Kate Carlisle | History Buffs: You Will Tingle All Over

Two months ago, when planning for the release of CROWNED AND MOLDERING, a Fixer-Upper Mystery, I decided to create a series of internet memes with wisdom from Victorian times. (Shannon Hammer, the heroine, is a Victorian home renovation expert living in present day California.) While searching for Victorian wisdom, I stumbled across something that made the history buff in me tingle all over: the British Newspaper Archive.

The British Newspaper Archive

Bless those Brits, they've digitized hundreds of years of newspapers and put them online, with searchable text! Admit it, you just got the tingles, too, didn't you? The British Newspaper Archive isn't free, but it only costs just under 13 pounds for a month (about $20, give or take), and they accept US credit cards.

You can search by year, by city, by publication title, or any combination thereof. It's easy to get lost in reading these newspapers from another era. Pure pleasure!

Since I was specifically looking for Victorian wisdom, I limited my search to the time of Victoria's rule: 1837-1901. Although a lot has changed, you'll also be amazed by how much has not.

"[Athletics] are a constantly-increasing necessity in our urban centres, where the hours of confined and sedentary labour are gradually extending." – The Luton Times and Advertiser, 2 January 1855 "The fortunate in this world, who content themselves with helping the poor from a distance, scarcely realize all the trouble that must be gone through to obtain the least trifle when money is wanting." – Leeds Intelligencer, 24 March 1860

"Worry kills more people than work ever did, and most overwork is the work that is done because of the worry." – Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 5 November 1898

The Victorians had a way with words, didn’t they?

If you enjoy a little learning with your mystery fiction, I hope you'll check out CROWNED AND MOLDERING.

Contractor Shannon Hammer works on plenty of hot properties but is about to tackle her first cold case...

You can read a free excerpt. Enjoy!

What search words would you want to look for in the British Newspaper Archive? Would you want to search a particular time period?

About Kate Carlisle

Golden Heart and Daphne du Maurier Award winning author Kate Carlisle spent over twenty years working in television production as an Associate Director for game and variety shows, including The Midnight Special, Solid Gold and The Gong Show. She traveled the world as a Dating Game chaperone and performed strange acts of silliness on The Gong Show. She also studied acting and singing, toiled in vineyards, collected books, joined a commune, sold fried chicken, modeled spring fashions and worked for a cruise ship line, but it was the year she spent in law school that finally drove her to begin writing fiction. It seemed the safest way to kill off her professors. Those professors are breathing easier now that Kate spends most of her time writing near the beach in Southern California where she lives with her perfect husband.

A lifelong love of old books and an appreciation of the art of bookbinding led Kate to create the Bibliophile Mysteries, featuring rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery and murder. Kate is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America. She loves to drink good wine and watch other people cook.

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About CROWNED AND MOLDERING

In the New York Times bestselling Fixer-Upper mysteries, contractor Shannon Hammer can repair even the most distressed building. But clearing out the cobwebs from her current project may distress her… to death.

When Mac Sullivan—famous thriller writer and Shannon’s new beau—first moved to Lighthouse Cove, California, he bought the historic lighthouse mansion that the town is named after. Mac needs help cleaning up the place, and Shannon is more than happy to get her handywoman hands on the run-down Victorian.

But during demolition, a grisly discovery is made among the debris—the bones of a teenage girl who went missing fifteen years ago. Locals had always assumed Lily Brogan ran away from her difficult life, but it seems her troubles followed her to the grave. If Shannon has any chance of getting her renovation back on track, she’ll need to tackle the cold case. But with new suspects coming out of the woodwork every day, she’ll have to be careful to pry the right secrets and clues from the poor girl’s problematic past…