I've heard from a couple of readers who are wondering whether they missed a book in the new series. It took a little while to figure out what led to this conclusion. Eventually I realized: References are made in A Duke in Shining Armor to the Duke of Blackwood's having married Ripley's sister a year earlier. Since I often refer to past events that are in my head, and will eventually (I hope) be worked out in ensuing books in the series, as part of the series story arc, it did not occur to me that this particular one might lead to a Missing Book question.
To answer the question: No, there was no previous book. A Duke in Shining Armor is Book One of the series. Ashmont's story—as yet untitled—comes next. Blackwood's, which is quite complicated, due to his already being married (what was I thinking?), will be the third book.
If you ever find yourself wondering if you missed one of my books, please wander over to the Books page, where series descriptions appear, along with individual book information, and the most up-to-date listing of what's been published. There's even a printable book list.
And of course, subscribing to this blog will, with the occasional crazed exception, keep you up to date with whatever strikes me as vaguely related to my books and the process of getting them out into the world. OK. Not sure about how the loos fit into this. But it was London! Where so many of my stories are set! So that settles that.
Image: Thomas Rowlandson, A Book Auction, made between 1800-1815, courtesy Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. When mention is made, in A Duke in Shining Armor, of Olympia's memorizing auction catalogs, this is the type of event she would have been fantasizing about attending. All of the antiquarian books she refers to in the story were either in auction catalogs or listings of a particular private library that I found online...because I am about as nerdy as she is.