New Ashley Gardner Web Site

Looks like my new Ashley Gardner site is live!

http://gardnermysteries.com/

It will likely take a while to remove the old site from caches, so please reload the page or retype the address if you see the old, dark blue site. The new site has graphics that resemble the new book covers.

Drury Lane is progressing!

Ashley Gardner website might go down temporarily...

today or so, while we move everything over to the new website. Hope it won't disappear at all, but in case it does--I'M STILL HERE AND NOT GOING ANYWHERE. Will post when new website is live.

Ashley Gardner

Drury Lane and Regency England

Now have one hundred plus pages on Drury Lane! I'm absolutely thrilled to be making progres--it's taken me so dang long to be able to sit down and write this book.

While I'm posting, I'd like to pass on an excellent reference to all things Regency (and late eighteenth century, England and a more global context): the Jane Austen's World blog.

http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/

Well worth browsing through for both lovers of Jane Austen's novels and a look into the world of the time.

Drury Lane update

I'm very pleased with the progress I'm making on Disappearance in Drury Lane. Have about 75 pages, introduced some new players / new problems, with regular characters in full attendance. I don't want to give anything away, but we are back in London, exploring its streets and squares, from elegant Mayfair to the back streets of the East End. One of Marianne's old friends has gone missing, but what should be a simple  case of course proves to be anything but.

In other news, I have a website designer and builder busily overhauling the entire gardnermysteries.com website, and hope to hear from her soon. The preliminary designs look great. I've gotten notifications from some readers about the problems with my current website, which are noted and being addressed. The website will be on a new platform with a new look, updated for the wider laptop monitors (web address will not change).

I will keep writing along on Drury Lane, and have a pub date for you soon. (Every time I project one, life happens, so I'm trying to fool life by saying nothing until I have the full draft finished.)

I'm excited today because one of my Jennifer Ashley romances hit #16 on the New York Times list and #44 on the USA Today. Excellent news! My way of celebrating is to write more, so I'm continuing deep into Captain Lacey's world.

I'll update here again when I have more news.

March 2013

It seems as though the universe is conspiring to keep me from writing anything. I am working on Disappearance in Drury Lane, a few chapters in, and deep into another historical romance which is past due at my publisher.

I had another publisher pull a series off sale overnight at the end of January, and I spent all of February scrambling to get those books re-released (as my inbox was flooded with email from angry readers). Happily that is now resolved, and I no longer have to spend large chunks of every day revising and proofreading an entire series.

Plus I have new, contracted books that are busily coming back to me for rewrites, editing checks,  proofreading, and other things.

However, I do write every single day, 365 days a year (even on Christmas and my birthday). I'm not an author who sits back eating bon-bons waiting for inspiration to strike. I write. Even when I'm revising, editing, proofreading, having cover conferences, working on back cover copy, and making my publisher happy doing blog tours, going to appearances and book signings, I'm typing 500 to 3000 words a day depending on how much of other stuff I have to do.

A little bit at a time, and it all gets done.

I have released the second boxed set of the Captain Lacey Mysteries, which includes Sudbury School, The Necklace Affair (novella), Body in Berkeley Square, and Covent Garden Mystery. When I get a couple more books done, I will bundle those with Death in Norfolk. (Nook link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/captain-lacey-regency-mysteries-volume-2-ashley-gardner/1114812036?ean=2940016382487; Kindle link: http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Regency-Mysteries-Volume-ebook/dp/B00BR70E2E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1363910615&sr=8-3&keywords=captain+lacey+regency+mysteries)

I am also now actively talking with a website designer so hope to have a new look for the Gardner Mysteries website soon.

It's all coming. The rise of self-publishing has given me the opportunity to revive and write more in the Lacey series (a good thing), but it has also descended my life into chaos ("May you live in interesting times").

New Year, More Capt Lacey

From the flood of email in my inbox, many people are waiting anxiously for the release of A Disappearance in Drury Lane.

I know I planned to write and publish this book in 2012, but it unfortunately got shoved to the back burner along with pretty much everything else when Berkley upped my writing schedule for my romance series, asking for a couple of new novellas and another novel to be (quickly) written in 2012. I have signed another contract with Berkley, so the workload will continue.

That said, I am working on Drury Lane right now. I made the mistake last year of projecting too many pub dates, which got me into trouble when things got backed up. So, I'm currently writing the book, I will alert everyone when it is finished and to the copyeditor, by which time I'll be able to announce a definite publication date.

I am also planning an overhaul, with new graphics and design, of the gardnermysteries website (I am hiring someone to do this so it doesn't take writing time). At some point I'll have a lovely new site for Captain Lacey.

Also  I am working on putting out the second boxed set (Sudbury School through Covent Garden along with Necklace Affair). Book 7 (Death in Norfolk) through 9 or 10 will be in a third boxed set after they are all out.

Let me assure everyone that I have not given up on the Captain Lacey series. I have plenty of plans for its future. I do have to work around four other series--a lot for one person to do! but I have not abandoned it.

I am very happy that for the next couple of months I'll be revisiting Captain Lacey, Lady B., Marianne, Grenville, and Mr. Denis, report what they're up to, and pen another dark and gritty mystery.

I will keep you all updated with my progress. Thank you for your patience!

Ashley Gardner
http://www.gardnermysteries.com

Nightwalker out, Capt Lacey to come

Nightwalker, the fourth book in my Stormwalker saga (written as Allyson James) has at last been released! This means that I can now turn to Captain Lacey (and I am raring to go).

Mystery fans might enjoy Nightwalker, which is an action-adventure / mystery with a paranormal touch set in the Southwestern United States, in and around the Navajo Nation.

Blurb for this installment:

Stormwalker Janet Begay, proprietor of the Crossroads Hotel, a place where the paranormal stop for a safe night’s rest, discovers the hard way that a slayer is targeting Ansel, a Nightwalker who’s become a more-or-less permanent resident.

When Janet and her boyfriend Mick intervene to save Ansel’s un-life, they find that the attack is the beginning of an oncoming storm. Janet has her hands full already with the upcoming marriage of her father, her crazy half-sister, the return of a woman who claims to be Coyote’s wife, a couple dragons on her back, and her worry about Mick, who’s behaving strangely again.

But it seems that everyone is after Ansel, who fears he killed the woman he loves in a Nightwalker frenzy. Janet must choose between protecting Ansel, or facing the most powerful magical beings in the world, who are willing to destroy Janet, Mick, her hotel, and everyone she cares about to get to Ansel and his secrets.

This book will be available in all e-formats and in print. I will post links as they become available.

Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Nightwalker-Stormwalker-ebook/dp/B009FFGEO2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1348408441&sr=8-4&keywords=allyson+james+nightwalker

Smashwords (all formats): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/238710

On to Disappearance in Drury Lane!

High Time for a Captain Lacey update

I know you all are waiting patiently for Disappearance in Drury Lane. It will happen (just as Death in Norfolk happened). I was very certain early this year that I could write and publish like the wind, but then reality set in. The fingers can only type so fast, and the brain cells can only function so long. I am under contract to get certain books done and to Berkley, and I am trying to continue another series of my heart as well as this one.

That said, here's where things stand:

My "urban" fantasy (set in the rural southwest), Nightwalker, is almost done (I'm revising the draft)--hope to have that out soon.

For my Jennifer Ashley side, I just pubbed a short novel (part of the Shifters Unbound series)--now I owe Berkley two more novellas and a novel, one a month until November. One novella is nearly done--will turn it in next week.

After Nightwalker is published, I'll be able to focus more on Captain Lacey again (around the Berkley books, of course). My goal is to have Disappearance out in October (on the anniversary of Death in Norfolk), but failing that, by the end of the year at least

Disappearance book will be available both in e-book and print.

Captain Lacey and the series is *very* important to me, so rest assured, I have not, and never have, abandoned it. I have lots of ideas for more books, and will have a Captain Lacey blitz soon (sales on older titles, e-book boxed set of the second three books + novella, and other things).

While I have contracts to fill for my JA persona, Captain Lacey is always in my thoughts. Besides, my mother loves this series, and trust me, she badgers me every day to get the next one out ASAP!

The other day I posted an update on my Allyson James blog, which is also relevant here. You see, I'm trying to get two books out--one in the Stormwalker series ( urban fantasy/mystery ), and Captain Lacey. Around that I have to write books for Berkley. But Disappearance in Drury Lane is coming. Here's the post:

****

Where is Nightwalker? Good question! I'm still writing it. 

Many of you have been emailing  me asking when it will be out, and I apologize for confusing you with dates. I had wanted to have it finished and out by April at the latest, but life happened. I spent a month in Feb-March very ill. I was able to get Justin [Tales of the Shareem] finished and released, but that was about it, and then I collapsed.

Being sick put me behind not only on Nightwalker (and my next Captain Lacey mystery) but also very behind on my deadlines with Berkley. I've turned in one of those deadline books, but I must now work on the second before I'm caught up there.

However, throughout all this, I've been steadily writing Nightwalker. I work on it every morning for at least an hour. Today I reached page 115 (about 31,000 words). The book is projected to be about 75-80K, which is give or take another about 200 pages. I type fast, so it won't take that much time (weeks, not years!).

After that, the book will be revised and edited, then proofread. Add another 2-3 weeks for that.

I'm not going to project a specific release date. I've learned my lesson. :-) Once the ms. is finished, I can better project a date, knowing how long it will take for the edit/proof/publishing process.

But the book will be done, it will be out, and the next in the series planned. I also have a Stormwalker novella planned--though that may turn into the next novel...I'll see how it goes.

Because I'm currently writing five series (Shifters, Mackenzies, Stormwalker, Captain Lacey, Shareem), juggling all this has proved to be a trick!

I can say, in my defense, that books are coming out from me steadily, and will continue to emerge throughout the year. Books in 2012 that have been and will be released (in this order) are

Wild Cat (Shifters Unbound) (Jan)

Justin (Shareem) (Feb)

The Pirate Next Door (re-release) (March)

The Duke's Perfect Wife (Mackenzies) (April)

Nightwalker (Stormwalker)

A Disappearance in Drury Lane (Capt Lacey)

Hard Mated (Shifters Unbound short novel/novella)

Mate Claimed (Shifters Unbound)

and more after that taking us to 2013
The Seduction of Elliot McBride (Mackenzies, Jan 2013)

Re-releases from my Jennifer Ashley side, including the Immortals series will be threaded in here.

I offer no excuse (except the illness--that's a good excuse), and I do apologize for projecting dates I had no right to project. I got excited.:-)

End of Allyson James post

Once I finish Nightwalker and the Berkley book (Seduction of Elliot McBride), Disappearance in Drury Lane is next on my plate. I hope to release 1-2 Lacey books per year--this year will see at least one!

Ashley Gardner

Update on Captain Lacey

Disappearance in Drury Lane is still in the works. I'm behind where I want to be, due to two things: 1) Spending most of this month sick as a dog (I hear many others having the same trouble); 2) Having a book overdue to my publisher (said illness slowing that down as well).

Once I get the book turned in to my editor, I'm going to take a short break and try to get over this lingering cold. I'll indulge in my dollhouses (http://www.jennsminis.wordpress.com), catch up on my reading, maybe take a stroll up to the mountains or over to the coast. I've been working nonstop, seven days a week, since July, and I think I need a few days off.

Once I feel better, the next two things on my plate are Nightwalker (in my Stormwalker series), and A Disappearance in Drury Lane. I'm writing books for three pseudonyms, switching off every three: Ashley Gardner, Jennifer Ashley, Allyson James, Ashley Gardner... etc. This, of course, must be fit around my Berkley deadlines. It's tricky, but it's working thus far.

I apologize for being a bit behind, but a few months behind is better than a six-year gap between books! Captain Lacey and I disliked that immensely.

The plan is to put out 1-2 Lacey books a year, until we all think the series is done. I prefer full-length books to novellas, as I can put a lot of meat into them, but those, naturally, take a little longer.

I will update my status as I go, so you'll know when to start expecting Disappearance.

On a better note, the paperback edition of A Death in Norfolk now has wider distribution. You can order it from Barnes & Noble and through Indiebound and other booksellers.

Thanks to all who have found the Lacey series and for hanging in there with me

(Photo, by the way, from a dollhouse at the Mini Time Machine Dollhouse Miniatures museum in Tucson. A marvelous museum, worth the trip.)

Ashley Gardner
http://www.gardnermysteries.com

Captain Lacey Mysteries first "Boxed Set"

Now Available: Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, Volume One. The first three Captain Lacey novels plus the short stories from The Gentleman's Walking Stick, are now available in one convenient ebook bundle. Currently on Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook, with more platforms to come. I'm also working on Volume 2.

A Disappearance in Drury Lane is still in the works! I will update when I have a more specific pub date. Right now it's "sometime in March."

Updates on the Lacey Series

I continue to write A Disappearance in Drury Lane, happy to be back in London for this one. Looks like that release date might have to move to March, but I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I will be releasing the first six Lacey novels plus The Necklace Affair and the short stories as boxed sets:. I'm waiting to get the covers from my cover designer, then they'll be ready shortly after that. Volume One will comprise Books 1-3 and the short stories now collected in The Gentleman's Walking Stick. Volume Two will include Books 4-6 plus The Necklace Affair. I'm purposely leaving Death in Norfolk out, but it will be collected into Volume 3, as soon as I get a few more books out. If you know folks who would like to try the books or prefer to buy everything at once, let them know this is on its way.

I can't express what a joy it is to work on this series again. I'll keep going as long as the stories come!

Ashley Gardner
http://www.gardnermysteries.com

A Disappearance in Drury Lane

I have updated the Books section of the Ashley Gardner website (www.gardnermysteries.com) to add the cover and date for Capt. Lacey Book 8, A Disappearance in Drury Lane. I'm looking at mid-February for the pub date, though I will update when the day is more specific. Thanks to all who let  me know they enjoyed A Death in Norfolk!  Remember that Death in Norfolk is available both in Ebook and Print!

Death in Norfolk in Print!

The paperback edition of A Death in Norfolk is now out!

Available from Amazon here.

Also in print is The Necklace Affair, which has been bundled with the two stories in The Gentleman's Walking Stick.
Available from Amazon here.

What's next? I'm working on A Disappearance in Drury Lane, which should come your way early next year. The target date is Feb or March. I plan to write 2-3 of these books a year.

Watch this blog or my website to get updates on the series. Or join my newsletter group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gardnermysteries/
to receive updates on the series and an email the day new books arrive.

Thank you and enjoy!

A Death in Norfolk is Out!

It is out! A Death in Norfolk is now available from:

Nook (B&N):
 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-death-in-norfolk-ashley-gardner/1106796800

Kindle (Amazon):
http://www.amazon.com/Norfolk-Captain-Regency-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B005XI6GXY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319127564&sr=8-2

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97960

As usual, it will take a couple of days to wend its way to the UK, German, and French Amazon sites, and a week or so to start appearing on Appil iBooks, Sony, and the like. (However, the Smashwords edition can be read on almost all devices.)

The print version of this book will be out in about two weeks. Stay tuned!

Thank you all so very much for both your patience and support which inspired me and helped me get this book written and published. I hope you enjoy it.

Best,

Ashley Gardner
http://www.gardnermysteries.com/

Death in Norfolk Update: Pub Date Oct. 20

A Death in Norfolk, Book 7 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries series, is finished and now being edited. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the publication date has moved to October 20 (Thursday; in order to have time to get it proofread). A Death in Norfolk is a full-length novel, about the same word count as the other full-length books in the series (Hanover Square; Regimental Murder, etc.).

Death in Norfolk will release first in e- (for Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo, or your e-reader of choice), followed in a couple of weeks by the print version. I will have a more specific date for the print version when I learn it, but it should be very soon after the e-version is released.

I am also going over the proofs for the print version of The Necklace Affair anthology, which will gather The Necklace Affair novella plus the two stories in The Gentleman's Walking Stick into one print volume (the cover is beautiful!). Finishing Death in Norfolk is my number one priority, but The Necklace Affair anthology should be available in the next week or so.

If you wish to receive an email when A Death in Norfolk is ready, you may either sign up for my newsletter at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gardnermysteries/  or send me a private email:
gardnermysteries @ cox.net (no spaces) and let me know to add you to my e-mail only list.

I'm very excited to have A Death in Norfolk finished at long last!

Captain Lacey in Print

I'm pleased to announce that The Hanover Square Affair, Book 1 of the Capt. Lacey Regency Mysteries, is now available in print from Amazon.

If you know of readers who like to read in print form only, please alert them. At this point, The Hanover Square Affair must be ordered online from either Amazon or CreateSpace.

Next in the print queue is The Necklace Affair (and Other Stories)--not because it's next in sequence, but because The Necklace Affair thus far has been offered only in e-book form.

For the print edition, The Necklace Affair will be gathered with the stories in The Gentleman's Walking Stick to make one volume of the Captain Lacey tales. Just to be confusing, the cover art will be that of The Gentleman's Walking Stick, but with The Necklace Affair for the title. Look for that in a few weeks (I will post as well).

A Death in Norfolk is progressing on schedule. I am almost finished with the ms., and then it will be edited, proofed, etc. Pub. date should be October 15. Death in Norfolk will also be out in print, if not simultaneously with the e-release, then shortly thereafter (as in a couple of weeks). The rest of the series will follow!

I was also thrilled to learn that the Capt. Lacey series has now sold its 50,000th digital copy! Thank you for the continued support.

Ashley Gardner

Short Story Collection: The Gentleman's Walking Stick

Because I'm still writing A Death in Norfolk, I decided to put up a Capt. Lacey short story anthology this month. I had planned on putting it together after Norfolk, but because I'm delayed, why wait?

Two short stories are gathered in this anthology: 1. "The Gentleman's Walking Stick"; and 2. "The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald."

I wrote and sold both of these stories before I began the Lacey novels. To my surprise, "The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald," first published in Over My Dead Body! Mystery Magazine, was nominated for a Derringer award (given by the Short Mystery Fiction Society) for best short story of the year.

The reception of these stories encouraged me to write The Hanover Square Affair and try to get it published, and the rest is history.

Both are standalone stories, but in the series cycle, they can fall anywhere after Sudbury School Murders.

The collection, titled The Gentleman's Walking Stick, is available from

Kindle

Nook

Smashwords

And will be available on Kindle UK and DE when everything processes through.

In other news: The books are in the process of being reprinted in trade paperback editions. The Hanover Square Affair will be the first available, probably next month, with the others following. The Necklace Affair will be printed together with the stories in The Gentleman's Walking Stick, for one volume of shorter works.

Thank you for your patience about A Death in Norfolk. I got backed up on two other series I'm doing at Berkley, always tricky. However, the book is on its way.

Best,

Ashley Gardner
http://www.gardnermysteries.com

Updates: Next book, Print, Sony, etc.

First, I want to again thank the readers of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries. This month I hit a milestone: The Lacey novels have now sold more e-copies than the entire series ever did in print.

I am hard at work on A Death in Norfolk, very much enjoying the research on Norfolk and Lacey's past. I'm slightly behind on writing the book (this is not unusual for me), because I have two Jennifer Ashley books kicking me at the same time (timing at publisher; it is the way of publishing).

However, the book won't be delayed *that* much--I'm thinking a few weeks at most. I want to have it out as soon as it can be finished, edited, and proofed.

At the same time, the books are being prepped for print re-release, hopefully all six, plus Necklace Affair, very quickly one after the other, so that Death in Norfolk can be released simultaneously in e- and print. I do not want to leave out readers in any format.

The Lacey series has now started to appear on Sony and Kobo. For some strange reason, they both have Covent Garden Mystery and one or two of the others, with no seeming regard to series order. I have no idea why; both vendors were shipped all the books. Wait and watch is all we can do. I'm happy at least that some of the books are at those vendors.

Again, the entire series can be purchased from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. I have links to all at http://www.gardnermysteries.com/

I will update as the pub date for Death in Norfolk nears and arrives.

The Nook Version of Covent Garden Mystery is Here!

Ah, problem solved (apparently). The Nook version of A Covent Garden Mystery (Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Book 6) is now available HERE

As reminder, the Kindle version is already up

As is the Smashwords version (multi-formats and available worldwide)

I included a sneak peek of A Death in Norfolk at the end of Covent Garden. I am hard at work on Death in Norfolk, and I will update on its progress as I go. Expect publication in September (as usual, I'm a little behind, so I'm shooting for September 15 or so). I will keep you posted.

As always, check my website for new information http://www.gardnermysteries.com/  or follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GardnerAuthor  for instant updates.

My thanks, once more, to fans of Captain Lacey who continue to support the series!

Ashley Gardner