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Ahoy, mates! All of the Chinese pirates mentioned by name in this book were real, including Chui-A-poo, Shap-ng-tsai, and the powerful female pirate, Ching Shih (one bad-a#$ lady). Also, once really alive, now truly dead, were the vicious American pirate, Eli Boggs, and the British corsair, Henry Mainwaring.
There actually was a three-day battle at Hai Phong. And Chui-A-poo ultimately was betrayed by his own pirates (perhaps because my Earl of Cambrey and Captain Philip Carruthers paid them off). Chui was handed over to the British and then hanged himself in his cell rather than getting sent to Tasmania (which doesn’t say much for Tasmania in the nineteenth century, I suppose).
Marie Antoinette’s gray pearls truly were smuggled to England by an ambassador’s wife and turned into a necklace for a Sutherland bride. If you look it up online, you’ll see how very splendid it is and how hard it was to capture its beauty in words.
Lastly, Leo was a real cat, my beloved cat, an orange Maine Coon with whom I had the honor to live for eighteen years. An excellent companion and greatly missed!
I hope you enjoyed my Victorian-era pirate tale. I had a wonderful time writing it. Now, weigh anchor and away with ye!
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Keep reading to learn about my Rakes on the Run Regency series...