by Garrick Jones

I write LGBTQ historical fiction, mostly with some sort of relationship running through the story. I’d be lying if I said I wrote romances in the traditional meaning of the m/m romance genre. However, there’s always a beating heart running through my stories, and not more than one or two men finding each other one way or another.

An Edwardian theatre murder mystery, a collection of stories of men in love and at war, a cross-cultural timeless story of connection between two men and the land they live on, a WW2 spy thriller series, and a 1950s pulp-fiction style private investigator series: those are the sorts of books I write.

As you probably know, you can’t write historical fiction without research, and I’m lucky in that I love research. Both my post-graduate degrees have been research-based and to me it’s just as much fun doing the homework as fleshing out my fellas, and putting the words on the page.

The idea for the Servants of the Crown grew from a seed of an idea; the mere mention in an article about the waxing and waning popularity of Queen Victoria, and which suggested how different the country would have been had one of her father’s brothers actually produced a legitimate male heir after the demise of George IV’s daughter, Princess Charlotte, who died in childbirth, leaving no legitimate heir to the throne.

What if, what if … two short words that are the impetus to any writer’s story. What if, indeed, there had been a legitimate child born before Queen Victoria and whose existence had been hushed up, known only to a very few, issue of a morganatic marriage between a royal prince and a commoner, later annulled by a furious George III?

That’s the basis of the story of a group of six men, friends since adolescence, some high born, some low, being tasked to uncover a claque of disaffected nobles and industrialists, fuming at what they think is interference by Prince Albert, the Queen’s consort, and who wish to overthrow the monarchy and install this first-born male upon the throne.

I had the fun of Cork, as they say, researching the life of gay men in mid-Victorian England, many of them in the same situation as men during the great depression of the early 1930s, earning money to feed their families by dropping their trousers with an agreeable man for the promise of remuneration.

In an age when men of a certain class married for reasons other than love, Victorian marriages were often business arrangements, and men kept mistresses for love and affection while maintaining a respectable Christian profile in society with a wife at their side. However, not a few of the mistresses were male, and more often than not, also strong virile men able to supply their patrons with the only sexual activity that could not be provided by a woman … use your imagination.

There’s quite a bit in the literature if you care to look. Even reading contemporary spurious, populist reports of Queen Victoria’s son, Prince Albert Victor, who was supposed to have been caught out in an upper-class male brothel—far more genteel than the usual Molly Houses that existed at the time—can reveal what actually went on in these luxurious bordellos.

There’s a general perception [rolls eyes] that homosexuality somehow disappeared between the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans and re-emerged in the 1960s with the first real gay awareness movements, coinciding with the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in many countries—the UK, for example, in 1967. However, whenever there’s a need for specific sexual activity outside the marriage bed, there’s always a willing market only too happy to supply it—not to mention the myriads of enthusiastic amateurs keen to satisfy those needing something different.

In my story, Mrs. Hedger’s well-appointed house for gentlemen of discernment, staffed with handsomely endowed men in their twenties, is a meeting place for activities and for people who serve to advance the plot of this exciting spy-thriller.

Amazon Link—Servants of the Crown: The Turkish Pretender

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. A new episode went up this week

You can use this link to purchase the book. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the Amazon link. You can also click here to purchase the book.

After a thirty year career as a professional opera singer, performing as a soloist in opera houses and in concert halls all over the world, I took up a position as lecturer in music in Australia in 1999, at the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music, which is now part of CQUniversity.
Brought up in Australia, between the bush and the beaches of the Eastern suburbs, I retired in 2015 and now live in the tropics, writing, gardening, and finally finding time to enjoy life and to re-establish a connection with who I am after a very busy career on the stage and as an academic.
I write mostly historical gay fiction. The stories are always about relationships and the inner workings of men; sometimes my fellas get down to the nitty-gritty, sometimes it’s up to you, the reader, to fill in the blanks.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.