Lauren Willig - The mischief of the mistletoe

Since we’ve already mentioned Robert and Charlotte, hero and heroine of Book V, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine , here’s the rest of the gang.

Turnip Fitzhugh:Turnip has been around for several books now, fighting off French spies, spreading good cheer, and tripping over things. He attended Eton with the main characters of the first three Pink books: Lord Richard Selwick (aka the Purple Gentian), Miles Dorrington, and Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe. Lord Richard and Miles were the year ahead, Geoff and Turnip a year behind, which accounts for the strange rapport between the brainy Geoff and scatterbrained Turnip.

Miss Penelope Deveraux:Heroine of Book VI, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily . Poor Pen. It’s not easy being a femme fatale. In Penelope’s first appearance, in The Masque of the Black Tulip , she’s being scolded by Henrietta Selwick and Charlotte Lansdowne, her two closest friends, for improper behavior on a balcony with none other than our favorite Turnip. Turnip isn’t the only man with whom Penelope canoodles on projecting bits of masonry. At that very same eventful Twelfth Night ball, just a few hours after the end of this book, restless and rebellious Penelope manages to get herself into a fix she can’t brazen her way out of.

Lord and Lady Vaughn:Stars of Book IV, The Seduction of the Crimson Rose . Lord Vaughn is related to absolutely everyone who is anyone, including dodgy French chevaliers. Having spent a decade in shadowy pursuits on the Continent, Vaughn’s loyalty is frequently suspect. His wife, the former Mary Alsworthy, likes to forget her low origins by lording it over people.

Lord and Lady Pinchingdale:Hero and heroine of Book III, The Deception of the Emerald Ring . Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe originally served in the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, rose to second-in-command of the League of the Purple Gentian, and now freelances for the League of the Pink Carnation. Given that Geoff tends to be the mastermind behind the scenes, rather than the man in the black mask swinging from a rope, one assumes that fatherhood won’t do too much to curtail his activities for the cause.

Lady Henrietta Dorrington:Heroine of Book II, The Masque of the Black Tulip . We don’t see much of Hen in this one, because, as readers of Night Jasmine know, she’s occupied with Charlotte’s romantic crises, but she does get a brief cameo. Sister of the Purple Gentian, Lord Richard Selwick, Henrietta likes to have a finger in every pie-or pudding, as the case may be.

Lieutenant Tommy Fluellen:Best friend to Robert, Duke of Dovedale, harboring a painful and unrequited infatuation for Miss Penelope Deveraux (see Temptation of the Night Jasmine ).

The Dowager Duchess of Dovedale:Terrorizing innocent characters for five books and still going strong. Nothing outlasts the Energizer dragon!

Martin Frobisher, Lord Henry Innes, Sir Francis Medmenham, and Lord Freddy Staines:Men about town and members of the same dodgy Hellfire Club, the Order of the Lotus (see Temptation of the Night Jasmine ).

Sally Fitzhugh, Lizzy Reid, and Agnes Wooliston:We haven’t met any of these characters before, but you can bet we’re going to see more of them. Sally Fitzhugh is, obviously, Turnip’s sister, but the other two are also sibs of Pink Carnation veterans.

Lizzy Reidis the younger sister of Captain Alex Reid, hero of Book VI, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily . She’s also sister to Jack Reid, the double agent known as the Moonflower.

Agnes Woolistonis first cousin to Miss Amy Balcourt, heroine of Book I, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation . More important, she’s the youngest sister of Miss Jane Wooliston, aka the Pink Carnation.

Add up three adventurous sixteen-year-olds, two deadly spies, and one very lax headmistress, and you have the potential for a great deal of trouble…

The author of six previous Pink Carnation novels, Lauren Willig received a graduate degree in English history from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, though she now writes full-time. Willig lives in New York City.