Napoleonic Spies and Murder Part of ‘The Ranleigh Question’
Local author Lisa Boero returns to Regency England in the sequel to “The Richmond Thief,” which stars amateur scientist Lady Althea Trent, who uses her fascination with detective work and science to solve mysteries.
Readers last followed Althea as she worked on cracking a jewel thief, and this time, she gets thrown into the mystery surrounding a dead body in “The Ranleigh Question.” Napoleonic spies, long-buried secrets, and forensic breakthroughs are all part of the investigation as the mystery unfolds.
Originally, Boero had intended to complete the draft of the fourth book in her Nerdy Girls modern mystery series, but found herself inspired to work on the next installment of Althea’s adventures.
“I got so far into it, I thought I might as well finish it,” said Boero. Due to a successful ebook run, ‘The Richmond Thief’ was picked up and republished by Kindle Press last year. “The first had done really well, so I thought okay, I need to keep the momentum going.”
The series could be described as a cross between Jane Austen and Forensic Files, both topics that fascinate Boero.
“I wanted to marry Jane Austen with forensic techniques that would be doable in the Regency period but would be unique or different than what was done,” she said. “I’ve spent a fair amount of time reading Jane Austen and reading about the social and political history of Regency England, and so I felt I had a pretty good grasp of what I could maybe work with.”
Just as The Richmond Thief used Pride and Prejudice as a template, its sequel pays homage to Jane Austen’s Persuasion. “I knew I wanted to do a summerhouse type mystery, and at the same time I was thinking about anther Jane Austen book, Persuasion,” said Boero. She then analyzed the book to see which plot points she could rework or reuse to her advantage. “People who have obsessively read Persuasion like I have will certainly see [similarities.]”
When developing the series, Boero researched the Bow Street Runners, England’s first detectives, and some of the more popular cases of the time. Despite not having today’s forensic techniques, the detectives had other methods that might seem novel today.
“It’s obvious from from our perspective who the potential murderer is, and the police just seem to kind of bumble around figuring things out,” Boero said. “But other things were novel in the sense that I wouldn’t have thought to do that.”
Even in modern forensic science, not everything is high tech. “People were doing stuff back then that’s the kind of thing we do today,” she said. “Some of it is much more low tech, just someone thinking in a different way.”
Althea is intrigued by investigative work but faces restrictions in her scientific work. “Regency England was a very restrictive time period. Women didn’t have a lot of rights,” said Boero. “The rights that they had were usually tied to their husbands, sons, or fathers. I was interested in working with an independent character whose tries to buck at the restraints.”
But Althea’s occupation as a scientist does have a precedent in history. “There were a number of women scientists in the era who didn’t necessarily get the credit they deserved in their lifetimes,” she said, citing Ada Lovelace, who developed an algorithm that predicted the potential of modern computers. “All of them had a gross disadvantage of being female, so they were not necessarily in their own time taken seriously.”
The Ranleigh Question is available in print and as an ebook on Amazon, or locals can find signed copies at the gift shop in Marshfield Clinic along with Boero’s other work. Boero is working on finishing up the anticipated fourth book of her Nerdy Girls series and has a partial draft of book two in her Hell Made Easy trilogy.
A full-time attorney, Boero types up her work on an iPad when she can find the time, and releases one book a year. “I would like get to a point where I’m putting out two books a year. I end up putting out one a year, just because stuff gets in the way.”
Fans of her work will be glad to know she has plenty of ideas for future stories, more than she has time to write down. “I suppose it’s better to have that problem than to have writer’s block and not be able to get anything done. I have too many ideas!”
Boero is also participating as a short story writer in a collaborative fiction work that’s set in the Regency period. The work will be released in e-format sometime during the summer. Details will be released on Boero’s Facebook page closer to the time.
Wisconsin is Writing! Read Our Other Author Interviews Here:
Thoughts from a Tree Stand by Joseph R. Lange
The Wisconsin Bucket List by Kelly Jo Stull
Mining For Justice by Kathleen Ernst
Fly in Formation by Tom Palmer
