Dear Readers,

What a year so far: RT Book Reviews named me Best Scottish Historical author of 2008 for Border Wedding (January 2008) and its sister books Border Lass in September, and Border Moonlight in mid-December are doing well, too.

So it’s time for a new trilogy, and Tamed by a Laird should be on the bookstore shelves as I post this. So, as always, if you don’t find it at your local store, please make a lot of noise so they’ll reorder it!

The main story of this new trilogy was suggested by a friend who discovered it in an unpublished Scottish manuscript written in the sixteenth century about fourteenth-century events. Only the bones of the story were in the manuscript, because it was written by a Lady Maxwell about events in her husband’s family history. Needless to say, she firmly believed that his family had been on the right side of everything, and the other family involved were the bad guys.

That other family, the Dunwythies, had no one to tell their side of the dispute that arose between them and the Maxwells, so I plunged myself into researching the area and the history of the particular years involved (about 1374-1378), and learned enough to make me fairly certain that I knew what had really been going on. In other words, it proved to be both a fascinating puzzle and a bit of a mystery.

My friend Donal MacRae actually made a trip to Scotland to deliver a paper at the University of Edinburgh, and took a side trip to scope out the Kirkcudbrightshire landscape for me. I made a few changes to accommodate my storyline, and voilà, the trilogy arranged itself.

Tamed by a Laird is the story of “Bonnie Jenny” Easdale, a fictitious cousin of the Dunwythies and a baroness in her own right, and Sir Hugh Douglas, a loyal follower of Archie the Grim, Lord of Galloway. Jenny is living with her Dunwythie cousins when her uncle arranges her marriage to Sir Hugh’s younger brother, who is something of a rotter. Jenny takes matters into her own hands and runs off with a troupe of minstrels.

The second book, Seduced by a Rogue (coming in January 2010) is Mairi Dunwythie’s story and the main story from the manuscript, and the third book, Tempted by a Warrior, is the story of Mairi’s younger sister, Fiona. The trilogy is set in Galloway and Dumfriesshire, the southwestern corner of Scotland. It’s a fascinating setting, still very wild and untamed at the time…part of the Scottish Borders but not as accessible from England, because the dangerous Solway Firth separates the two countries there.

As to book signings, I'll be at the Payson, Utah Scottish games near Salt Lake City July 10-11; the Seattle games in Enumclaw (King County Fairgrounds) July 25-26, the San Francisco Caledonian Club games in Pleasanton on Labor Day weekend, September 5-6; and at the Tucson Games November 7-8.

Hope to see many of you in those areas. Stop by and say hello even if you already have the books. And, as usual, if you have books that you'd like me to sign, bring them along. I'm always delighted to do that.

I love hearing from all of you, so please don't hesitate to use the link at the bottom of the page to send me email, anytime. I answer every message (eventually), and if you're searching for older books of mine, I can usually help with that, as well.

If you do write and don’t receive a reply in a week or two, don't hesitate to write again to tell me so. I can get 500 letters at once if I've been away, and I also have to admit that I've been known to delete fan mail accidentally while filtering out requests for assistance from the usual bankers requesting updates of my financial information, heads of state needing my help to transfer funds from foreign countries, and notices of vast inheritances that I can collect if only I will send them a bit of money first.

If you would like to be on my mailing list to receive cover-art postcard announcements of my new books, just send me a mailing address (using the email link here). The list is my own and I print the labels, so being on it won’t land you in a sea of junk mail.

On the other hand, if you’d prefer to receive electronic postcards, please let me know. The publisher is considering sending them instead of the regular postcards but is trying to figure out how to collect email addresses. In fact, if you have any comments or suggestions regarding that possibility, please don’t hesitate to send them to me.

As always, I thank you, one and all, for your comments, suggestions, and support, and for your continued encouragement at book-signings, Scottish games, and festivals. But most of all, I thank you for the encouragement you give me by continuing to buy my books.

Happy reading, and Suas Alba!

Amanda
June 2009

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