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C. P. Lesley, Novelist

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

A woman in Elizabethan dress, including a large ruff and cut off above the nose; cover of Jennifer Ashley's Eloise and the Queen

A woman in Elizabethan dress, including a large ruff and cut off above the nose; cover of Jennifer Ashley's Eloise and the Queen

Bookshelf, Winter 2026

Novels, mostly historical fiction, on my Winter 2026 bookshelf, by Jennifer Ashley, Janie Chang, Sandra Freels, Kaoru Mori, Casey Scieszka, and Linda Wilgus

cplesley

Jan 24 min read

Outline of a figure of indeterminate gender, wearing a flat hat with feathers, tight clothes, and gloves, with an old-fashioned pistol in the right hand, surrounded by Tudor roses; cover of Amie McNee's To Kill a Queen

Outline of a figure of indeterminate gender, wearing a flat hat with feathers, tight clothes, and gloves, with an old-fashioned pistol in the right hand, surrounded by Tudor roses; cover of Amie McNee's To Kill a Queen

Interview with Amie McNee

Author interview with Amie McNee, whose latest Tudor historical mystery will soon come out with Crooked Lane Books

cplesley

Nov 7, 20254 min read

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