Today we have the good fortune to have Lilia Birney visiting with us. I started things out by asking Lilia about the characters in her novel To Catch A Thief-Taker. Her answers will make more sense after the blurb and the excerpt so I have arranged today’s post in that fashion. Though I’ve started out by asking about the characters please feel free to add to the discussion and to take it in new directions by asking your own related or unrelated questions.
Lilia is giving away a $50 gift card to one lucky winner during her blog tour. Leave your comments here and then follow the rest of her tour. You can find her other stops listed here.
Blurb For To Catch A Thief-Taker
When Lady Penelope Annand’s trusted servant goes missing, she is determined to get to the bottom of the matter. Even if that means hiring a thief-taker to track down her maid’s whereabouts. But when the darkly smoldering Pierce Howe takes charge of the situation, Penelope finds herself growing more attracted to him by the second–even if she’s infuriated by his high-handed manner. She doesn’t trust any man–not after the way her first husband wronged her–so why is she so quick to believe in a thief-taker?
Pierce Howe has made a name for himself as one of London’s most reliable thief-takers, leaving behind his family’s sordid past to create a life of his own. But when Viscountess Annand, known in society as The Ice Goddess, demands that he track down her wayward maid, all his carefully-constructed defenses begin crumbling. As the Ice Goddess shows that she does indeed have a melting point, the thief-taker must decide if he can risk it all and tell her the truth about his past.
Excerpt From To Catch A Thief-Taker
She gathered her skirts and took a step, only to be caught around the waist from behind. Unable to breathe from the pressure of the arm around her middle, she kicked backward, connecting with her assailant’s right knee.
“Damnation!” A familiar voice swore, and her captor released her. Rubbing her ribs, she turned to see Pierce kneeling in the dirt.
“Pierce, are you terribly hurt?” She knelt beside him, tucking her skirt to pad her knees. “I’m so sorry. You frightened me. I didn’t know it was you.”
“I was worried when I returned to the carriage and you weren’t there,” he gasped, rubbing his kneecap. “I should know now, I need never worry for your safety again. Who knew a lady’s boot heel could be quite so painful?”
“You shouldn’t have grabbed me so,” she replied tartly. “How was I supposed to react? Here we are in the yard of a most notorious brothel—any man with a grain of sense would have approached me differently.”
“Believe me, madam, I am regretting my mistake most heartily at the moment.” He gingerly flexed his leg, grimacing slightly. “What the devil are you doing out of the carriage anyway?”
“I saw a servant passing by, and thought it would be wise to question her.” She took his leg in both of her hands, pressing it gently. Heavens, what a strong, muscled leg he had. She was thankful for the darkness, which hopefully covered her blush. “Does this hurt?”
“I’ll survive.” He leaned back on his elbows in the grass, staring at her from under lowered brows. “I was concerned for your safety, Lady Annand.”
“Thank you, but I can defend myself. As you now know.” She withdrew her hands from his leg, keeping her eyes lowered. If he read her thoughts at that moment, how he would laugh at her—how everyone would laugh. The Ice Goddess, reduced to nothing but a bowl of porridge after touching a man’s knee.
Lilia Birney Talks About Creating Fun Frothy Characters
I really wanted to write a book that just had fun, frothy characters–not a lot of seriousness. And Penelope’s character first came to mind. I wanted a heroine who is rich and beautiful–the best of both worlds–but who feels really empty and unfulfilled. Pierce was more of a challenge because I wanted him to have a past without it feeling too dark within the story.
Let me tell you, I love having a character who is independently wealthy. I loved that Penelope could do or be anything, since her first husband died and left her his estate. She is free as most women weren’t in that time period, and it was so fun to play with her and put her into different vexing situations.
The most trouble came with trying to keep the mood light. I wanted the book, even though it’s set in Regency England, to have a bit of 1930s screwball/sex comedy flair. I love watching old movies, especially ones with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and I wanted Penelope and Pierce to be the Regency equivalent of Nick and Nora. However, writing in that fashion is difficult–much more difficult than writing tragedy. I hope I pulled it off!
About Lilia Birney
Lilia is a reader and writer of historical romance. While the Regency is her favorite era, she loves anything from the Revolution to the 1940s, with a special interest in American history. Her first novella, From Air to Eternity, was published by Night Shift Publishing in 2011. Her newest series, The Liberated Ladies, explores the lives of four very independent women in Georgian England. Lilia lives in New Bern, North Carolina.
Twitter: liliabirney
Email: liliabirney@hotmail.com
Blog: http://www.canyonlandpress.com/
She does sound like she can hold her own and like an impressive heroine.
Lady Penelope is one of the things I loved most about this book, mostly because I was charmed and wanted to know if she was as interesting as the excerpt made her to be.
A heroine that can kick back, now that one sounds good to me!
Are there more books planed in the same world?
I enjoyed the writing style as well not all books are well written and have a good plot. Here I found myself falling into the book quite easily, well it doesn’t hurt (me, Pierce would probably disagree) that Lady Penelope can defend herself.
Jibriel.O (at) web (dot) de
Just popping in to say HI and sorry I missed visiting with you on party day! Enjoyed reading about your book. It sounds like a fantastic read and right up my alley! It’s on my BTB list now.
I love that you have written a regency with a twist. It is so fun to read about a heroine who is independent and also smart.
I’m curious…Lilia and readers…do you think that humor is different in historical as opposed to contemporary or futuristic romance?
Hi Lilia,
I’m in awe of authors who can write humor. I can write angst…I can write deep emotion…but I cannot for the life of me write humor. When I try it comes out flat.
How do you write humor? Where do the ideas for it come from? How do you start with the germ of the idea and flesh it out so that it is funny? Are there steps that an idea usually goes through between basic idea and fleshed out dialogue or fleshed out scene? Do you purposely try to make it funny or does the humor come with the idea?
I’m curious too…is there a certain set-up that you look for in the ideas that pop into your mind? Do you look for characters that are polar opposites? Or do you look for a certain type of character that you find usually spawn humor?
I’d love to hear a bit about how you write humor…how you create your characters…how you audition ideas for the stories you write.
I’m in awe of authors who can write humor. I’d love to hear a bit about how you do it.
I love Nick & Nora Charles and old screwball comedies–with that great, fun dialogue. I think of His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, etc.
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Sounds like a fun book, I’d love to read it.
I like that Penelope can take care of herself at times, especially when she kicked Pierce. This book sounds amazing. Can’t wait to read it. Thanks for the blog tour.
e.balinski(at)att(dot)net
Yes, I liked that Penelope can take care of herself too. Her kicking Pierce was a funny excerpt. I enjoyed it…
It’s great to read about characters who can take care of themselves…but who can do it without being totally kick ass about it. There is a difference between a character who gets herself out of presumed trouble and one who goes out seeking to find and stomp out trouble. It isn’t that I don’t like heroines who go out looking for and squelching trouble, I do. But it is nice to sometimes read about a softer heroine who can still take care of herself.
Thanks so much for hosting me today!
It’s very much my pleasure Lilia. Thanks for visiting us today.
Thank you for hosting Lilia today.
It’s very much my pleasure. Thanks for making it super easy to host great authors such as Lilia.
Everything about TO CATCH A THIEF-TAKER says I will love it. The characters, the time period and the mystery that throws Penelope and Pierce together.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
I also like that he seems to not take her very seriously at the outset (if you’ve read the excerpts at some of the other stops). She clearly is a woman who should be taken seriously…and she seems to bring him around to the notion that he should take her seriously. I like that aspect.