really enjoyed Starz adaptation of it. Why? Ah, Jamie Fraser. :) Need I say more? He is the ultimate tortured hero. The series is also enriching and novel because it continues through Clair and Jamie’s marriage, whereas most romances end once the couple achieves their happily-ever-after. Gabaldon’s work is also rich in fascinating historical detail.

My kids also sucked me into binge watching Lost, and I love the moral questions the show provokes. Like whose team are you on, Jack (good boy) or Sawyer (bad boy)? Oh wait, that’s another type of question... Well, it is still a good one. :)

Last book I read that sucked me in was ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes. Absolutely loved it. Similar to Lost, it raised a moral question that we need to address today. But being a romance writer, I should recommend a romance – I have recently been enjoying Caroline Linden’s Scandal Series. And I am reading and loving Madeline Hunter’s The Fairbourne Quartet.

Jen: Can you give us a peek at what you’re working on? What can fans look forward to in the future from you?

Victoria: In THE DAUGHTER OF AN EARL, Brett’s cousin, the newly-minted Duke of Prescott has disappeared. At the end of the book, he returns just in time to give readers a tantalizing introduction to the dashing rake and hopefully, the desire to read his story in THE RELUCTANT DUKE (working title). I am in the process of writing Prescott’s story now. It is really fun because my heroine, Lady Sarah Murrow, is an art forger, so it combines my two passions – art and writing. After this, I am considering leaving the regency era and fine-tuning an American historical I wrote years back and set during the age of sail (around 1890). Or I might take a jump into contemporary romance....

Jen: Thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure, and I can't resist a dashing rake! I'll be waiting for THE RELUCTANT DUKE to hit the shelves.

About Victoria Morgan

A lifelong New England resident, Victoria Morgan lives in a suburb of Boston. There she juggles (with differing degrees of priority) a part-time job, writing, watercolor classes, her husband, two teen-agers, and a mini-golden doodle with a Napoleon complex. A 2011 RWA® Golden Heart® Finalist and an insatiable reader, she loves to see the magic of a world taking shape through the words of a book or the beauty of a painted picture.

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About THE DAUGHTER OF AN EARL

A tale of romance, intrigue, and the true meaning of honor from the author of THE HEART OF A DUKE

An American businessman in England, Brett Curtis has little use for the haughty ton beyond seeing his sisters happily entertained in London. But when his cousin mysteriously disappears after inheriting the title of Duke, he sets out to locate him and drag him home.

Lady Emily Chandler plunged into deep despair when her fiancé died in India, and now she is determined to prove that he was murdered. The brash American Brett Curtis’s reputation may be less than sterling, but he’s just the man to help Emily on her quest— if she can convince him to accept her dangerous proposition.

While their alliance uncovers a web of scandalous secrets, their undeniable attraction threatens to reveal something even more dangerous: true love.