Author Karen Frisch writes Regency romance for BelleBooks/ImaJinn. Her love of reading and writing began in childhood when she was bedridden for seven months following surgery for scoliosis. Her short mystery “Three of a Kind” won First Place in Writer’s Digest’s second annual Popular Fiction Awards. A drawing and genealogy enthusiast, she was thrilled to learn that she is a cousin of Edgar Allan Poe removed by six generations and that her great-grandfather ran a haunted tavern in northern England. The author also of two books on genealogy with Turner Publishing, she lives in New England with her husband, their two daughters, and two dogs.
Welcome to my blog, Karen. What is your newest book about?
I’m currently working on a Regency romance entitled His Checkered Record. In it, the heroine is horrified to discover her elderly father has gambled away her future by losing at cards to a gentleman. While Justin Brindley, the Earl of Wynthorpe, has a scandalous reputation, he is in need of a wife and mother for his mischievous 10-year-old daughter. Traveling by coach with the child’s future governess, Tassie Longwood discovers that neither of them has met the earl, and she persuades the governess to switch places with her. But once she settles in at the earl’s Lincolnshire home and grows better acquainted with Justin and Lulu, Tassie is compelled to stay to provide the child with a secure future—and is dismayed to find herself falling in love with the very man she has rejected.
Where did you get your inspiration for this novel?
I’ve always been fascinated by the lives of women in other time periods, particularly the nineteenth century. I let my imagination provide the rest of the story from a grain of an idea, letting the heroine develop as she needed to without my interference.
What kind of research did you do for this book?
I’m always doing some type of research to broaden my scope of knowledge. To me, it’s one of the most fun aspects of writing. For His Checkered Record, I studied the schedule and lifestyle of governesses in the Regency period, the fascinating harvest traditions of Lincolnshire, and typical activities of the English upper classes during that age.
Did you put real experiences from your research in this story?
Having traveled throughout England a few years back, I enjoyed having the chance to set this story in rural Lincolnshire. As for the characters, the mischievous child provided enough fictitious adventures of her own. (
What intrigues you most about writing these stories?
For me, stories begin with a tiny grain of an idea before the plot ventures into a story with endless possibilities. The path to The End is truly a long and winding road. Since I always start with an outline, most of the story is plotted out before I begin writing. It’s the unexpected twists when characters fight the direction I’ve taken that often strengthens the story and makes it more intriguing.
Tell us a bit about your other books.
I have written a number of Christmas novellas for BelleBooks along with the Regency Lady Delphinia’s Deception, a smuggling story set on the Devon coast. I’ve also written two genealogy books, published originally by Ancestry, now by Turner Books. Unlocking the Secrets in Old Photographs offers clues and types of research that are helpful in figuring out who those unidentified ancestors are. Creating Junior Genealogists offers suggestions for activities to encourage children’s interest in their family history. In the near future I hope to release my Victorian mystery Murder Most Civil.
Which of all your characters is your favorite?
My favorite character is probably Henrietta Newell Cobb, Victorian Boston’s aristocratic abolitionist in Murder Most Civil. The city is dear to my heart, and the time period is where my heart lives and my spirit soars. But I also love my Regency heroines in the Christmas novellas. It’s a hard choice!
How did you get started in this genre?
I enjoy reading stories set in time periods before our own, perhaps because the idea of living in the past has always intrigued me. When I was 10 years old, confined to bed for seven months, I developed an intense love of reading, writing, and drawing. My master’s degree focused on English Victorian literature.
When you have time to read, who are some of your favorite authors?
I’m permanently enthralled with M.C. Beaton, both the Agatha Raisin and the Hamish Macbeth mysteries.
I also love Mary Balogh’s Regencies and Harlequin’s Love Inspired line.
Let’s get personal for a moment: Please share with us the most daring thing you’ve ever done.
I’ve done quite a few daring things. The silliest was to take part in a practical joke in which I played a corpse lying beneath a sheet on a hospital gurney (the victim said I had “the deadest looking feet” he’d ever seen). In college I posed as a reporter to meet a semi-pro hockey player I had a crush on. And I ventured onto a busy highway to rescue a mother duck and her ducklings before they reached the first traffic lane.
To learn more about this author, visit her website at KarenFrisch.weebly.com. You’ll find most of her books at this site.
Here are Karen's links:
What’s in a Name –
Lady Delphinia’s Deception –
A Delicate Footing –
Christmas Truce –
Through the Eyes of a Child -
No Room at the Inn -
Creating Junior Genealogists-
Unlocking the Secrets in Old Photographs -
Thank you so much for visiting “Gina’s World of Good”! I wish you many sales!! Karen will have a drawing to give away a copy of her book "LADY DELPHINA'S DECEPTION" to a lucky reader who comments this week! Be sure to leave me your email address when you comment, thank you for visiting.
Be sure to visit next week when author Danielle Thorne visits!
Be sure to visit next week when author Danielle Thorne visits!
Thank you for such a fascinating glimpse into your writing world, Karen. I am sure readers will have lots of questions. We are going to have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteYour blog about Karen was so interesting! I also like Love Inspired books and enjoyed hearing why Karen wrote historical novels. Historical books offer such a challenge to the author. I know Karen's new novel must be very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Ann! Writing historical novels gives me an opportunity to learn more about other time periods while imagining what it must have been like to live with constraints we don't have today. While I'm developing new stories it's fun to put characters in different situations and see which scenarios work best to bring them to life!
DeleteGreat to hear from you, Ann, thanks for stopping in and commenting! Karen is awesome!!! You're a great person and wonderful writing friend. Looking forward to your visit, too!! :-)
DeleteThank you for introducing me to a new author, Gina. This book sounds so intriguing, Karen. I would love to interview you on my blog, as well. I know my followers would enjoy this type of book. You can email me at lwc@lindaweaverclarke.com. Gina is such a good friend and I'm glad to read about another author.
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you, Linda! I would be delighted to be interviewed on your blog. I'll get in touch with you by email. Thanks again!
DeleteDear Linda, thank you so much for visiting and commenting today! Karen is awesome! Great of you to stop in :-) I'm very blessed with you as an amazing friend and colleague! Nice to hear from you, as always xoxox Thank you again Blessings, Gina
DeleteKaren: I like the Regency period. I've read four of Jane Austen's novels and really enjoy that time period. Your story sounds in the taste of Austen's stories. I also liked your comment about characters taking a different route than you intended. I have an unpublished novel like that. Also, your genealogy work sounds very interesting. I have hundreds of photos and wish I could identify some of the folks my mother snapped. Many I do know. Gina, thank you for more thought provoking questions to bring out Karen's work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Larry! Unidentified photos are tricky, but if you have pictures taken outdoors you can sometimes use clues within the photos to help identify them. If there are landmarks you can connect with a given ancestor (churches, recognizable buildings, landmarks, etc.) or pictures taken in another country, you can sometimes find a clue to their identity if you have information about their lives. Knowing that Ebenezer Smith attended Edgehill Congregational Church, for instance, can help if you find among your collection a picture of the church with individuals standing outside it. Because of that, casual photos can often be easier to identify than studio portraits. I hope that helps (in case you don't have a few elderly relatives left to help you identify them). :)
DeleteKaren: Yes, I must talk to Rachel who is 91 or 92 who can identify the people in group photos. I have two photos of a group of people, my grandfather and great grandfather among others. A girl wrote on a black board the date in 1904. Dad was born later that year. A deceased cousin identified a few people whom I didn't know. What luck. They had been to church with the dress casual in one photo and Sunday best in the other. Yes, the shadows can tell but the alarm clock isn't readable in the photo. Thank you for the photo info.
ReplyDeleteHi Larry, thank you so much for commenting on Karen's post. As always, you have such salient comments! Love your point of view. Hope you find out more about your photos -- please let me know and keep me posted. Thank you, Larry :-)
DeleteKaren,
ReplyDeleteI haven't read your books but definitely will start. Your books look like wonderful reads. I love Regency romances.
Thanks, Gina, for having Karen on your awesome blog!
Dear Diane, thank you so much for taking the time to post on the blog this week - thought you would enjoy these books!
DeleteGreat to hear from you.
Thanks again! ((( ))) Gina
What an interesting interview, and it sounds as though Karen has the perfect background (and ancestors)for her books. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteHi Regina... Karen is a very nice addition to your blog tour..I want to read her new book as I have not previously read any of her books... Cheers!!!!
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