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Amid the treachery of war and the whirl of revelry, no one is what they seem…
Nights filled with lavish balls…lush, bucolic afternoons… Removed to glamorous Brussels in the wake of Napoleon’s escape from Elba, intelligence agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, warily partake in the country’s pleasures. But with the Congress of Vienna in chaos and the Duke of Wellington preparing for battle, the festivities are cut short when Malcolm is sent on a perilous mission that unravels a murderous world of espionage…
No one knows what the demure and respectable Lady Julia Ashton was doing at the château where Malcolm and a fellow British spy were ambushed. But now her enigmatic life has ended in an equally mysterious death. And as the conflict with Napoleon marches toward Waterloo and Brussels surrenders to bedlam, Suzanne and Malcolm plunge into the search for the truth—uncovering an intricate labyrinth of sinister secrets and betrayal within which no one can be trusted…
Kensington Books, March 2012
ISBN-10: 0758254245
ISBN-13: 978-0758254245
Tracy Grant - Novelist 
March 12, 2012 at 6:44 am
[…] new look for Imperial Scandal, thanks to my wonderful web designer Gregory Paris, and there are now Imperial Scandal detail pages. But Vienna Waltz is also on my mind this week. Last Wednesday I got the fun news that […]
March 28, 2012 at 9:17 am
[…] Suzanne and Malcolm's next adventure with Audrey and NancyToday, 27 March, was Imperial Scandal’s official release day. I’m so excited it’s finally out in the world. Excited and a bit […]
April 5, 2012 at 6:49 am
[…] Imperial Scandal has been out for over a week, and I know some people have read it, so I thought this would be a good time to start a discussion thread. All comments and questions welcome (even if you haven’t read the book). To get the discussion going, I thought I’d pose one of the questions from the Reading Group Guide, which I think goes to the heart of the […]
April 16, 2012 at 9:19 am
[…] I was working on the Imperial Scandal revisions, I mentioned that there was a scene my editor asked me to consider changing. It’s a […]
May 4, 2012 at 1:23 am
This coming Monday is the date of my last 3 finals; it’s gonna be pure madness until then. With that said, I’m treating myself to a 3 day reading feast with your books Tracy (no work, no school, zip, zilch, nada, NOTHING until I finish all 5 books)! I’ll probably get a total of 2 hours of sleep, but who needs sleep anyways? *wink*
I haven’t read “Imperial” just yet, so I’m looking forward to reading all the books in chronological order and having a taste of “Imperial” for the first time. I’m so excited!
I just spent an hour going through all your interviews and ‘letters to readers’ and got the impression that Mel and Charles will be having their second child (Jessica) in an upcoming book? Is that definitive? I love love love learning about how pregnancies and babies are handled in the past (I’m studying to be a midwife) so I love the topic of pregnancy and was so thrilled to see that possibility in your book! I hope that idea comes to fruit and will be eagerly awaiting its release and all future release. Waiting is torture, but you always make it worth the while!
May 4, 2012 at 6:25 am
That’s so great you’re going to read IMPERIAL SCANDAL with all the other books, Linhie. Do keep me posted on how it is reading all the books together. I love hearing reader feedback on how the books fit together.
The book after IMPERIAL SCANDAL (which will probably be titled THE PARIS AFFAIRE) will out next March. I’m plotting the book after that, and yes, Jessica will be a baby in it. I haven’t quite figured out the timeline, but I don’t thnk she’ll be born in the book, as my books have compressed timelines, and I don’t want Suzette/Mel sidelined by childbirth (I had a very easy recovery myself, but I wasn’t quite up to Mel/Suzette’s level of action within days – not that I’m up to that level of action in any case :-). I’m excited to right about a baby while I have a baby. Also, Mel/Suzette is pregnant (about three months) with Colin in the novella I’m currently writing. And you’ve actually made me think a follow up novella about Jessica’s birth between the next two books might be interesting…
How wonderful you’re studying to be a midwife! Best wishes for your finals!
May 4, 2012 at 3:57 pm
I’ll definitely keep you posted when I get the chance after I finish all those goodies! I’m a bit OCD about reading books in order; its easier to recall events of the past and connect it with present happenings.
I LOVE BABIES!!! I hope the seed that I’ve help plant would come to fruit… It would be interesting to see Mel/Suzette and Charles/Malcolm go through the trails and consequent reward during and following childbirth. No matter how many births I’ve seen or read about, the miracle of childbirth never cease to amaze me. Being able to see it through your eyes, happening to one of my favorite couple… WOW, It couldn’t get better than that!
I’ll be eagerly awaiting a definitive answer to that possible novella and of course, all the full length novels and novellas to come! Monday cannot come fast enough!
May 4, 2012 at 5:28 pm
A doctor friend of mine who’s delivered hundreds of babies said the same thing about it never ceasing to amaze him, Linhie. It was a really special (and thankfully not difficult) experience for me, so I’d particularly love to write about. (One of my old historical romances, Shadows of the Heart, which is now available as an ebook, includes a childbirth sequence and the hero and heroine taking care of a newborn). It would indeed be fun to write about Suzette/Mel and Malcolm/Charles going through that.
Best wishes for your finals and happy reading!!
May 4, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I’ve read “Shadows of the Heart” – I own and have read all your books! *wink* I’m so excited about this entire possibility. Hopefully it works out in the end!
Your little Melanie is a cutie pie!
May 6, 2012 at 11:11 pm
That’s great you’ve read all my books, Linhie! I think a novella about Jessica’s birth is deifnitely an intriguing idea!
Thanks for the nice words about my own Mel!
May 15, 2012 at 6:24 am
[…] of time for plot mulling. So I thought for this week’s post I’d pose another of the Imperial Scandal discussion questions, which goes to issues that will arise in subsequent […]
May 31, 2012 at 2:21 am
Hi Tracy, I hope life (and little Melanie) is all hail and thriving!
It’s been a little while, but after an unexpected accident and consequent surgery, I’m finally caught up with normalcy and am now able to check back with you after finishing all 5 books (one after another).
To keep it short, I thought reading the books in order of publication first and then in chronological order afterwards has given me a better understanding of all the coming and goings of the many stories and emotions webbed in your novels. Having read all the books (but Imperial Scandal) at least twice, has helped me understand the characters more thoroughly, which consequently made the novels all that much more entertaining.
I’ll liken this ‘second’ reading to the feeling you get after meeting your best friend again after a semi-long period of absence and rediscovering the reasons this friendship came to fruit, but yet, during the same rediscovery period you’ve discovered more about he than you though you knew (the bad, the good, and all the in between). Yet still, with this added knowledge you’ve yet to fully grasp who your friend truly is, but nonetheless accepting him for the friend that he was, is and will continue to be.
I love that all your characters are so complex, which make them ultimately impossible to read and doubly impossible to predict! Like my feeling for my ‘best friend’ I am extremely eager to see and learn more about each of your past, present and future characters. I’m latching on and awaiting for all future releases!
BTW, THANK YOU! Your books has helped me keep what little sanity I have left during my convalescent! There’s no better cure for the mind and the body than a good book (or rather, books).
June 1, 2012 at 8:48 am
So sorry to hear about the accident and surgery, Linhie, but loved getting your report on your chonological read. I’m particulary thrilled you like the characters so much and feel you’re still learning things about them – I feel as though I’m constantly learning new things as a I write about them, which is one of the things that makes the books so fun to write.
July 26, 2012 at 12:14 am
[…] just posted my cast for Imperial Scandal on Story Casting. Take a look at the cast, see what you think, and post your own cast on Story […]
October 2, 2012 at 8:14 am
[…] Imperial Scandal, Malcolm has a few moments of interaction with La Fleur and Harry before the shots ring out. And the […]
March 25, 2013 at 8:09 pm
[…] niece Dorothée and her sister Wilhelmine, the Duchess of Sagan. I loved writing about Waterloo in Imperial Scandal but I found its aftermath every bit as intriguing to research and write […]
July 13, 2013 at 1:08 am
[…] walked) that I realized I had just made the sort of quick change Suzanne often makes (such as in Imperial Scandal when she transforms herself into a shopgirl to go into Le Paon d’Or). It was also just the […]
January 26, 2014 at 10:41 am
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June 15, 2015 at 1:24 am
[…] In honor of the anniversary, here is an excerpt of how the scene plays out in Imperial Scandal. […]
June 16, 2015 at 12:31 am
[…] yesterday’s post about the Duchess of Richmond’s ball, here’s how a glimpse from Imperial Scandal of the evening of 16 June 1815 following the Battle of Quatre […]
June 17, 2015 at 2:18 am
[…] staff officers were some of my favorite fictional character’s in Imperial Scandal. Here’s a glimpse of them interacting with Malcolm Rannoch and the other fictional characters […]
June 18, 2015 at 4:47 am
[…] scenes of the Battle of Waterloo in Imperial Scandal were some of the most exciting, challenging, and sad I have ever written. I was in the first […]
September 25, 2015 at 1:34 am
[…] Thursday!Recently I was looking through Imperial Scandal and found myself thinking about the letter Harry writes to Cordelia, that he gives to Malcolm to […]
November 7, 2015 at 2:49 am
[…] him, has some definite Malcolm and Suzanne parallels. I wrote the last Malcolm and Suzanne scene in Imperial Scandal after watching the scene in Casino where Vesper says goodbye to Bond (note the moment where Suzanne […]