Of Sword and Shadow officially releases today! I’m thrilled to share this medieval adventure with you. Early readers have loved … More
Category: History
A Personal Connection to WWI
When I started work on The Spider and the Sparrow, I began a ton of research about World War One. … More
Pictures of the Great War
I had a pleasant surprise while researching my latest novel, The Spider and the Sparrow. It turns out that a … More
100 years ago today . . .
100 years ago today, a sickly young man with a mission wandered the streets of Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip, a young … More
Star-Spangled Summer Adventure
If you look hard enough, you can always find an anniversary for an interesting historical event, but 2014 seems to … More
The 70th Anniversary of D-day
Seventy years ago today, American, British, and Canadian troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France in the largest amphibious invasion … More
How to Code Messages Like a WWII Spy
This blog post will take you through the steps of encoding a message using double transposition, just like British and … More
I have a new title, and a map
The title for my third novel was finalized last month: Deadly Alliance. I like it. A lot. No, it wasn’t one of … More
Things not to do if you’re an agent in a Nazi-occupied country
This past summer I read a nonfiction book about several British agents who went into France during WWII as part … More
A Post About Alexanders
This blog post revolves around two very different subjects that have come up for me this month. Their connection: the name … More
The 69th Anniversary of D-day
Last year I posted some pictures my sister took of the WWII memorial in Washington DC. Now that another anniversary … More
Happy Memorial Day and some Sworn Enemy Links
Memorial Day I know it’s not Memorial Day yet, but the weekend is about to start, and I expect most … More
Sweeney Todd, Sherlock Holmes, and Stephen Ambrose
A friend of mine asked me about the name of one of my characters, Sherlock. He’s in Sworn Enemy, a … More
What’s in a Name? Part Two: Commander Courage and Other Names That Border on Perfection
I recently read an article about the first naval battle of Narvik, which took place in April 1940 between British … More
What’s in a Name? Part One: Paulus and Paullus
Seventy years ago today, on February 2, 1943, the last German troops in Stalingrad surrendered. The fight for Stalingrad was … More
My New Maps
I didn’t have a map for my first novel, Espionage. Most of the novel took place in Calais, France, so … More
Remembrance Day
Last weekend a good friend went to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for their Remembrance Day activities. She posted these pictures on facebook, … More
Happy Veterans’ Day!
I’m having this post at 11 in the morning, French time (at least according to the time zone chart I … More
Research Find: Why you shouldn’t tell the newspapers if you’re breaking someone’s code or tracking their satellite phone
In 1927, the government of Great Britain was looking for a reason to break off diplomatic relations with the Soviet … More
Research Finds: Unusual Stiches and a Little-known Battle
One thing about writing historical fiction—you have to do a lot of research. Good thing I like learning new things. … More