August 25, 2014

You Can Bank on It! Guest Post by Liza O’Connor

You can bank on it!

The formations of banks in England began in the 17^th century (1694) when Parliament created the Bank of England as a source of funding defense spending.

Modern checks or cheques can be traced to Banker Lawrence Child in 1762. The use of checks quickly brought the need for clearing facilities, security investments and of, course, overdraft protection. By 1893, many of Xavier’s clients pay by check for his services.

Two immigrant families (Rothchild and Barings) formed Merchant banks that catered to international trading. Due to Britain’s world dominance in trading, both families became very wealthy and soared into society.

The unfortunate Lady Anne that Vic rescues in The Troublesome Apprentice is a Rothchild, albeit far removed from the source of Rothchild power. It is no doubt why Lord Conrad had Chesterfield make her a prostitute serving an entire club of men. Naturally the other branches of the family would be horrified and cut all ties with her, thus leaving her without their potential protection.

The 19^th century brought forth truly National banks with multiple branches in the first half of the century. Thus, when Vic witnesses a crime committed at a branch office of a bank, you can rest assured they existed and poor Vic wasn’t drunk from her sip of brandy she had taken just before the crime occurred.

In 1866 and 1878, two banks collapsed causing a confidence crisis in banking. As a result, bankers began to take accounting and record keeping very seriously. Huge bureaucracies formed requiring a board of directors and a great deal of supervision over the accounting clerks. If Vic had chosen to go into banking as originally planned, given her time at Oxford, she would have probably spent a year as a clerk, learning the process and then moved into a supervisor role. It would have been a very dull occupation and she would have hated it. Thank goodness Xavier offered her a job as his secretary with the promise to not to fire her for three months.

I fear I would have been uninspired to write her story if she had gone into banking. Instead, Vic becomes a sleuth and never have I had more fun writing a story than this series.

The Adventures of

Xavier & Vic

–

Book 1

The Troublesome Apprentice

By Liza O’Connor

∞

Cases to be Resolved:

The Key to Aunt Maddy’s Death

The Missing Husband of Mrs. Wimple

The Disappearing Scarlet Nun

The Clever Butcher’s Wife

The Rescue of Lady Anne

While investigating the death of a friend and client, Maddy Hamilton, Xavier Thorn (reputed to be the greatest sleuth in England) is greatly impressed with Maddy’s nephew, Victor, and offers him a job as his secretary. Aware of Xavier’s history of firing secretaries, Victor garners a promise that for three months he cannot be fired. Vic then proceeds, in Xavier’s view, to be cheeky and impertinent at every turn. Xavier endures the impudent pup because Victor is most skilled in extracting the truth from clients and intuiting facts with little evidence to assist.

As they solve a string of cases, Xavier discovers a few more important details about his troublesome apprentice, such as her true gender, and the realization that she has awakened his long dormant heart.

Vic sighed with relief upon sight of the Remington in Xavier’s office. Her science professor at Oxford had declared her handwriting illegible and suggested she learn to type. Instead of taking insult, she’d investigated the myriad of typing machines currently available and settled on the same one Xavier had chosen.

She had just finished retyping the third letter when Xavier’s hands settled on her shoulders and he leaned forward to study her work. He remained bare-chested and in his silk sleeping pants and smelled wonderfully masculine, a mixture of musk and tobacco.

“Did I give you permission to enter my office?” he asked, clearly in a better mood, despite his provoking question.

“Implicitly you did, for you told me to retype the letter and, since you possess the only machine in the office, one can reasonably presume permission to enter the room it resides in order to complete your request.” Vic stopped talking because his hands remained on her shoulders and they caused a stirring within her. When he did not counter-challenge her observation, she continued. “Now, if you will give me the combination to your safe, I will retrieve the checkbook, deposit slips, and money required to complete the other tasks.”

He laughed outright while his hands encircled her neck as if he planned to strangle her. “Not bloody likely.” He loosened his grip, but did not release her. “I understand your need of the checkbook and deposit slips, but would you care to explain your need to pilfer my money?”

“We are out of stamps.”

“Ah…a false assumption. If you had checked my desk drawer, you would have found the necessary stamps.” He returned his hands to her shoulders.

She turned and frowned at him, trying to ignore his naked chest and focus on his sparkling eyes and beautiful hawk nose. “I would have expected you to keep your desk drawer locked.”

“Right you are, and you will not receive a key to that either.”

“Perhaps you could remove the stamps from your drawer and give them to my care, since I have need of them and you do not.”

He retracted his warm hands from her shoulders and a chill settled in their absence. After making a great fuss over opening the drawer, he presented her with stamps, placing them into her hand. “Do not lose them.”

She laughed at him as she rose. “Are you always so obliging in the mornings? I would have thought otherwise.”

“I seem to find myself in better spirits than normal,” he admitted. “No doubt due to your early arrival.”

The Troublesome Apprentice

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I’m tired of telling my proper bio. So you get the improper bio.

Liza O’Connor was raised by feral cats, which explains a great deal, such as why she has no manners, is always getting in trouble, and doesn’t behave like a proper author and give you a proper bio.

She is highly unpredictable, both in real life and her stories, and presently is writing humorous romances. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.

Mostly humorous books by Liza:

Saving Casey – Old woman reincarnates into troubled teen’s body. (Half funny/half traumatizing)

Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. There’s a ghost cat too. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)

A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)

Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.

Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.

Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.

Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.