Robin Paige Series

Quite a few readers have written in the last couple of months, asking why Bill and I decided to discontinue the Robin Paige series. Here's an answer to that question--now, when people ask, I can just give them the permanent link to this post!

Bill and I started work on that series in 1992, right after the first China Bayles book came out. We'd been writing young adult books together since 1985, and both of us enjoyed the process of writing together. So we came up with several ideas for a co-authored series. After much energetic back-and-forth, considering various options, we decided to set the series in England in the late Victorian-early Edwardian period. There was so much going on at that time, politically, socially--and especially forensically. Fingerprint identification was just becoming available, and there was forensic photography, ballistics, toxicology, serology, and so on. So it was an ideal setting for an investigative series.

We also decided to use real people in the series. The second book, for instance, featured Beatrix Potter. The sixth, Jennie and Winston Churchill. The twelfth, Guiglielmo Marconi. This proved to be a very good idea, and really kept us interested in the series. Readers have liked it, too, for each book introduces them to a new segment of English society, to a new set of issues, and new points of view. But it also proved to be exceedingly difficult, for each book required not only the usual background research, but also specific biographical research about the person we chose as our "featured" character.

The series originally went as paperback original to Avon, but they were having troubles at the time (the mid-90s) and didn't do a very good job getting the books out there. We moved the series to Berkley, where it has been ever since, very happily. We've loved working with our editor, Natalee Rosenstein. The series went into hardcover with the seventh book. We've discontinued it with the twelfth--Lizard (originally in hardcover in 2006) will be out in paperback in July. When we started, we thought we might do ten books. The series went to twelve because we enjoyed the collaboration so much.

I say "discontinued," because it's always possible that something will come along that will make us change our minds. We left some plot threads hanging, just in case we want to pick it up again. But there's no "next book" in this series on our horizon. The reason: the research load is very heavy. It wasn't so much the background research in the period--that was entirely manageable. It was the biographical research on the individual characters and their world that made it difficult. For Marconi, for instance, we worked our way through all the available biographies, plus books about the telegraph, the wireless telegraph, and radio. And believe me, there's a LOT of stuff out there. Bill spent a couple of months on the research and we each put in three person-months on the writing. By the time all was said and done, we'd put a full year into the book.

Yes, we probably overdid it. We might have gotten by without doing so much. But we loved the learning (that's one of the reasons we're writers). Readers, too, have appreciated that level of specificity, and once we began creating these richly-detailed worlds, we really couldn't go back to a more general, non-specific kind of writing that so often passes for "historical" fiction. Readers would have been disappointed, and we wouldn't have enjoyed the work nearly as much.

That's it, gang. That's why we decided to discontinue the series. I'll continue the China Bayles books indefinitely (as long as you keep reading), and hope to do a short story collection and a cookbook in the series. There will be four more books (eight altogether) in the Beatrix Potter series, and maybe a junior biography. I'm working on a memoir project now, and have a novel in mind, to be written sometime in the next couple of years. Bill and I miss the Robin Paige collaboration, but now we have time for other things we want to do together, so it all balances out.

If you've been a reader of this series, thanks for your support. Please know that you belong to a relatively small and select group: there are many fewer readers of historical fiction (particularly the non-bodice-rippers), and they don't network the way readers of other mysteries or romances do. So it's harder for an author to reach you, or to develop an effective "marketing program." Also, as a group, you are demanding: you know your history and you want your history done right. Bill and I hope we managed to do that.

Comments

[Susan Rogers]

I do understand, but I will miss Kate and Charles. Don't hesitate too long to bring them back - I'm not that young. I do enjoy your China Byles series as well, but I love the Victorian era and read lots of books put into this setting. Thanks for giving me lots of lovely reading times!

[Beth]

I have so enjoyed reading the Robin Paige series and I, like so many others who wrote you, consider the characters all friends. You have made history come alive and I really appreciate it. I wonder, like another person, if you couldn't divide up the research work among some other people. I would so love to see the series continue. There are so few historical mysteries out there. Please reconsider.Thank you for what you have already done.

[Tanzel Rousey]

I have fallen in love with this Victorian Mystery Series.
I came on it quite by accident when reading one of the China Bayles books
and saw the Robin Paige info on the flyleaf.

Just by chance I read Death at Bishops Keep FIRST ~ which is as it should be.
And from there I have continued through the series and just finished Death at Glamis Castle.

We LOVE England and our best friends are from there. We visit them every other year, and they
come here to visit us every other year from that. When we are with them in England, they take us
all over the place (back roads and rural villages only, of course) to get a REAL taste of what is there.

In 2003 we visited Glamis Castle, and this book has once again taken me there via imagination
and remembrance.
We had our photograph taken at the front door under the clock, and my favorite photo is of me
behind the castle, close-up to a highland cattle (actually the thing was breathing down my neck!).
I don't know which one of us was the most afraid ~ ha!

Actually we have visited most of the places described in all of these books, and each time I read one
I am magically transported there once again; the moors, inner-city London, Cornwall, the Sussex Downs,
the beautiful seaside, etc. Well, you get the picture.

Thanks so very much for these wonderful stories that have given me hours and hours of enjoyment.
Next stop: Death in Hyde Park, which I will begin tonight.

The only other two books in this series listed in our library are Death at Blenheim Place
and Death at the Lizard. Are these the last two, or should I look for more?

Tanzel Rousey ~ Macon, Georgia

[billie in Oklahoma]

I loved your Robin Paige books. Thanks so much for writing ..

[Joan Abt]

I am in the middle of "Death on the Lizard", sad to know it is the last one published. I have marvelled at the historical background, which made the books informative as well as enjoyable, but I would willingly forego real characters to have more mysteries with Kate and Charles. Please, can you tell me which book it was in which Kate lost her baby. I thought I had read them all, but began seeing references to the miscarriage and had not known of it, so I must have missed one. Thanks.

[Diane]

I echo the disappointment of those who have posted before me. I, too, have just discovered this series and am saddened that it has ended. I also would like suggestions from anyone about other books like these. For me, the historical accuracy is a must, as well as characters like Kate and Charles.

[Kay McCalain]

In 2006, we (myself, husband and parents - 85 at the time) took a trip to England and visited Blenheim Palace. When I came across the book at this setting in a second hand book store, I took a chance. My mother has just been diagnosed with cancer and was low so I woas looking for books that would keep her involved and I thought a series would be helpful. The books have brought back memories of that wonderful trip ( and others my parents had taken in the 1980's).

Now I need to tell you that as of now 3 generations (my daughter in law has stayed all night reading to finish a book she started after dinner) have enjoyed this series greatly (and I have a feeling a fourth generation will be starting them soon). It is not many books that are suitable and interesting to ages from teens to late 80's.

We all feel attached to Kate and Charles and wonder what the future held in store for them. I think that Marsden eventually does end up "poor" but joins the military in WWI and finally realizes what is important in life and finds happiness (but Edith has left him), that Charles ends up playing a critical role in WWI (behind the scenes), Kate becomes interested in sufferage and other women's issues of the times and continues to be a role model for others. The marriage becomes stronger and their love endures.

Please - at least write another (or two or three) and maybe not have a "real" person in each one so that the research is not as burdensome.

[Elliott Avedon]

I'm sad. Kate and Charles are now friends of mine. I want to know what happens to them next. What happens to Patrick, to all of the servants at Bishop's Keep, and Patsy and her family.

I was kind of expecting that you'd be adding volumes that would bring us to WW I and perhaps beyond. Can't your publisher find a researcher to help you - like maybe a grad student or three or four? :)

In all seriousness, you do have quite a following and you're not being fair to us by just stopping without closure. The length and content of this blog tesifies to the need for at least one or two more volumes.

[Debbie Ray]

I absolutely love your Beatrix Potter series. Have visited her farm in England, and your accurate depictions of the countryside are spot on. It's a terrific series, and if you're a fan of Potter's little books, you'll be a fan of this series. Thanks you for your keen insight into how unhappy Beatrix really was.

[Ann Raymond]

I just read the first Kate and Charles book and am happily looking forward to reading the rest. One advantage to discovering a series at the end is that you can read through from first to last without long waits for the next book to be published!
I recently started reading the Beatrix Potter series and from there discovered Robin Paige. Thank you for many hours of delightful travels through historic England!

[Wendy]

Please, Please reconsider writing more in the series! My sister, mother and I have enjoyed Kate and Charles enormously!

[Woody Schlosser]

Sorry to here that no more books in this series are planned. I just stumbled across them in the last six months or so, and have now read and enjoyed them all. Here's hoping that Charles and Kate will be resurrected, just as Kate suggested to Doyle concerning Sherlock Holmes.

[Cheryl]

I miss Kate and Charles---can't they come back to vist us with #13?

[Ranelle]

Very sad. :(

[David]

I am so sorry to hear that Kate and Chrles will not have any more adventures! I'm glad that I didn't know that "Lizaed" was the last book when I read it -- I would have been melancholy all the way through it, which would have diminished my pleasure. I happened upon "Glamis Castle" shortly after it was published and was instantly hooked. I hope that you decide to restart the series again. We miss Kate and Charles!

[Barbara Minkos]

I have just discovered you Robin Paige series and am very disappointed to find there will be no more. I have bought 12 from amazon.com in the last week after finding the series. I do hope you have not discontinued it altogether. I fell in love with them with the first book. It is so hard to find historical or victorian mysteries today. Please rethink your decision. I think you will find your audience is larger than you think. I am now going to collect the Beatrix Potter series.

[Claire]

I'm so disappointed that Robin Paige has been retired. Although I quite understand the enormous amount of work involved in each of these books, I believe that is what makes them so enjoyable to read. History, and especially English history, has always been my favorite subject along with English Literature. The history aspects of each book has been fastinating and interesting. I do hope that at some time in the future you will be able to bring Robin Paige out of "retirement" and delight us all with another book or books. The period in which Kate and Charles live is so rich and exciting with all the inventions as well as the politics and one more book might be able to wrap up their investigative careers and have them settling down at Bishop's Keep (as one previous writer has already mentioned).
Thank you again for a completely delightful group of books as well as the Beatrix Potter mysteries.

[Gretchen Vander Weide]

I fervently hope that you start up the Robin Paige series once again after a sufficient "breather." For years I have read mostly historic murder mysteries and discovered the Robin Paige series just this summer, reading them in order. I have just begun the last, "Death on the Lizard" and don't want it to end. The extensive research that you have done for each title with its own particular theme (motor cars, wirelss telegraphy, early CSI techniques etc.) spiced with intimate relationships with historic characters makes the series one of the best I have read. The chapter quotations are remarkable, and enlightening all by themselves. Your historic notes and bibliography at the end are excellent. The books are so good that they are certainly worth re-reading. Thank you for many hours of reading pleasure.

[Donald]

While I am thorougly enjoying these books, and find them generally accurate, I find the constant references to "Lady Kathryn" disconcerting. A female can only become "Lady Mary", "Lady Kathryn, etc, if her FATHER is a Peer; a person who marries a Peer, or a knight, etc, becomes "Lady (surname)", for example, "Lady Sheridan".

[Judy Hoff]

I am so sorry to hear that the Kate & Charles stories have been discontinued. I devoured all twelve in little over a week. Rarely does a series capture my interest as this one did. I have never been much of a fan of history, but your inclusion of actual historical persons inspired me to do a bit of research on the real characters such as The Countess of Warwick, The Churchills, and especially the British Royals. I found that historical information can be quite fascinating and entertaining.

I do wish Robin Paige would write at least one more book, perhaps centered around Bishop's Keep (since that's where the series began) and tie up any loose ends to give a finality to Kate & Charles settling down to a more sedate and less eventful life together.

Thank you for a delightful series filled with exceptional characters, wonderful locations, and incredibly entertaining storylines.

[lynda citera]

I recently discovered the Kate and Charles series while on a trip to NYC...happened upon the first book and decided to give it a quick read on the trip home. I was immediately hooked and have now acquired all of the volumes. As an Anglophile with a degree in history, and having visited many of the areas and "stately homes" described in the books, I am very impressed as to the research and accuracy employed...especially fascinated by the way the historical figures blend so well with the imagined. I do hope that after a rest you decide to bring back to us Sir Charles and Lady Kate...they are classics!

[Shannon FOree]

I just happened to pick up one of the Robin Paige books at the library. I was looking for a good mystery, and I have been reading them every since. The public library only has the first 7 so I'm going to see if They can get me the rest to read from a different library. But thanks again for the great stories.

[Linda Geiszler]

I was so saddened by your decision to discontinue the Robin Paige Victorian Mysteries. I do see your point though. I do wish you would write one more, light on the history etc. to let us say good-by. But don't you dare kill them off so there can never be another book. Please! Also I love the Beatrix Potter books. I have always like her books and your books bring her more to life. Thank you and keep up the good work

[Valerie Da SIlva]

I really enjoyed this series and I am disappointed that you have retired Robin Paige. But on the other hand I understand the work that had to go into each book in order to keep the historical character authentic. Nevertheless, I am hoping for a thirteenth book or more
Let's hope a new idea blossoms.

Of course the China Bayles books are just great and I have read every one of them. Thanks for hours of wonderful entertainment.

[John]

Thanks for the Robin Paige series. The amount of research you did on each book was evident from the start, and the books got better and better over the series because of it. I would put that series in the same league as PD James and the Queen of Crime herself, Agatha Christie. Once sales reach a critical mass, I hope you will have no choice but to take the same path as Conan Doyle did in your Dartmoor book. LOL!