Meet Author Rachel Gates

A literary meet-'n'-greet in 10 pictures or less

Hello, hello!

It’s time for another spectacular author interview.

This time, I’m thrilled to introduce you to Rachel Gates, who writes Regency- and Victorian-era mysteries.

This is a genre that I just can’t resist, and I know many of you feel the same. So, you can imagine how excited I am for you to meet Rachel and walk away from today’s interview with a tidy stack of book recommendations.

I connected so strongly with many of Rachel’s answers that I couldn’t help adding a few interjections of my own.

As always, Substack is telling me this post is too long for email, so click the title, and you’ll get access to the whole thing.

And now, I’ll let Rachel take it away.

Let’s get to know Rachel

I’m a writer, entrepreneur, and life-long Francophile. I started my writing career as a journalist and freelance writer and editor, but now I spend my time writing historical fiction set in France and England, planning trips to Europe (both real and aspirational), and curating a colorful secondhand and sustainable wardrobe.

I live in Chattanooga, Tennessee with my husband, two boys, and Murphy the big red dog.

I’m currently obsessed with The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. This series of short novels chronicles the touching, ridiculous, and hilarious life of a young Victorian woman claiming a home she inherits in a fictional neighborhood of London. In short, these are like warm hugs in book form. I’m listening on audiobook and the narrator is excellent.

(Michelle: I am also obsessed with this series and can vouch for the unequalled performance of the audiobook narrator.)

I’ve been in love with France, albeit from afar, since I was a kid. Beauty and the Beast was my favorite Disney movie, I watched Julia Child cook on PBS, and I was drawn to any old movie set in Paris, especially if it starred Audrey Hepburn.

I finally traveled to France for the first time in my mid-20s, and that trip cemented my obsession. I adore French food. I’ve learned the language, and I try to go at least once a year if possible.

(Michelle: I never understood why people were so in love with Paris until my husband and I traveled there in 2010. It surpassed my every expectation.)

I’ve been a reader my whole life, and remember reading Sherlock Holmes and a set of abridged classic novels over and over in elementary school. I was a regular at the local library, and I read my way through every single installment of The Babysitters Club and Nancy Drew series. I also loved watching Star Wars and Star Trek, and anything that contained some good bouts of swashbuckling—The Three Musketeers and The Princess Bride were two of my favorites.

When I got a little older, I read The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Lord of the Rings over and over, and I was introduced to the formative works of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.

(Michelle: I wish I’d found Heyer sooner. I am also shocked that there are no film adaptations of any of her work.)

Rachel on books and writing

Honestly, I would have told myself that it was ok to write fiction, and that I really could be good at it. I took a creative writing class in college, where I was a journalism major with an English minor, and at one point one professor told me I was bad at writing dialogue. Rather than realizing that, yes, I wasn’t that good at dialogue yet and needed some practice, I just assumed fiction wasn’t for me and that I needed to focus on my work in journalism. I love writing fiction so much now, and I wish it could have been a part of my writing life, even if it was just as a hobby, much earlier.

Early on in my writing career, someone told me to write every day, even if it’s just a few sentences. I can’t say that I’ve always stuck to that, but when I do, it’s so much easier to step back into what every project I’m working on when there’s not days of time between writing sessions.

It keeps it all fresh in your mind and keeps you from getting discouraged by a lack of progress. If I’m stuck on a certain scene or chapter, I’ll skip to another one, or write about something completely different for a day or two. Creativity always begets creativity.

A friend who’s an artist and interior designer once told me that when she’s stuck creatively, she needs to move her body. I’ve found this to be true in my own creative endeavors as well. A brisk walk with the dog will often do more to advance my story than an hour of staring at the computer. If I can picture my way through it, I can go back and write it later.

The Perils of Poison and Former Husbands

Released October 31, 2025

• A mix of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries by Deanna Reybourn and The Countess of Harleigh series by Diane Freeman.

• Perfect for fans of CJ Archer, Tasha Alexander, Anna Lee Huber, D. G. Rampton, and Sofi Laporte.

It’s 1890, and twenty-seven-year-old British spinster Winifred Osbourne has built a successful career and life as an artist in Paris. Reeling from the loss of her beloved grandfather, the man who raised her and showed her the world, she returns to England for her first Christmas in ten years. Her dreams of a cozy house party with just a few close friends are shattered, however, by the appearance of Lord Benjamin Hadleigh: her former neighbor, disastrous first love, and—most shockingly and secretly—her ex-husband.

I started writing The Perils of Poison and Former Husbands while I was editing my first book, A Brilliant Convergence, and needed a break. I decided to try writing in the first person to switch things up and wrote about a bored Parisienne artist at a Christmas house party in the English countryside. I liked the character I came up with so much that I decided to turn it into a full-length novel.

Gosh, I love a cozy mystery. I love it when a mystery is so good that I can’t figure out the whodunnit halfway through the book. I love the exercise my brain gets from trying to figure it out. But most of all, I think I love the sense of justice – wrong has certainly been done, but right prevails. The perpetrator is held accountable, and in some small way, things are restored by the end of the book. It’s the redemptive arc of the universe, but in a small, satisfying chunk where we actually get to see the redemption part.

For my first book, I had a general idea of characters and what I wanted to happen to them, and just figured the rest out as I went. But for The Perils of Poison and Former Husbands, I had a more detailed plot, with my villain, motives, story arcs, and red herrings, all laid out from the very beginning.

I’m going into even more detail, chapter by chapter, for the outline of the sequel to Perils, which I’m writing now. I get more and more detailed with every book because I feel like it helps things to flow more smoothly when I’m writing. Things may change along the way as characters change and act in a way I didn’t expect, but I seldom sit down and have to figure out what to write next.

Books that Rachel read and loved

Aurora by D. G. Rampton

A Regency-era romantic comedy by one of my very favorite authors. Simply delightful.

Lady Ludmilla’s Accidental Letter by Sofi Laporte

Another Regency-era romantic comedy, where a mortified spinster finds out she’s accidentally been corresponding for years with a notorious rake! Hilarity ensues. Sofi Laporte is one of the best authors in the genre.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

The first installment in this excellent series looks at what it would have been like if Sherlock Holmes were a woman in Victorian England. This book starts slightly slower than the others as it sets up how Charlotte Holmes becomes London’s most brilliant and elusive detective, but it’s one of the few mysteries I’ve read recently that kept me guessing until the very end.

Here’s how you can connect with Rachel

You can find Rachel online at thefauxfrenchgirl.com as well as on Instagram and Goodreads.

You can check out her first novel, A Brilliant Convergence, right here. In this story, an unconventional, neurodivergent debutante joins forces with a wounded, exiled soldier to stop a band of murderous smugglers in 1825 coastal England.

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Thank you, Rachel, for chatting books today!

And thank you for being here, readers.

Catch you next time,

Michelle