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Public domain portrait of a young woman in Elizabethan coronation garb—gold brocade cloak lined in ermine, matching tight-waisted, full-skirted gown, crown—holding the orb and scepter signifying English royalty. She has unbound light auburn hair and pale skin. Elizabeth I at her coronation.

Dramatizing Elizabeth I

Musings on respecting the historical timeline in fiction, with decisions made while dramatizing Elizabeth I's reign in film as examples of why that might not be necessary

cplesley

16 hours ago4 min read

Mountains covered in scarce grass against a cloudy sky, a castle visible against a lake; cover of Rhys Bowen's The Castle in the Glen

New Books Network Interview: Rhys Bowen

New Books Network interview with Rhys Bowen about her latest standalone historical novel, The Castle in the Glen, recently released by Lake Union Publishing

cplesley

Aug 142 min read

Writing: One More Revision

Writing revisions for Song of the Silk Weaver, C. P. Lesley's latest novel, to be published in September by Five Directions Press

cplesley

Aug 73 min read

An ocean liner, bright red, against a turquoise sea, with New York City (identifiable by the Statue of Liberty) in silhouette to the left; cover of A Fatal Crossing, by Tom Hindle

Interview with Tom Hindle

Interview with the author Tom Hindle, whose historical locked-room mystery aboard an ocean liner has just appeared with Dutton

cplesley

Jul 315 min read

A two-story house sits on an open book against a backdrop of flowers; cover of Kelly Rimmer's The Story Keeper

Interview about The Story Keeper

Interview with Kelly Rimmer, author of The Story Keeper and other historical novels

cplesley

Jul 243 min read

An open mailbox with its flag raised and letters of various types visible inside; flowers twine up the white wooden post; cover of April Howells, The Unforgettable Mailman

New Books Network Interview: April Howells

New Books Network interview with April Howells, about her debut historical novel, recently released by Alcove Press

cplesley

Jul 172 min read

A dirt road winds among moss-covered hills seen against the backdrop of a cloudy sky. Off to one side, a castle stands at the edge of a lake; cover of Rhys Bowen's The Castle in the Glen

Bookshelf, Summer 2026

Historical fiction and one contemporary mystery on my bookshelf in Summer 2026

cplesley

Jul 103 min read

Three-tier birthday cake in red, white, and blue, decorated with small US flags, red and blue berries, gilded icing, and phrases such as USA 1776-2026

Happy Birthday, United States of America!

Happy birthday to the United States of America after 250 years!

cplesley

Jul 31 min read

Two women's faces; one European with a 19th-century hairstyle and the other Asian are partially visible beyond images of branches, one with a bird and butterfly, the other with a red fruit; cover of Marian Yee's 4 Janes

Interview with Marian Yee

Interview with the author Marian Yee, whose magical realist novel explores east-west connections through a reimagining of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

cplesley

Jun 267 min read

Drawing of a red-haired man in Regency clothing, shown against an elaborate wallpaper background, facing a woman in simple brown dress and long robe against a background of plain stripes; cover of Shana Galen's A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord

New Books Network Interview: Shana Galen

New Books Network interview with Shana Galen, author of the historical romance A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord, set in Regency England

cplesley

Jun 192 min read

A man in Regency dress and a woman in modern clothing look at each other; they are both standing on an old-fashioned grandfather clock at different levels; cover of Samantha Silva's Sometime This Century

Interview with Samantha Silva

Interview with author Samantha Silva about her latest historical romance, Sometime This Century, a contemporary take on Jane Austen's world

cplesley

Jun 125 min read

A man in a caped coat and top hat, seen from the back, stands among bare trees; cover of Murder in Bloody Weald

Borrowed Books

Books borrowed from Kindle Unlimited that I plan to read—historical mysteries, Tudor fiction, a novel set in the Ottoman Empire, and a cat detective

cplesley

Jun 53 min read

Writing Time

Writing and time management, as illustrated by three ongoing novel projects

cplesley

May 292 min read

A red-haired man in fashionable Regency dress, drawn against a fancy background, looks at a brunette in a plain brown floor-length dress covered with an equally plain coat, all portrayed against a pattern of stripes; cover of Shana Galen’s first Heiress Hunters novel, A Shop Girl’s Guide to Wooing a Lord

Interviews of Early Summer

Two forthcoming New Books Network interviews and two blog Q&A's, all scheduled to run between May and July 2026—historical romance, 1960s fiction, contemporary women's fiction, and historical/contemporary fantasy

cplesley

May 223 min read

Seen from the back against an image of a city on a hill, surrounded by water, a woman in a bright blue 18th-century style dress and holding a basket filled with red vegetables gazes to her right; cover of A Founding Mother by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

New Books Network Interview: Laura Kamoie

New Books Network interview with Laura Kamoie about her latest historical novel featuring Abigail Adams, co-written with Stephanie Dray and published by William Morrow in May 2026

cplesley

May 152 min read

A young woman with light brown hair and eyes, wearing a chemise and a brown corset, while tying her blue-gray skirt stares shyly at the artist painting her

Writing: Measuring the Past

Writing post about using clothing measurements to test old theories about a historical character

cplesley

May 84 min read

A woman runs in silhouette in front of a group of old-fashioned town houses, the London skyline dimly visible behind them and a pair of ravens in the sky; cover of Kristen Perrin's How to Cheat Your Own Death

Interview with Kristen Perrin

Interview with dual-timeline historical and contemporary mystery novelist Kristen Perrin, whose latest Castle Knoll mysteries has just come out with Kensington Books

cplesley

May 15 min read

A young woman with long, unbound red-blonde hair and a white complexion, wearing full Tudor royal regalia and holding an orb and scepter; coronation portrait of Elizabeth I

Writing: Those Darned Dates

On managing date sequences while writing historical fiction, with an example from the age of Elizabeth I and the author's own work in progress

cplesley

Apr 244 min read

A woman dressed in an old-fashioned white dress, her face obscured and her hands clasped sits against a dark backdrop streaked with rain; cover of Linda Hamilton's The Fourth Wife

New Books Network Interview: Linda Hamilton

New Books Network interview with historian and historical novelist Linda Hamilton, whose Gothic novel The Fourth Wife recently came out with Kensington Books

cplesley

Apr 172 min read

A puzzled-looking woman with dark brown hair bites her thumb as she reads a notebook

Writing: One Step Forward

Writing, then recognizing and removing, backstory from a forthcoming novel

cplesley

Apr 104 min read

C. P. Lesley, Novelist

Dramatizing Elizabeth I

New Books Network Interview: Rhys Bowen

Writing: One More Revision

Interview with Tom Hindle

Interview about The Story Keeper

New Books Network Interview: April Howells

Bookshelf, Summer 2026

Happy Birthday, United States of America!

Interview with Marian Yee

New Books Network Interview: Shana Galen

Interview with Samantha Silva

Borrowed Books

Writing Time

Interviews of Early Summer

New Books Network Interview: Laura Kamoie

Writing: Measuring the Past

Interview with Kristen Perrin

Writing: Those Darned Dates

New Books Network Interview: Linda Hamilton

Writing: One Step Forward