D.E. Ireland's Blog, page 3
January 12, 2015
‘Move Your Blooming Corpse� Cover Revealed
IT’S OFFICIAL! We have our cover for Move Your Blooming Corpse, the second book in our Eliza Doolittle/HenryHiggins series. Since the story kicks off at Royal Ascot and centers on the racing world of the upper crust, our cover naturally shows Eliza and Henry at the racecourse. In fact, the artists at SMP used […]
December 31, 2014
New Year’s Traditions � Hogmanay and First Foot
New Year traditions in Victorian and Edwardian times had some interesting origins. As far back as King Edward III, royalty gave gifts on New Year’s day to their subjects, and also accepted them according to court records. Musical entertainments such as singing and playing carols or folk tunes took place on New Year’s Eve and […]
December 12, 2014
HAVE A MERRY OLDE CHRISTMAS: 10 ENGLISH HOLIDAY TRADITIONS
Not until the fourth century was the birth of Jesus officially celebrated. At that time, Pope Julius I decreed that December 25 should be the Feast of the Nativity. While the Bible never mentions the actual date of Jesus’s birth, late December had been filled with winter solstice festivals for centuries. Church leaders wisely decided […]
November 20, 2014
THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE
The West End theater in London � where Eliza Dolittle and Henry Higgins visit a performance of Hamlet in our book, Wouldn’t It Be Deadly – is officially called Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It received a charter in 1663 from King Charles II, which was necessary after England’s Restoration from the Cromwell regime. While the theater actually faces […]
October 29, 2014
SLEUTHS IN TIME
This is a literary birth announcement for Sleuths in Time, a group of authors who spend their time writing, reading, and enjoying historical mysteries. D. E. Ireland is pleased to be counted among them. Our purpose is not only to promote our own work, but to spread the word about an exciting genre that includes […]
October 14, 2014
Book Celebration With Tea
We all had a loverly time at our “book celebration� tea event in Plymouth on Saturday, October 11th at Sweet Afton Tea Room. The writing team of D.E. Ireland � Meg Mims and Sharon Pisacreta � hosted 18 guests (2 had to miss due to illness). We wanted to celebrate the launch of our mystery […]
September 30, 2014
The Movie Palaces of Britain
THE MOVIE PALACES OF BRITAIN Near the end of Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle wins Henry Higgins� bet by passing herself off as a duchess at an embassy ball. But not even her elongated vowels and newly acquired cultured speech were likely to snag her an invitation to Buckingham Palace. There were other palaces that a 20-year-old […]
September 14, 2014
A Writer’s Dream Come True
All writers dream of the day their book � their baby, the tiny spark that inspired an idea, developed over days, weeks, months, perhaps years, of hard work on an outline, research, plot, characters, rough first draft, polished draft, final revisions, and then a sale, editorial review, copyedits and final galley edits � goes into […]
August 31, 2014
Tea Time
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the D.E. Ireland Tea Seminar. Please take your seats at the table. I am here today to explain what is involved when you attend or host a tea. There are not many tea time etiquette rules, but the rules that do exist are inviolate. So let us begin. No […]
August 20, 2014
British Foods � Part 2
BRITISH FOODS � PART 2 The last A-to-Z food post would make anyone hungry. We can’t stop thinking about the neat terms like Bubble and Squeak, Kippers, Steak and Kidney Pie, Black Pudding, Spotted Dick and the delicious scones we gobble with our tea. Who doesn’t love a good food post? Bring on the bacon […]
