Successful Queries: Caitlin Blasdell and Kirsiah Depp and “The Paris Affair,” by Maureen Marshall

Welcome back to the Successful Queries series. In this installment, we’ll look at two queries for Maureen Marshall’s novel The Paris Affair, recently published by Grand Central Publishing. The first query is the one sent to Marshall’s agent Caitlin Blasdell, and the second query is the reworked one sent to editor Kirsiah Depp. Also, notice that both queries had a different proposed title than what ended up on the front cover.

Maureen Marshall (Photo credit: Michael Parkyn)

Maureen Marshall is a former history teacher whose passion is wandering through the olde parts of European cities. She has lived in Scotland, France, and Sweden and most of the mid-Atlantic states where people can catch blue crabs.

Original Query to Caitlyn Blasdell

Under its glittery surface, Belle Epoch Paris is a brutal place where an illustrious name or prodigious bank account are almost the only means of advancement. British expat Fin Tighe has neither due to his illegitimate birth. His evenings spent in the clandestine gay community are legal through a loophole in the Napoleonic Code, but they leave him vulnerable. So the engineer proposes to find investors for his employer Gustave Eiffel’s pet project: a 300-meter tower that will dominate the city’s skyline. If Fin raises enough money, the commission will earn him a fortune, and hopefully, some protection.

Capricious stranger Gilbert Duhais appears to be a boon from the gods. Gilbert is wealthy, connected, and somehow privy to the tragedy Fin instigated in his native Yorkshire. Gilbert soothes Fin’s suspicions with heart-thumping charm and introduces him to every nouveau riche speculator in the city. Each provocative interaction heightens Fin’s risk of exposure. But also brings Fin closer to his dream of financial security.

When a dear friend of Fin is murdered, piecemeal clues indicate that Gilbert may have hijacked Fin’s life for revenge over a man from Gilbert’s past, a scoundrel that Fin had good reason to want dead. Fin must untangle the disparate threads of his past–and his current romantic gamble–before they become his noose.

THE SECRET LAWS OF HARMONY is a 92,000-word LGBTQ historical romantic suspense that will appeal to fans of Allie Therin’s Spellbound with the mystery elements of KJ Charles’s Slippery Creatures.

Check out Maureen Marshall’s The Paris Affair here:

Bookshop | Amazon

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Revised Query by Caitlyn Blasdell

I’m thrilled to attach THE SECRET LAWS OF HARMONY by Maureen Marshall, a queer historical romantic suspense novel about a young engineer working for Gustave Eiffel caught in a web of deceit that could destroy both him and the famous tower.

Think KJ Charles’s SLIPPERY CREATURES but set in the brutal, glittering world of Belle Epoch Paris.

Fin Tighe is clinging to respectability by his nail-bitten fingers. He may be the illegitimate son of an English earl, but he hasn’t spoken to his father in a decade, and his engineer’s salary is barely enough to support him and his cousin Aurelie. A dancer in the corps de ballet, Aurelie is at constant risk from groping, leering men who assume any dancer is a prostitute in training. And Fin’s evenings spent in the clandestine gay community may be legal through a loophole in the Napoleonic Code, but they leave him vulnerable.

So, when Fin’s employer, Gustave Eiffel, announces that he needs additional investors to pay for his pet project, a 300-meter tower that will dominate the city’s skyline, Fin jumps at the chance. If he raises enough money, the commission will earn him a fortune, and hopefully, some protection.

Capricious stranger Gilbert Duhais appears to be a boon from the gods. Gilbert is handsome, wealthy, connected, and somehow privy to Fin’s background. Gilbert persuades Fin to masquerade as his father’s heir—which couldn’t be further from the truth—and introduces him to every nouveau riche speculator in the city. Each provocative interaction heightens Fin’s risk of exposure. But also brings Fin closer to his dream of financial security.

When a dear friend of Fin’s is murdered above a clandestine gay club, the stakes rise even higher. Fin must untangle the disparate threads of his past—and his current romantic gamble—before they become his noose.

Notes From Caitlyn Blasdell on Why She Edited the Query How She Did:

I always tell the editor right up front what the book is. Here it’s a “queer historical romantic suspense novel.”

I believe in putting the competitive title (if using one) early for the same reason—basic information for the editor.

I added Aurelie because a ballet dancer is such a commercial fun element. Plus, Fin’s protectiveness of her is what gains our sympathy for him. Otherwise, he’s more of a noir con man. Finally, that’s how the book starts, and you don’t want editors to be confused.

In the last paragraph I simplified the plot description to read “the stakes rise even higher.” There’s already a lot of detail in the pitch and the editor’s interest is either piqued or not by this point. More information would be overload.

What Kirsiah Depp liked about the query:

When The Paris Affair first landed in my inbox, I was immediately intrigued and knew I needed to stop what I was doing and begin reading right away. Like many readers, I’m infinitely in awe of the Eiffel Tower and always think about the first time I saw the iron lace giant in person. 

It’s an iconic structure that defines the Paris skyline like few other architectural feats do. So a book following an engineer who worked on its plans was an instant attraction for me. Not to mention, the pitch of a young man who was shunned by his family and who had to hide such an integral part of his identity and his journey towards love, acceptance, and security was incredibly alluring! 

And reading didn’t disappoint! I was introduced to a wonderful cast of characters (I dare you to decide which is your favorite) thrown together by very different circumstances and with very different motives for their actions to tackle that elusive but always searched for place of being true to yourself and having a found family to call your own. 

It is such a pleasure of mine for readers to now be introduced to Maureen’s writing which is evocative of Belle Epoch France and unique to her diverse point of view.

*****

Caitlin Blasdell has been a literary agent with Liza Dawson Associates since 2002 with a focus on commercial fiction. Before becoming an agent, she was a senior editor at HarperCollins Publishers. A graduate of Williams College, she lives in Westchester with her husband, sons, and ever-expanding perennial garden.

Kirsiah Depp has been with Grand Central Publishing since 2017, but her love of books goes all the way back to first grade when she used to sneak Harry Potter books into her room to keep reading them because her mom just couldn’t keep reading out loud anymore. And since then, she has cultivated a love of commercial fiction that whisks her away on an amazing adventure in a fast-paced read that she can’t put down. Which of course means she acquires and has on her list speculative fiction, historical and contemporary women’s fiction, retellings (mythic and fairy tale), and more! She is also proudly a part of David Baldacci’s editorial team which has been such an honor. Other authors she has had the immense pleasure of working with include Freida McFadden, Emily Hourican, Phong Nguyen, Adam Plantinga, Nicole Trope, and many more. What they have in common is that they make her feel ALL the feels, and between you and her, if there’s that spark of magic in the story, all the better. Before joining GCP, she worked at HarperCollins and Penguin Random House, both in children’s and adult publishing, and has a Master’s in Publishing from NYU and a Bachelor’s in Literary Studies from Bard College.

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