Highlighting the facts behind the history with my fellow Bluestocking Belle, Elizabeth Ellen Carter.
A special clock features front and center in my new novel, A Curio for the Count, which comes out on 19 January. It’s a statuette clock with a fancy pendulum.
In my research for the novel (twenty minutes research for every five minutes of writing!), I wasn’t surprised to read that early clocks were not that trustworthy. But pendulum clocks ushered in the era of accurate timepieces in the 1600s. By the Regency period, they were getting very accurate indeed, with close attention paid to the metals that pendulums were made from so changes in room temperature didn’t affect their time-keeping.
The hero of A Curio for the Count is a French émigré who fled to England with his mother as a child during the Revolution. I’ve written stories set during that period before. Did you know the French revolutionary government wanted to switch to decimal time in 1794? They visualized a day of 10 hours with 100 minutes each. Fortunately, the idea didn’t catch on! Imagine what that would do to clocks.
(A french pendulum clock invaluable.com)
About the Book: A Curio for the Count
To find his future, he must own his past…
Raised as an Englishman, Armand Danger, Comte de Ytres, is troubled by a dream from his childhood that leaves him speculating on his French past.
He is convinced that the answers he seeks can be found in an elaborate clock which belonged to his father who was executed during the French Revolution.
Miss Jade Bridges works as a valuer in her family’s London antique shop and auction house. One day she receives a mysterious letter from an anonymous client willing to pay any price for a very specific statue clock.
While in pursuit of the timepiece, Jade and Armand meet, and there’s immediate attraction. But how can it amount to anything when they are rivals for the very same object? As the couple grow closer and attraction deepens, they agree to join forces to find the timepiece together.
Then an antique dealer is killed. It appears someone else is willing to extract a fatal price to possess the clock for themselves.
Why is someone willing to commit murder for this curio for the count?
Buy link
A Curio for the Count (Gems of London Book Two): https://www.amazon.com/Curio-Count-Gems-London-Book-ebook/dp/B0BQ4C6DHK
About the Author
Elizabeth Ellen Carter is a USA Today best-selling author who writes richly detailed historical romantic adventures that have been praised for their strong characters and ‘edge-of-seat intrigue’. Her twelfth full length title, A Curio for the Count, will be released on 19 January 2022 by Dragonblade Publishing.
A former newspaper journalist, Elizabeth ran an award-winning PR agency for 12 years. She lives in Queensland, Australia with her husband and two adorable and mischievous cats. In addition to writing books, Elizabeth produces an online reader magazine called Love’s Great Adventure.
Web site: https://elizabethellencarter.com/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/6CCBA860-8532-439A-8E16-6A43F47D0C18