THE RAKE'S CHALLENGE - Large print edition

In July, 1814 Anna visits Brighton and sees the sea for the first time.   Naturally, she wishes to experience sea bathing....





... but she ends up in hot water with Giles. That is a minor episode in the saga of an eventful summer holiday where the Prince Regent so nearly gets poisoned...


THE RAKE'S CHALLENGE  Large print edition published 1st July by Ulverscroft in softback.



                                                                

Kindle edition of THE WILD CARD

31st May is publication day for the Kindle edition of  The Wild Card. 

This is the story of Kitty Towers, sent to London by her mama to get a husband. With six younger children in the family, Mrs Towers is desperate to channel the girls into marriage. Independent-minded Kitty has other ideas but a handsome Rake here, a dashing French émigré there, and she begins to feel that there is more to Society life than she thought - especially when she uncovers a plot to sabotage Lord Wellington's Peninsular campaign.


'A sparkling romance.... a quintessential Regency....the sort of book that reminds me why I like reading this sort of thing so much.'  Rachel Hyde, Myshelf.com

All the latest Black Horse Western news

To keep up to date with all the latest Black Horse Western news make sure you check in regularly at the Black Horse Express. Brief extracts and then links are provided to all the news, reviews, interviews and other information that becomes available about your favourite authors.

Recent items :

Black Horse Westerns - April 2012
Review of Mystery Herd by Logan Winters
Review of The Search for the Lone Star by I. J. Parnham.
E-BHWs - April 2012
Bestsellers on Amazon
10 recent reviews on Amazon
Linford Westerns - April 2012
Dales Westerns - April 2012
Review of The Vinegar Peak Wars by Hugh Martin
Review of The Venom of Iron Eyes by Rory Black
Black Horse Westerns - March 2012
An interview with Nik Morton
Review of Range of Terror by Billy Hall
Review of Riders of the Barren Plains by I. J. Parnham
Linford Westerns - March 2012
Wrong Town by Matthew Mayo now available as an ebook.
Review of Last Man in Lazarus by Bill Shields
Dales Westerns - March 2012
Chuck Tyrell talks westerns
An interview with Chet Cunningham
BHW writers try new venture
Review of The Outlaw and the Lady by Chap O'Keefe
Review of Hell on Hoofs by Lance Howard
Review of Hang 'Em All by David Whitehead
E-BHWs - March 2012
Video now available for No Coward by Lee Clinton

Bestselling Hale Kindle titles on amazon - 30 April

1. Hawke's Tor by E.V. Thompson (29 Feb 2012)

Available for download now £5.49

2. God's Highlander by E.V. Thompson (29 Feb 2012)

Available for download now £5.49

3. Beyond the Storm by E.V. Thompson (29 Feb 2012)

Available for download now £5.49

4. Past Caring by Robert Goddard (29 Jul 2011)

Available for download now £5.49

5. Churchyard and Hawke (Amos Hawke mysteries) by E.V. Thompson (29 Jul 2011)

Available for download now £5.49

6. No Less Than the Journey by E.V. Thompson (31 May 2010)

Available for download now £5.49

7. Darcy's Diary: Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Mr Darcy by Amanda Grange (1 Jan 2011)

Available for download now £5.48

8. Gunhawk (Black Horse Western) by John Long (31 Oct 2011)

Available for download now £2.74

9. The Wolf of Hades by Michael Hillier (31 Jan 2012)

Available for download now £5.49

10. The Black Horse Westerns by Abe Dancer, Dean Edwards, Tyler Hatch and Scott Connor (1 Jan 2011)

Available for download now £6.86

Murder Fortissimo from Harlequin

The Harlequin paperback of Murder Fortissimo is now out, available from their Worldwide Mystery Library. You can find details on the blog I've finally got round to setting up, http://nicolaslade.wordpress.com/
I'd love people to Follow the blog - I'll feel such a fool if I'm rattling round on there! And do please remind me of blogs I could follow too.

FLOATING GOLD now an e-book

FLOATING GOLD was originally published by Robert Hale Ltd, London in 2010 as a hardcover library edition.

Subsequently in 2011, it was republished (by Lulu.com) as a paperback and in April 2012 as an e-book by Amazon for Kindle readers and Belgrave House for 10 other e-formats.

Having been absent from writing for almost three years, I have recently returned with a vengeance and am currently writing the first sequel to FLOATING GOLD. My working title is THE TAINTED PRIZE.

I am hoping to submit this manuscript to Robert Hale Ltd when it is complete.

I am grateful to Hale Books who launched my career as an author in 2005 and has published all five of my fiction novels.




Top insert is E-book cover.
Small insert shows original hardcover from Hale Books.
Jacket illustration by Michael Thomas.

Return to Silver Creek

When this book was published by Hale, it's title was Revenge at Wolf Mountain. The original manuscript was more than 80,000 words, and I had to do major surgery to get it down to Hale's 45,000 word count. So the tale turned from being a view of a woman's recovery from the trauma of rape and abuse, combined with her husband's search for the perpetrator and his wreaking revenge to only the story of the latter. Now, with the publication of the original MS (plus great editing by Nik Morton) as Return to Silver Creek, the entire story is out. Reactions from fellow writers and new readers has been gratifying, to say the least.

Robert Hale Ltd launch new book blog

Welcome to all book lovers, our established authors, would-be authors, and those just interested in the world of publishing, to our new Robert Hale Ltd blog.

Robert Hale Ltd is a small, independent, family-owned publishing company and has been in business for over seventy-five years. In that time we have issued novels here by some notable authors, not least amongst them Berthold Brecht, Robert Goddard’s very first book Past Caring, Harold Robbins, Robert Bloch’s Psycho,Wendy Perriam, E.V. Thompson and, of course, Jean Plaidy. We are adding to our list of new books every year and trust that this blog will bring to your attention stories to please you and new authors whose names will, I hope, rise to the same heights as those of the writers just mentioned. Our wide-ranging non-fiction lists of general books, horological and jewellery books, and the country’s foremost equestrian list of J A Allen, are second to none and contain something to interest and please every reader.

If you are looking at our blog then I imagine you are as passionate about books in all forms as I am. Thank you for reading thus far and enjoy the rest of the blog.

Gill Jackson
Managing Director

Follow the blog at http://halebooks.wordpress.com/.

The Kydd Inheritance shortlisted!

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I am delighted to announce that my Regency The Kydd Inheritance has been shortlisted for The Romantic Novelists' Association RoNA Rose 2012!

This is the third year running that I have been shortlisted, so I'm thrilled that my writing still seems to be finding favour with the reader judging panel.

Announcement of the RoNA winners takes place 5th March 2012 at One Whitehall Place.




The Kydd Inheritance is a Regency love story set amidst secrets and skullduggery. Nell Kydd has to outwit her loathsome uncle, rein in her devil-may-care brother and negotiate her feelings for his dangerously attractive friend, Hugo Derringer. All whilst keeping house and home together.


It is the prequel to Jan's Newmarket Regencies, Fair Deception and Fortunate Wager, both of which were previous shortlistees.

RoNA 2012

Romantic Novelists' Association

Historical Novels Society Conference - London Sept 2012

The Historical Novels Society is holding its annual conference this year in Central London on 28-30 October.

Today I booked my place and am looking forward to meeting some of the Hale authors that I have corresponded with in the past, renewing friendships with those I have met before, and meeting other writers I have come to know through social networking sites - such as Facebook.

The full cost of the conference 169 GBP for HNS members, but you do not have to be an HNS member to attend.

Margaret Muir

ARRA Nomination for A Little Deception

I'm delighted to announce that my third Regency Historical Romance published by Robert Hale  - A Little Deception - has just been nominated for an ARRA (Australian Romance Readers Association) award in the Favourite Regency Historical for 2011 category.

On Saturday, February 11, I'll be flying from Melbourne, near my hometown of Gisborne, Victoria, to attend the awards dinner where I'll catch up with a number of my friends from Romance Writers of Australia. My friend and critique partner of seven years, Jess Dee, who is also attending the dinner, will put me up for the night while my dear husband will have to put the kids to bed. Meanwhile I shall bask in the glory of a night free from the domestic round. Not that I'm complaining about the domestic round. My two girls, aged 10 and 6 are lovely and so is my husband, but it will be so nice to enjoy the conviviality of writerly friends over a glass of wine and a good meal.

Thank you to everyone who enjoyed and nominated my book!

Below is a brief précis and if you want to read more, you can go to my website at www.beverleyeikli.com or to http://beverleyeikli.blogspot.com

A one-night charade to save the family sugar plantation wins Rose Chesterfield more than she bargained for: marriage to the deliciously notorious rake, Viscount Rampton.

Implicated in a series of high profile jewel heists by a jealous adversary, Rose must prove more than just her innocence to regain the love of her husband.

Happy days

I’ve had my head in the clouds over the last few days. I asked Pete of Acclaimed Books to put my eBook A COVERT WAR into the KDP Select programme and let it go free for five days. Basically, the idea is that you place your book with the Amazon library for 90 days, and you are allowed a promotion of five days where you can offer free, unpaid downloads of your book. My book reached No.3 in the Spy Thriller category and No. 294 in the ‘sales’ figures. I get nothing for any of this, but the knock-on effect could be helpful to my subsequent borrowing figures for which I do get paid. Now that the promotion is almost over, the book is dropping away, but this is expected to happen according to the type of results I’ve seen published on the Kindle forum. Some of the writers who have tried this scheme (it began in December 2011) have had some startling results. The only people who can borrow or download these books are those who are members of Amazon Prime. Consequently they will search among the high rankers and the freebie downloads looking for a book they can either get for nothing or borrow for a small fee. I’ve had a big smile on my face for most of the week simply because I have enjoyed some kind of elevation for me and my work. Hopefully these people who have downloaded A COVERT WAR will want to read more of my books and end up paying for them. I’ll keep an eye on my results and post them here if I can.

FLOATING GOLD republished and reviewed

The following review appeared today in the on-line reviews from the Historical Novel Society:
FLOATING GOLD
Margaret Muir, Grindelwald, 2011, £11.60, pb, 236pp, 9781447670209

Anyone who knows me will know I devour anything with a Tall Ship theme—so I was excited to receive Floating Gold. Here is an example of how authors who, for one reason or another, no longer have their books in print with a mainstream publisher, decide to self-publish. Margaret Muir used to be published by Robert Hale, but with a backlist out of print, she decided to publish her books herself to keep them alive and in circulation. Good for her!

Floating Gold is a Georgian treasure hunt adventure. It is 1802 and there is a tentative peace between France and England. Captain Oliver Quintrell, as with many a sailor during times of peace, is ashore with no command and nothing to do. When he is offered HMS Elusive and a secret mission, he jumps at the chance to accept. He is bound for the Southern Ocean with secret orders, and his crew encounter storms, murder, and various adventures on the long voyage south. They reach their destination—and the treasure hunt proper begins.

The author knows her ropes when it comes to ships and shipping: the ship-board scenes are accurate and give a real feel of being at sea; her characters are believable—and the action, vigorous.

My only comment is that the edition I received had been incorrectly typeset with double spacing between paragraphs. While this in no way detracted from the story, it did spoil the look of an otherwise superb book—I believe it has now been re-typeset though, so all new editions reach full mainstream quality.

Had Floating Gold not been a republished, previously mainstream novel, I would have made this my editor’s choice. HNS rules state books must be newly published, however. So very highly recommended must suffice.

--Helen Hollick

Busy, busy

A short interview

Try the following link. A short interview with six questions. http://andyrane.blogspot.com/2012/01/same-six-questions-michael-parker.html