Happy Saturday! Through September 19th (culminating with a list of winners), I have the privilege of sharing mini interviews with nearly all of the 2020 ACFW Carol Award Finalists! Today I’m starting with Abigail Wilson and her Carol Award finalist book Midnight on the River Grey! You can check out a list of all the finalists HERE.
FYI – There will be 2-3 posts per day, and a series-long giveaway, so make sure you catch them all!
Abigail Wilson combines her passion for Regency England with intrigue and adventure to pen historical mysteries with a heart. A Registered Nurse, chai tea addict, and mother of two crazy kids, Abigail fills her spare time hiking the National Parks, attending her daughter’s diving meets, and curling up with a great book. Abigail was a 2020 HOLT Medallion Merit Finalist, a 2020 Carol Award Finalist, a 2017 Fab Five contest winner, and Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence Finalist. She is a cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and currently lives in Dripping Springs, Texas, with her husband and children. Visit her at www.acwilsonbooks.com
MIDNIGHT ON THE RIVER GREY
GENRE: Inspirational Regency Mystery/Suspense Romance
PUBLISHER: Thomas Nelson
RELEASE DATE: February 5, 2019
PAGES: 480
In this Gothic Regency romance Rebecca fears she has developed feelings for the man she swore to see hanged, her brother’s murderer.
After her brother’s mysterious death, Rebecca Hunter vows to expose the man she believes responsible: Mr. Lewis Browning—known by the locals as the Midnight Devil and by Rebecca as her new guardian.
Summoned to his reclusive country estate to await her London season, Rebecca plans her own secret investigation among the darkened corridors of the mysterious Greybourne Hall. Yet Lewis Browning is not as she once imagined, and his motivation is horribly unclear. Recurrent nightmares and Rebecca’s restless feelings are further complicated by the shadow of her mother’s prior descent into madness and wondering if she, too, will follow the same heartbreaking path.
Even as midnight rides, strange injuries, and further murders lead back to Mr. Browning, Rebecca can’t ignore the subtle turn of her heart. Has she fallen for the man she swore would pay for her brother’s death? And moreover, can she trust him with her uncertain future?
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Hi Abigail! Welcome back to the blog!
Q: How has Christian fiction impacted you personally?
Abigail: I’ve been an avid reader of Christian fiction for a great many years, ever since I first picked up Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke. But I don’t think it was until I’d had my first baby that I came to truly connect with the genre in a deeper way. During those difficult days and nights, I realized I needed not only the escape of story but the inspirational aspect only Christian fiction provides in an otherwise noisy marketplace.
Thus, Christian fiction became a passion of mine that took root first as a reader then an author. It’s amazing to look back at the beginning when I first started writing and see how God’s hand was so clearly at work in my life. Through the Christian writing community, I’ve been blessed with fellowship, encouragement, and purpose. I cannot imagine my life without the joys and hope Christian fiction has brought to it.
Carrie: I can’t imagine my life without it either!
Q: When you’re not writing your next award-nominated book 😉 who are your fave authors to read & why?
Abigail: There are so many brilliant authors I adore from different genres, but Regency romances continue to be my all-time favorites. Julie Klassen, Sarah Ladd, and Michelle Griep have taken the Regency genre and elevated it in so many wonderful ways. I absolutely never miss one of their books.
Carrie: Yes! They are marvelous authors!
Q: Which of your characters has really stretched you as a writer?
Abigail: Charity Halliwell, the heroine of my upcoming book, The Vanishing at Loxby Manor was definitely the most challenging to bring to life as a writer. Early on in the development process, I came to realize she’d suffered a life altering incident—that she’d survived sexual assault. And thus throughout the writing process I felt keenly the responsibility of bringing her story to the page in not only an authentic way but a tactful one. With prayer, research, and personal reflection Charity Halliwell eventually emerged, and I’m so glad I got the chance to tell her story.
Carrie: It sounds like this will be a very powerful story!
Q: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve googled lately while researching a book?
Abigail: As a mystery and Regency writer I’ve googled quite a bit, from poisons to the decomposition of bodies, to the rules of dueling and extensive forms of address.
This week, however, the oddest thing I’ve googled is how exactly to hypnotize a person. I’ve been doing research on mesmerism, which was the Regency precursor to what later became hypnosis. It’s been fascinating to learn about what they called magnetism and the crazy ideas people held at that time, which have little to do with what we know of hypnosis now. I even discovered that during the late 1700’s Benjamin Franklin of all people was a part of a French study that looked into and disproved the scientific basis of mesmerism as they practiced it.
Carrie: oh that does sound fascinating!
Q: What is one of your favorite quotes from Midnight on the River Grey & why do you love it?
Abigail: “I followed the curious intensity behind those dark blue eyes and the moment his gaze changed. Suddenly, my world felt terribly small, like I’d experienced merely a handful of what it had to offer.”
Midnight on the River Grey is as much a murder mystery as it is complicated by the heart. I love this particular quote because it occurs at a moment in the book when Rebecca Hunter is discovering that the world is so much bigger than the sheltered life she’s lived up until that point, and the path to happiness and truth may not be the solitary road she’s previously imagined for herself, reframing not only the anger she clings to but her thoughts on the man she’s spent so long blaming for it.
Carrie: ahhhh i love it!!
I am offering one reader any TWO books (print copies) that finaled in the 2020 Carol Awards! (open internationally as long as Book Depository ships to your address) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
What about you? What makes you want to read the mystery/suspense/thriller Carol Award finalist Midnight on the River Grey by Abigail Wilson & what did you enjoy about Abigail’s answers?
Midnight on the River Grey sounds fascinating! I can’t imagine falling in love with the person who supposedly killed one’s brother.
Ooh, sounds good! Regency romances can be so fun to read!
The book sounds great! I wonder if Abigail was able to hypnotize anybody?
Regency mixed with mystery sounds like a great combination. This also sounds like a good prospect for a BBC movie. 🥰📚
Sounds good. New author for me.
This author is a local one for me and I’ve loved all of her books, most especially her debut, In the Shadow of Croft Towers. It sounds like some of my favorite authors are hers as well. I was surprised at the strange things that she has Googled, especially the decomposition of dead bodies.
Such a great book!
A murder mystery complicated by the heart! Sounds intriguing. I love a good regency but I don’t know that I’ve really read any that are mysteries/suspense-based.
The combination of Gothic and Regency romance is a big draw for me. My TBR list is getting way too long, but Midnight on the River Grey is not a book to overlook.
A murder mystery in a Regency setting…sounds great to me.
Sounds like a great read. Love the cover.
Loved learning about author and books.
Would love to read and review books in print copy
It is interesting what all you might research when writing a book such as poisons or decomposing bodies. I never thought about the research part much.
I loved reading all of Abigail’s books. Very Gothic
I read my first Abigail Wilson book this year, and have been itching to go back and read her previous titles! I really enjoyed Masquerade at Middlecrest Abbey.
I would love to read this book, I enjoy gothic romances.
This was a fantastic book. She’s one of my go-to authors for suspense.
I do enjoy reading Gothic Regency romance.
I’m glad I found Abigail Wilson’s books! They are so good! And her favorite authors are great choices too. 😀
I always love a good Gothic Regency romance! I like what Abigail had to say about the impact of Christian fiction.
Interesting combination – regency and mystery!
I really liked the blurb. It sounds like a really interesting book. Thank you for sharing.
Though you are a new to me author I look forward to reading this book. I’m sure it’s as good as anything our favorite authors, Julie Klassen, Sarah Ladd, and Michelle Griep have ever written. Good luck with the new book.
You are a new author to me.
This sounds really good.
A Regency mystery sounds fabulous!
Although you are a new author to me, I can’t wait to read your books!
Oh my goodness, that cover! I love gothic novels and her interview bits and pieces, from the other authors she reads to to Google search topics has convinced me to add this to my TBR.
I love Abigail’s books! Her mysteries are so fun to read!
I haven’t read any books by Abigail yet. I can’t wait to read this one–it sounds so intriguing!