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Literary Friday: Excerpt from The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny With a Stranger

Friday, December 1, 2017

Happy Literary Friday, My Lovelies!  Wow, I can't believe it's December 1st already!  Today I have a treat for you: an excerpt from Victoria Alexander's latest romance novel.

The cover is stunning, and it appears that the setting is Venice: an added bonus to the romance I'm sure!





The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny With a Dashing Stranger by Victoria Alexander 
Excerpt 1:

It had once occurred to Lady Wilhelmina Bascombe that she would no doubt die with a laugh on her lips and a glass of champagne in her hand. Now Willie suspected she would meet her maker with little more than watered wine and an equally weak smile. It was a sad state of af­fairs for a woman who, alongside her late husband, had not so long ago been considered the cream of society’s fast, young, fashionable set. Still, there was nothing to be done about it. One couldn’t go backward after all. One could only bravely lift one’s chin and charge ahead.

“So you see Aunt Poppy—” Willie adopted her bright­est smile “—I have decided that a change of scenery would be ideal. I was thinking the Mediterranean. The south of France perhaps. Or possibly Italy. Or, oh, I don’t know, Venice?”

“Venice is not on the Mediterranean, dear,” Aunt Poppy, Mrs. Persephone Fitzhew-Wellmore—who was not her aunt at all but rather her godmother—said in a serene manner. “It’s on the Adriatic.”

“Adriatic, Mediterranean—” Willie waved off the comment “—one vast body of water is as good as an­other.”

“Is it?” Poppy took a sip of her tea and studied Willie with a sharp eye that belied her advanced years.

“I should think so, yes. After all, the idea is to move on with my life.” Willie heaved a heartfelt sigh that was rather more sincere than she had expected. “Lay George and the past completely to rest, that sort of thing.”

“Something you find difficult to do at home here in England?”

“You understand how these things are, Poppy. Life here is overshadowed by everything George and I shared together. Why, even our friends are constant reminders of what we had. And what I have lost.” There was no need to add that she had seen nothing of those friends in the two years since George’s untimely death in an ab­surd boating accident. Oh, certainly they had been most solicitous at first but it did seem their concern—as well as their friendship—vanished the moment George had been laid neatly to rest.

Still, a certain lack of friendly overtures might well be expected as Willie had disappeared from society after George’s death, fleeing to Wales and the home of her late grandmother’s companion. Dear Lady Plumdale, Margaret, had welcomed her with open and loving arms and Willie had stayed until a few months ago, contem­plating her loss and what now lay ahead of her. Which in and of itself was shocking as Willie had never espe­cially contemplated anything. Still, when one has lost a husband in an absurd boating accident a certain amount of contemplation is probably to be expected. What was completely unexpected were the revelations Willie dis­covered about her life, some of them brought about by an unceasing barrage of correspondence from solicitors and debt collectors.

Willie truly had no idea that she and George had ex­isted primarily on credit in recent years. And really who would have imagined such a thing? After all, he was Viscount Bascombe of the Suffolk Bascombes, an old and venerable family. Willie had thought her husband quite a dashing sort and life with George was never dull. Indeed, it was great fun and filled with adventure and amusement. They never seemed to pause for so much as a moment between house parties given by what then were friends, masked balls and flamboyant dinners, races and hunts and all manner of entertainment. She now wondered if the ultimate purpose of their life of fun and frolic had been the avoidance of more serious matters. And really one does not have to contemplate the grave aspects of life—annoying details like finances and responsibility—if one never pauses in pursuit of a jolly good time. And it had been fun.

After George’s death, however, the ongoing party that was their life together had ground to a halt and it was time to pay the piper, as they say. A piper who had ap­parently not been paid for quite some time. Pity Willie had few funds with which to do that.


Poor Willie sounds like she's in a pickle!  Do you want to keep reading?  I do!

Please visit Victoria Alexander's website because it's a lot of fun.  She has a wicked sense of humor!



Victoria Alexander and her bearded collies Louie and Reggie


Thanks to TLC Book Tours for sharing the excerpt.  




Until next time...

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill





4 comments

  1. Hi RJ, yes, this is a beautiful cover for this weeks book. I haven't read it but I enjoyed reading the excerpt. Sure hope you have a wonderful weekend. Sorry your MacKC tote hasn't arrived. Let me know when it does, I know you will love it. You can use it for so many things!

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  2. I love it! I'll bet there's plenty of adventure coming up for Willie:)
    Thanks for sharing this.

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  3. Thanks for featuring this excerpt for the tour!

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  4. That's quite a title and cover! Is it rated R?? 😂

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I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

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