Into the Slums with Aldridge

I travel. Sometimes I travel by boat, plane, or automobile. Sometimes I travel by book. Sometimes I explore the real world. This week I rambled through the worst sections of London with the Marquis of Aldridge. I wouldn’t normally dare go to St. Giles, Seven Dials, the Devil’s Acre etc., the lairs of thieves, murderers, cut-purse operators, brothels and… Well, you get the picture. SHUDDER. With the charming marquis, however, who can resist? You know what they say about him:

The whole world knows Aldridge is a wicked sinner. They used to be right.

I think I’m safe. I know I’m enchanted. After avoiding brothels for years (since his wicked youth) he plunged fearlessly into one with his brother David to rescue a boy who had been taken by a crime lord for corrupt purposes.

Rambling through these neighborhoods I found families living in a room or two without water, sanitation, or heat. They have to get water from fetid streams. They are the lucky ones. There are homeless folks everywhere: Unemployed soldiers, whole families, children on their own. If they can scrape up a few pennies sometimes they can find a spot to sleep in a doss house. Respectable work is rare. Is it any wonder they turn to theft, prostitution, and extortion?

Oddly, I encountered some other characters in that same slum this week. The Sinclairs in Wendy Vella’s Seeing Danger joined forces and used their paranormal senses to rescue a whole herd of children taken by a crime lord to train as thieves.

But I digress. Aldridge ran straight into danger to rescue that boy. Luckily he was successful, but it was close. He gave me a stern lecture about places a lady should not go and told me to stay away, but that didn’t stop him for attempting to bring down the crime boss who spread terror across a number of Jude Knight’s books. His story, To Tame the Wild Rake, will come out September 17, but you can pre-order it now. I’ve been lucky enough to be a beta reader. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it!

Meanwhile the marquis appears in a companion story, To Claim the Long Lost Lover, which is available now. The heroines are twins and the plots overlap, including heart stopping action in the worst parts of London, if you care to ramble along.