A Wicked Conceit, Anna Huber [best e book reader txt] 📗

London, drawing heavy criticism, but the gruesome murder of a nobleman catapulted its infamy to an entirely new level.

I also borrowed the title of the immensely popular flash song from the Adelphi’s production of Jack Sheppard. The words for “Nix My Dolly, Pals, Fake Away” were taken from Ainsworth’s earlier novel Rookwood and were set to music by G. Herbert Rodwell to rousing success. Though written in thieves’ cant, it proved to be a favorite among all classes and was one of the most popular songs of the decade, even if the upper classes little understood the words they were singing. The tune was played in music boxes, used as sheet music for children learning to play the violin, and even arranged as a chime for the bells of the cathedral in Edinburgh. “Nix My Dolly” was everywhere.

In 1832, UK theaters did not have to pay authors for the use of the material in their books. They were not yet protected by copyright law. So authors had no choice but to accept it. Sometimes a theater manager would offer a one-off payment to the author, more out of guilt than any other reason, but they were not required to do so.

In this time period, the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh was owned by actor-turned-manager William Henry Murray and his sister, actress Harriet Siddons. Harriet was, in fact, styled “Our Mrs. Siddons” by the people of Edinburgh to differentiate her from her more famous mother-in-law, actress Sarah Siddons. The Wolf of Badenoch was also a real fourteenth-century figure, considered by some to be the most notorious and vile man in Scottish history.

I discovered the African American actor Ira Aldridge while learning about his portrait by James Northcote hanging in the Manchester Art Gallery. A fascinating figure in his own right, he left a lasting legacy in theater and through the accomplishments of his children. He is currently the only actor of African American descent honored with a plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. He toured widely in the UK at this time period, particularly in his role as Shakespeare’s Othello.

Earl Grey and the Whigs genuinely did plot to ask the king to create a large enough number of new Whig peers in order to pass the third attempt at the Reform Act through the House of Lords, believing this was their only alternative. However, King William IV initially balked at this measure, leading Lord Grey to resign as prime minister. The king then invited the Tory Duke of Wellington to form a new government. This resulted in the “Days of May,” a period of revolt and great unrest, which many feared would culminate in outright revolution. Uneasy lies the state of Britain in these days following the birth of Kiera and Gage’s child.

Acknowledgments

As always, I’m so grateful to everyone involved with the creation of this book and those who helped me in various ways to complete it. This was the first book I finished writing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such, the experience was both somewhat unique and also fraught with more difficulties. So I want to offer an extra helping of thanks to all who are named below.

My amazing team at Berkley Prime Crime, including, but not limited to, my fabulous editor Michelle Vega, Jenn Snyder, Brittanie Black, Jessica Mangicaro, Stacy Edwards, and Amy J. Schneider, as well as the artists and designers who always create such stunning covers.

My incomparable agent, Kevan Lyon, and her team.

My husband—I don’t know what I would do without his love and encouragement, and my daughters for filling me up and making me want to be the best I can be.

My eldest daughter’s teachers, as well as educational staff everywhere. Having to assist her through the last nine weeks of kindergarten by remote learning was certainly eye-opening and definitely made me even more grateful for everything teachers do every day, and how much of themselves they pour into their students.

My friends and beta readers, Jackie Musser and Stacie Roth Miller, whose guidance never steers me wrong.

My extraordinary circle of friends and family, whose care and support always means so much.

And God, who never leaves or forsakes me, and from whom all blessings flow.

About the Author

Anna Lee Huber is the Daphne Award-winning author of the national bestselling Lady Darby Mysteries and the Verity Kent Mysteries. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in music and minored in psychology. She currently resides with her family and is hard at work on her next novel.

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