C.S. Harris's Blog, page 23

Missing: One King....

If you've been watching the news, you know that archaeologists in England have just identified a skeleton uncovered beneath a Leicester city car park as the long-lost remains of King Richard III.

The timing is rather ironic, since I'm in the midst of plotting the tenth in the Sebastian St. Cyr series (tentatively entitled Who Buries the Dead) and it coincidentally involves the rediscovery of another missing king--in this instance, Charles I. Charles, who lost his head in 1649 in the midst of the English Civil War, was another unlucky royal whose mortal remains went walkabout. They were found in the spring of 1813, when workmen accidently poked a hole in the tomb of Henry VIII. Authorities peered through the opening, expecting to see only two coffins--Henry's and Jane Seymour's. Instead, there were three. Fortunately for those Regency officials--who didn't have the wonders of DNA to confirm poor Charles's identity--the coffin was labeled. Plus, there was enough of Charles left that those familiar with his portraits could identify his head (yes, it was in there, too).


Interestingly, the whereabouts of Edward IV was also lost until he was accidentally rediscovered in 1789. Which makes me wonder, just how many other post-Conquest kings and queens have gone missing?

Update: It seems four other English kings are also missing: Henry, son of William the Conqueror and Stephen were both buried in monastic institutions that were destroyed under Henry VIII. Also missing is Edward V, the nephew that Richard may or may not have murdered. Someone did away with him and stashed him supposedly under steps in the Tower. A boy's bones were found there in the 17th century, but their authenticity is problematic. The final missing king is James II, who was buried in France. During the Revolution, his body and various parts suffered the same fate as that of other royals and aristocrats entombed there. Seems there's a book, The Royal Tombs of Great Britain, that goes into all sorts of ghoulish detail, although I haven't seen it.

Images credited to the University of Leicester.

Interview Up--Update!

My interview with Regan Walker is up at her site, here. Anyone who comments on the post will be entered to win an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of What Darkness Brings. So here's your chance.

UPDATE: Regan has drawn the winning name out of a hat, and the lucky recipient of the ARC is Sheila. So Sheila, if you're reading here, you need to head on over there and make arrangements to claim your prize.

Interview Up

My interview with Regan Walker is up at her site, here. Anyone who comments on the post will be entered to win an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of What Darkness Brings. So here's your chance!

An Interview, and a Chance To Win a Copy of What Darkness Brings!

I'll be doing a guest interview on Wednesday, 30 January, at Regan's Romance Reviews. I'll be talking about my old historicals, but also about the Sebastian series. I'll be available to answer questions in the comments section, and you can even enter to win an ARC (Advance Readers Copy) of What Darkness Brings.

So mark your calendars!

The Crazy Season Begins

It's Carnival in New Orleans again. Mardi Gras is early this year, but the weather was beautiful this last weekend.

I'll admit I don't go to parades much these days, and the traffic hassles can be a pain, but I still enjoy Mardi Gras. It's one of the things that makes this city so much fun and helps give it such a unique flavor. There's just nothing quite like it. Which is probably a good thing....

Finished!

I sent the manuscript for Why Kings Confess winging off to my editor in New York this afternoon. It's not technically due until 1 February, so I'm actually a few days early.

Now I need to start giving serious thought to book number ten. But first I intend to reward myself with a couple hours of playing my guitar, and a nice big hot fudge sunday!

Book Video for WHAT DARKNESS BRINGS

The book video for What Darkness Brings is now up on YouTube. (Due to a slight hitch, I'm reposting this, so my apologies to those of you receiving duplicates.)



Publishers seem to love these things, but I've always had the feeling that the only people who watch them are people who already buy my books. What do you think?

PW Gives What Darkness Brings a Starred Review

This is nice!

From Publishers Weekly:

"A murder case complicates Sebastian St. Cyr's recent marriage in Harris's excellent eighth Regency mystery (after 2012's When Maidens Mourn): the accused, former privateer Russell Yates, is the husband of Kat Boleyn, St. Cyr's long-time love interest, for whom he still pines. Yates is charged with the fatal shooting of diamond merchant Daniel Eisler at the merchant's London house. Yates, who had an appointment with Eisler, claims he heard a pistol shot at the door before rushing inside and finding the merchant dead in the parlor, where Eisler's nephew discovered him crouching over the body. St. Cyr learns that the unscrupulous Eisler tried to sell a large blue diamond that had been one of the French Crown Jewels, but that disappeared in 1792. The combination of complex back story, intricate plotting, surprising developments, and poignant evocations of the lives of the underpriviledged makes this one of the best entries in Harris's superior historical series." Reviewed on 12/14/2012

I am supposed to be doing an interview this week with PW, too, so more on that soon.

A New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you've all had a good holiday season.

I'm still working on solidifying my resolutions. It seems as if every year I resolve to eat better, excercise more, and get more sleep, which I guess tells you how good I am at keeping resolutions. But then, I don't know how much worse shape I'd be in if I didn't make the annual resolutions, so I persist.

Another of my frequent resolutions is to try to relax more, but I'm usually even worese at keeping that one than the others.


I used to play the guitar when I was in high school, and I've long regretted letting it slide out of my life. I was never very good at it, since I have no ear for music, no sense of rhythm, and I'm as uncoordinated as hell (watching me try to play tennis has been known to reduce onlookers to hysterics). But it was fun, and when I recently expressed a wish to start up again, my daughter stole away my old guitar, had it refurbished and restrung, and presented it to me for Christmas. So for the past week I've been tormenting my family with my hesitant strumming and s-l-o-w picking, and having a giddy time.

Now, you might think spending all those hours turning my fingers into a bloody mess would detract from my writing schedule, but the funny thing is, since I've started playing, I find my productivity has soared. So this may be just what I needed.

How about you? Do you make resolutions? Are you better at keeping them than I am?

Happy Holidays

The gingerbread houses are built...



The villages are up...



And the tree is decorated...



Merry Christmas, everyone!