Lise Horton!

Lise, I’ll be getting a signed copy of BOUND TO PLEASE to you ASAP. Please confirm your snail mail with me at Hope@HopeTarr.com.

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments. This was fun!

Per research, again, I’ll be posting tidbits at Word Wenches on August 18th.

Anyway, yes, I’d love to hear more about your research into the job. I have Albert Pierrepoint’s biography, just haven’t read it yet. But it’s a fascinating topic.

I’m glad you like my veggie hero. And from the land of haggis, no less.

Jack is an herbalist as well as an animal whisperer, so despite his ‘profession,’ it made sense to me that he would be a vegetarian. When the book first came out, a lot of animal welfare groups e.g., The Doris Day Animal League ran spotlights on it in their membership pubs because of that. It was pretty cool.

Signing off for the night. I’ll be announcing the winner of BOUND TO PLEASE here and on my blog at http://www.HopeTarr.com/blog anon…as in tomorrow.

Hope

Jack is an herbalist as well as an animal whisperer, so despite his ‘profession,’ it made sense to me that he would be a vegetarian. When the book first came out, a lot of animal welfare groups e.g., The Doris Day Animal League ran spotlights on it in their membership pubs because of that. It was pretty cool.

Susanna, love the enthusiasm. And of course, press that buy button anytime you want.

OK, so no takers on “toe the line.” None? Ya sure?

Answer: Hanging someone for the state involved some fairly sophisticated calculations: height and weight, to be sure, but also body mass e.g., big, husky, and all muscle versus big, husky and “squidgy.” It mattered.

A good executioner–and Jack is very good–would take all those factors into account in calculating The Perfect Drop. He would then draw a line in chalk over the gallows trap. The condemned would be instructed to line his toes up to that line, exactly that line, if he wanted a clean end of it, hence, “Toe the Line!”

FYI, I’ll be blogging on MY LORD JACK, my next Carina release, A ROGUE’S PLEASURE, and “Crime & Punishment in Scotland and Britain in the Days o’ Yore” at Word Wenches (www.WordWenches.com) on August 18th.