E.Guest Chats with Amanda Quick about THE RIVER KNOWS

ELIZABETH. GUEST: Your new hardcover, THE RIVER KNOWS, is in stores as we speak. Please tell us about it.

AMANDA QUICK: This is historical romantic-suspense and the setting is Victorian England but I'd like to make it clear up front that this is NOT an Arcane Society novel.

ELIZABETH GUEST: (nodding) You did warn us that not every book would be an Arcane Society book.

AMANDA QUICK: Right. But if you enjoy my kind of characters (EG: I love AQ's characters!) you'll probably like them with or without the psychic twist. In THE RIVER KNOWS, Louisa Bryce is a lady with a little secret in her past.

ELIZABETH GUEST: Little secret? She killed a man.

AMANDA QUICK: Details, details. Unfortunately, it turns out braining a man with a poker is the sort of secret that can utterly ruin a lady in Victorian high society.

ELIZABETH GUEST: Picky, picky. People can be so small and mean-spirited.

AMANDA QUICK: Sad but true. Louisa was obliged to change her name and take up a career as a secret reporter for a newspaper that thrives on gossip and scandal among the elite.

ELIZABETH GUEST: I see things haven't changed all that much in supposedly exclusive social circles.

AMANDA QUICK True. Louise soon learns that when it comes to scandal, no one is more of an expert than sexy Anthony Stalbridge. Rumor has it he killed his fiancée when he discovered that she was having an affair with another man. But when you're as rich and powerful as Anthony, a little gossip doesn't hurt. You still get invitations to the best parties in town. You also get pressure from your family to find a nice girl and settle down.

Here's a little taste of THE RIVER KNOWS. It takes place the morning after Louisa and Anthony share their first passionate encounter. Let's just say things did not go transcendently well...

“What are you doing here?” Louisa demanded.

He took her arm. “A man who does not call upon the lady the morning after cannot call himself a gentleman.”

“The morning after what?” she asked, going quite blank.

His mouth twisted ruefully. “I am crushed, Louisa. Surely you cannot have forgotten our interlude in the Lorrington conservatory so soon?”

Her breath caught in her throat. She could feel the heat flooding her cheeks.

“Oh, that,” she said in a half strangled voice.

“Continue on in that fashion, my sweet, and I will sink straight into the ground under the burden of my humiliation.”

“You must not blame yourself, sir,” she said briskly. “I have done a great deal of thinking about the incident and I see now that I must bear the majority of the blame.”

“Because you did not warn me that you lacked experience in that particular enterprise?”

She glowered. “No, for expecting too much from the business, itself. I fear I placed too much credence in the glowing descriptions of the novelists and the sensation plays All that lovely nonsense about exquisite rapture and transcendent passion. I should have known that the reality would fall somewhat short.”

“In my opinion, you would do well to withhold judgment on the matter until you have conducted a few more experiments," he said.

“Hmm.”

He tightened his grip on her arm. “And I must insist that those experiments be conducted with me. Now, then, we have another problem.”

“What?”

“My mother has invited you to tea tomorrow afternoon.”

She stopped short, utterly aghast. “Your mother? She cannot possibly want to meet me.”

“It was inevitable. She has heard the gossip about us.”

“But we are having an illicit affair. Mothers never want to entertain the women with whom their sons are conducting illicit liaisons.”

"You don’t know my mother.”

ELIZABETH GUEST: Something tells me that tea with Stalbridge's mother is going to be a bit awkward. (Rubbing her hands together.) How utterly delicious! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the latest AQ. My fellow readers, THE RIVER KNOWS is available at your local bookstore or you can purchase it online at any of the links below. Enjoy!