Brenda Joyce’s Francesca Cahill Novels, Part Two

This series is one of the best saga-romances I have ever read.  Rich with character, beautifully written protagonists, and frought with action, I am so pleased to have stumbled on to the Cahill franchise.

Along with our heroine amateur sleuth cum reformer, Francesca Cahill we fall in love, solve crimes, and in general assist in the many family and friend dramas.

The crimes occurring in turn of the century Gotham demonstrate the strong disparity of wealth our (my) country was built on, exposing the very real dangers of early urban life.

And the characters are so real, so wonderfully portrayed, that they resonate with the reader.  It is an eternal struggle for a writer to paint characters that are multi-dimensional, not flat, and Joyce succeeds beautifully on this score.

Whether you can read one or all of the Cahill novels, you won’t be disappointed by the hist-ro conventions twisted on their ear to provide an exciting, thrilling read.

Having said that, I am disappointed that Joyce’s publisher will not release the final book in the series.  I have included an open letter Joyce has on her website to inspire folks to leave comments here urging Harlequin to publish the final chapter.  If I receive enough comments (as sort of a petition), I will forward on with a letter to the publisher encouraging them to publish the last in the Deadly Series.

Dear Readers,

I would like to thank all of you who have emailed me in the past couple of years inquiring about The Deadly Series. Your support and enthusiasm for the series is overwhelming, and after two years, I’m sad to say that there still is no Deadly in the works. My publisher is simply not interested in publishing the final book at this time. I have repeatedly asked them if I can conclude the series for my readers, but their answer has been “wait”.

I realize that a majority of my readers do not know that I don’t get to write whatever I choose, but what they request I write. My publisher needs to make a profit from their authors and The Deadly Series didn’t sell like my other novels do. I recently spoke to my agent about concluding the series online, but since I do not own the final book, my publisher does, my agent said I could not. So that being said, I do not know when or if there will be a conclusion to the series. My focus now, at the publisher’s request, is historical (The de Warenne Dynasty) and paranormal romance (The Masters Of Time™), both very hot genres in the market right now.

Please understand that I share your frustration and anger with each email I receive. When I announced after Deadly Kisses that I was taking a break from series for a while, I had every intention of finishing this series. I’m saddened that the characters and the readers have been left in limbo. If you wish to voice your concerns with Harlequin, I’m including the email address for their public relations department and also the mailing address for Dianne Moggy – Editor of HQN & Mira below.

Once again I thank you for your continuing and tremendous support of my work. I appreciate it and I also hope that one day Francesca can reappear as I miss her too.

Sincerely,

Ms. Dianne Moggy
c/o of Harlequin Enterprises
225 Duncan Mill Road
Don Mills, ON, M3B 3K9
Canada

Email to: public_relations@harlequin.ca