Introducing Darcie Wilde And The Rosalind Thorne Mysteries

Hello, my name is Darcie Wilde, and I write mysteries. Specifically, mysteries
set during the English Regency.

I got my introduction to the Regency the way most people do; via the work and world of Jane Austen. From the Incomparable Jane, I discovered the warm, witty, wonderful works of the great Georgette Heyer. Between the two of them, they kindled a fascination in me for all things Regency — the dances! The genteel manners, the snobbery, and the witty banter! And, oh! Those clothes! I mean, what’s not to love? It’s a lush, intricate and magnificent time period.

But the more I read about the history, the more I came to realize it was a
deeply complicated time as well. Not only was Napoleon running roughshod across
the Continent, at home, the royal family which was still very much the heart and
center of government, was falling apart in all sorts of interesting ways. The
banks and the stock market were careening along full tilt in the modern
boom-and-bust cycle. Drinking and gambling were epidemic among the upper
classes. The middling and lower classes were agitating for better and fairer
living conditions, and a debt of as little as five pounds could land a man in
jail for the rest of his life.

Oh, and did I mention there was no police force? Having a crime investigated
and prosecuted was largely left to the private individuals who were directly
victimized. It frequently involved having to pay a professional thief-taker or
one of the very few police officers to look into the crime and find out whodunit.

And of course, nothing could possibly go wrong with that, now could it?

It was this contradiction — the idea that this glittering high society skated on
very thin ice that led to the creation of Rosalind Thorne. Rosalind was a minor
heiress. She had every advantage, until she didn’t. Her father abandoned the
family before his creditors could catch up with him, and Rosalind was left to
make do on her own. She became what the writers of the time called, “a useful
woman.” These women were gentry who had fallen on hard times. They would
manage to stay on the fringes of society by helping their friends out by
arranging balls and dinner parties and handling other social and domestic
chores. In return, those better off friends would do things like loan the women
the use of their carriage, or invite them to dinner, or to stay in the country,
or give them little gifts, even money, and so could keep living something like
their old lives, on the surface anyway.

This is what Rosalind does, and she’s actually very good at it. As a result, she knows all the people who make things actually happen in the glamorous world of the haut ton, and how their lives all mesh together. She’s overlooked, because she has neither power nor money. In fact she’s pitied. Which means she’s underestimated.

Which means no one really wonders what’s going on when she makes polite
conversation on topics of recent interest, or is seen doing a favor for a
“friend,” or is standing in a corner gossiping about that shocking thing that
occurred last week at the dance…

Even when that shocking thing is the discovery of a very dead body.