The model on the cover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 5: Prisoner is Laura. Her real name is Tanya, and if you’d like, you can see the original stock photo here . I chose this stock photo because I thought Tanya looked mature enough in this particular photo to be Lady Wynwood. She’s only 40 years old in the story, after all. Then my cover designer did some woo-woo magic with Adobe Photoshop and aged her a little more so that she looked closer to 40 than 30. She also added the streak of white at Laura’s left temple. The house in the background is actually a picture I took on a trip to England. It is Breadsall Priory in Derbyshire, which is now a country club. When I was writing the hunting lodge in the book, I pictured it as a smaller version of Breadsall Priory, and I set it in the middle of a forest instead of the priory’s lush grounds. I think my cover designer did a great job! Buy Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 5: Prisoner

Michael’s Gray and Brown Scarf I had just written a scene in Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 5: Prisoner where my character Michael gives the heroine a very significant scarf. When looking for a stitch pattern, I found the one used in “#31 Comfort either for a Lady or Gentleman” in The Lady's Assistant , volume 2 , published in 1842 by Mrs. Jane Gaugain, pages 125-126 (click on the link to view and/or download the free PDF of the digitally scanned book). When I did test swatches, it turned out to be a pretty eyelet pattern that looks like branches or vines winding upward. I tried the pattern as a parallelogram scarf and discovered that the pattern has a changeable orientation, looking vertical or diagonal depending on how you looked at it. So I decided to use this pattern, knitted as a parallelogram, as Michael’s scarf. I decided to use a smaller needle and add a slip stitch in the pattern to make the eyelets a bit more close and less lacy. When paired with a brown an...

I usually have a knitting project in mind when I write it into one of my books, but Laura’s apricot-colored shawl just kind of appeared upon the page as I was writing the first scene of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 4: Betrayer , and it surprised even me. I immediately went to my yarn stash to find a yarn for it, and I searched through my antique knitting books to find some stitch patterns. I made her an elegant wool shawl she could wear at home. The shawl ended up tagging along with Laura into the next book, Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 5: Prisoner , where it imparts some comfort to her in her trying circumstances. The two stitch patterns are both from the same book, The Lady’s Assistant, volume 2 by Mrs. Jane Gaugain, published in 1842 . A couple excessively clever and creative knitters might have knit these patterns in the Regency era, but they would have only passed them around by word of mouth or scribbled “recipes” to friends or family, and it wouldn’t have been widely use...

The latest volume in my Christian Regency epic serial novel is released! Here’s the back cover description of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 5: Prisoner : A Christian Historical Adventure set in Regency England with romance and a supernatural twist Part five in an epic-length serial novel Lady Wynwood’s team of aristocrat spies is shocked at the betrayal by one of their teammates and the kidnapping of a second. In a race against time, they must find the hiding place of the treasonous group that they call the Gentians in order to save one of their own. However, they also face the threat of mysterious agendas within the secret government department, the Ramparts. The team is split apart by the Ramparts’ leaders, who seem overly interested in using the mysterious Root elixir for their own purposes. While knowing that each day brings more suffering and torture for the prisoner, Lady Wynwood’s spies scramble to uncover any clues left behind as to where the Gentians have gone. But wit...