So, I have a book hitting the shelves in a few weeks, and everyone's anticipating a new Rogues book. And it is, sort of. It's set in the Rogues' World, but to be blunt, I've run out of Rogues! Not long ago I realized that my Company of Rogues series was the longest-running, still live, series in historical romance. But now I realize it's come to its natural end.
When I wrote the first one, An Arranged Marriage, long, long ago, (first draft 1977) I gave the hero, Nicholas Delaney, some friends, because he was going to need them. From somewhere (writing magic here) came the idea of a schooboy group and them keeping in touch, as school friends tend to. All the details about the Rogues trickled out over the subsequent decades as I occasionally wrote another Rogue's story.
Simply because it seemed more interesting I created a variety of young men, then later I had to explain why some of them were at Harrow.
It wasn't usual for the heir to a great title to go to a school, but there was Lucien de Vaux, Marquess of Arden, heir to the Duke of Belcraven. In my own defense, he was a late edition. He wasn't in the first draft of An Arranged Marriage, but by the time I was rewriting and preparing it for publication in 1990, I'd already written most of An Unwilling Bride, Lucien's story, and I thought it would be clever to make him a Rogue. The inherent problem didn't occur to me until later.
The explanation? His father wanted him to learn to get on with lesser mortals -- and when you know the family story there are many layers to that!
Miles Cavanagh, the Irish Rogue, was also an oddity, but the explanation was simpler. As he's the heir to an Irish earldom, his family want him to learn to get along with the English.
Another aspect that eventually occurred to me is one that affects nearly all historical romance -- these men's fathers die off awfully young!
At the time of An Arranged Marriage (1814) the Rogues are all in their mid-twenties, so quite likely their fathers, if alive, would be around fifty. Life expectancy back then wasn't as short as some people think. The statistics are slewed by the terrible death rate among babies and young children. Once a person reached adulthood, their chance of living to sixty was the same as today, and eighty wasn't extraordinary.
Nicholas isn't a peer, but his brother's an earl so their father is dead. Miles wouldn't be heir to the Earl of Kilgoran if his father was alive. I decided Sir Stephen Ball was too young to have earned a knighthood, so he's obviously inherited a baronetcy. Francis, Lord Middlethorpe's father is dead, which I make part of his backstory. The only Rogues with living fathers are Simon St Bride, and Lord Darius Debenham.
Back in 1977 I also killed off 2 of the original 12 Rogues. I never feel able to totally dodge reality and as these young gentlemen had grown up during the Napoleonic Wars some of them would have died -- off went Lord Roger Merryhew and Allan Ingram.
So I had 10, and I settled the last of them, Dare, in To Rescue a Rogue, in 2006.
There were some natural spin-offs, but then I went off to write more Malloren books, set in the 1760s. Eventually I was summoned back, in part by reader demand for the story of David Kerslake, earl and smuggling master from The Dragon's Bride. My readers also asked about the families of the dead Rogues, which led to last year's book, Too Dangerous for a Lady, featuring a sister of Roger Merryhew.
At the end of that book, Beau Braydon, the hero's friend, received the shocking news that he'd inherited a viscountcy. As he's a wealthy London man, there's no bright side to that for him and his was clearly the next story.
But he's not a Rogue, or even connected to one. His destiny, widowed Kathryn Cateril, is no Roguish connection either. I resisted the temptation to make her one, and at that point realized that I was going to enjoy writing completely fresh characters.
In addition, the book's triggering incident is the death of Princess Charlotte in November 1817. When the action moves to London en early December, who's going to be there? The happily married Rogues will be at their estates, preparing for Christmas. (Reality bites again!)
As it happened the events of Too Dangerous for a Lady had entangled the new Viscount Dauntry with a secret government department that has Roguish connections, so a few Rogues do make an appearance to help him. Hal Beaumont is around, because his wife Blanche, is performing at Drury Lane. Stephen Ball is also there for political reasons. Leander, Lord Charrington, makes a quick trip to London on business and regrets that. But that's all folks. I decided not to force anything, so most of the book is without Rogues on the page, though I hope my readers know they're all in that "world" happily with their families.
You can read two excerpts from this book, starting here.
The book I'm writing now is also triggered by the death of Princess Charlotte, and runs along a similar timeline. As it's in the "Rogues' World" there are elements my readers will recognize (the Dowager Countess of Cawle, for one) but neither Lord Kynaston nor Lady Ariana Boxstall even know the Company of Rogues exist, and again I'm thoroughly enjoying writing new characters.
Will this be a problem? I don't have any Rogues left to play principal parts, and I'm not going to march them through my books merely as stage props. They can enjoy their happy, rural lives as much as possible, but if they can reasonably be of use, I will summon them. Otherwise, my books will be stand-alones within the Rogues' World.
How do you feel about series in historical romance? Are you ready for stand-alones, which is what we always used to have, going back to Georgette Heyer?
One commenter on this blog will receive an Advanced Reading Copy of The Viscount Needs a Wife. I'll draw the name on Friday.
Cheers,
Jo