Anna Lee Huber is the author of the new novel A Bitter Cut, the latest in her Lady Darby Mystery series. She lives in Indiana.
Q: A Bitter Cut is the 14th in your Lady Darby Mystery series--how do you think Lady Kiera Darby has changed from book one until now?
A: In the first book of the Lady Darby Mysteries (The Anatomist’s Wife), Kiera was, in many senses, hiding from the world. She had reached her darkest moment and withdrawn from the world after enduring an abusive marriage and the scandal surrounding the discovery of her involvement with her late anatomist husband’s work.
She has to find the strength to crawl back into the light and stand up for herself and those she loves, and the books that follow chronicle that journey. By A Bitter Cut, she is a very different woman, and yet still vulnerable to the same insecurities.
Each book in the series centers on a particular mystery, but the series is truly about her ongoing evolution and the transformative power of love and acceptance, and it has been an absolute joy to write.
Q: What inspired the plot of this new mystery?
A: The plot for A Bitter Cut was inspired by several historical aspects.
The first is the continuing industrial revolution and the fact that self-made men were suddenly allowed to amass great wealth—enough to rival the aristocracy's wealth and power, which had previously controlled Britain. Their encroachment was not entirely welcomed.
The second was the numerous important bills that were up for debate in parliament in 1833, including the Slavery Abolition Act and revisions to the Factory Act.
The third was the development of oil of vitriol (sulfuric acid) and its use in a number of vicious acts to maim and or kill rivals, both in business and in personal affairs of the heart.
The fact that the father of the woman Kiera’s brother hopes to wed is a self-made mill owner and industrialist who manufactures oil of vitriol and is lobbying against the changes to the Factory Act allows all of these facts to intersect in one terrible crime.
Q: How do you research this series, and have you learned anything that especially surprised you?
A: Having written in this era for some time, part of what I draw on in my research is accumulated knowledge from past books and research texts addressing issues of the time. I then do spot research about particular aspects of my chosen plot. Newspapers and parliamentary records proved vital to this book.
I was surprised by the lack of justice for many victims of oil-of-vitriol attacks in this era. Rarely did the victims die, but they were left with horrific, disfiguring injuries and often forced to withdraw from society, while many times their attackers were given little but a slap on the wrist. This was especially true if the attacker was of genteel birth and believed to have been justified in their actions.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from A Bitter Cut?
A: As always, I hope readers are entertained and drawn into Kiera and her family’s continually evolving world, but I also hope they come away with a deeper appreciation for how social class does not dictate character.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am currently writing Lady Darby Book 15, which will release next summer (in 2027), and editing my Gothic multi-timeline suspense stand-alone novel, which will also be published in 2027.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: You can find links to all of my social media, as well as series maps, videos of interviews, newsletter sign-up, and contests on my website – www.AnnaLeeHuber.com.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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