I have a lot of friends and family who claim to hate history.
I don’t believe them.
Okay, maybe they hated studying history. Depending on how it’s presented, it can be dry or just a succession of dates to be memorized. Maybe there are certain eras in history they dislike. I can understand that too. But I don’t believe they hate history because each one has provided me with a wealth of historical information I might never have found elsewhere.
Yes, one of those history haters eyes lit up when he regaled me with the details of fishing, line dating back to the first person to ever try an alternative to bare-handed fishing. Before my eyes glazed over, I learned everything I needed to know about braided fishing line in the 19th century—and the 18th century, and the 17th century. The thing is, he doesn’t consider himself a historian, he just loves to fish and every time he had a chance to learn something about his hobby, he did. 
I don’t know how much time I might have wasted researching Victorian hunting parties if one of my history-hating hobbyist friends hadn’t informed me that when someone is hunting birds, it is not called hunting, but shooting. Thus, I needed to research Victorian shooting parties. Since he knew that, I took a chance and asked if he’d ever been part of a shooting party. Jackpot! I got a first-hand account of a traditional shoot. I know this because once I was armed with the proper terminology, I was able to do the follow-up research. I had similar experiences talking with friends about archery and golf.
By now, you should have the idea I know nothing about sports, and you’d be right. However, my third Countess of Harleigh mystery, A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Murder, takes place at a country house party, where sporting activity abounds. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by people who, while they might hate history, (I still don’t believe them) they know the history of their sport inside and out.
Book three won’t release until 2020, but in the meantime you can enjoy A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder, and in June 2019, A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder.
