Lord John series

Gabaldon introduced Grey in the second Outlander novel Dragonfly in Amber (1992) as a sixteen-year-old English soldier who chances upon Jamie and Claire Fraser on the eve of the Battle of Prestonpans. The character returns, as an adult, in Voyager (1993) and Drums of Autumn (1996). When Gabaldon was invited to write a short story for the 1998 British anthology Past Poisons: An Ellis Peters Memorial Anthology of Historical Crime, she was interested in the challenge of writing a shorter work but hesitant to use any of the main characters from the Outlander series for fear of creating "a stumbling block in the growth of the next novel." The Lord John character came to mind. She said: That first Lord John story became Lord John and the Hellfire Club (1998); it was well-received and Gabaldon decided that she would write more Grey-centric tales in her spare time. They can be generally categorized as historical mysteries, and the three novels are shorter and focus on fewer plot threads than the main Outlander books. Publishers Weekly notes Grey to be "a competent and likable sleuth" and a " soldier-hero with secrets of his own." Comfortable with his sexuality but necessarily "discreet", Grey navigates mystery and intrigue "with characteristic élan, intelligence, and fortitude, assisted by jeweled goblets of wine and meaningful glances from fetching men." Robert Silverberg wrote of the character, "A gay man in a time when that particular predilection could get one hanged, Lord John is a man accustomed to keeping secrets. He's also a man of honor and deep affections—whether returned or not." ==Works==

Lord John and the Hellfire Club (1998) The novella Lord John and the Hellfire Club was originally published in the 1998 British anthology Past Poisons: An Ellis Peters Memorial Anthology of Historical Crime (edited by Maxim Jakubowski), as well as by Bantam Dell as Lord John and the Hell-Fire Club in a "Complimentary Collector's Special Edition" the same year. It was later included in the Lord John and the Hand of Devils collection (2007). ;Plot Set in 1756 London, the novella follows the adventures of Lord John as he stumbles upon the secrets of the Hellfire Club, an underground society concerned with the supernatural. While at the Beefsteak Club, Grey is introduced to Robert Gerald, a cousin by marriage to Grey's friend and colleague, Harry Quarry. Gerald asks Grey to meet him in secret that night, hinting at intrigue, but he is later killed in front of Grey and Quarry before he can divulge the reason for the meeting. The two men begin to search for clues to the murder, and Grey is soon invited to a Hellfire Club meeting by George Everett, one of its members (and one of Grey's former lovers). When Grey attends the meeting at the club's hideout, Medmenham Abbey, he soon discovers that his life might be in danger as well. Though Gabaldon had intended it to be a novella, Private Matter came in at 320 pages and secured the author a deal for two additional full Grey novels, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (2007) and The Scottish Prisoner (2011). Publishers Weekly said of the novel, "Grey is a competent and likable sleuth, and Gabaldon's prose is crisply elegant." and later collected in Lord John and the Hand of Devils (2007). It debuted at #1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List. In a 2007 podcast, Gabaldon noted that each of her books, though complex, "can actually be reduced to a single word that embodies all of the thematic complexity of that book," and that the word for Brotherhood of the Blade is "honor". ;Plot In 1759, Lord John finds that someone has reawakened the long-forgotten scandal of his father's death 17 years earlier, and the old controversy threatens to cause trouble for himself and his elder brother Harold, Earl of Melton. Despite Hal's desire to leave the secrets of the past buried, Grey seeks the help of his old friend Jamie Fraser, whose secrets may both help and complicate Grey's investigations. As Haunted Soldier is a direct follow-up to her novel Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Gabaldon pushed the publication of the Hand of Devils collection until after the novel's release. In May 2012 it became available as a standalone e-book, and was later included in A Trail of Fire, an Outlander collection released in 2012. It was later collected in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017). ;Plot In 1759, Lord John finds himself both about to be promoted within His Majesty's Army and fresh from a gentlemen's duel in which his opponent was killed. Grey gladly accepts an urgent summons from his old friend Charlie Carruthers, who is facing court-martial in Canada. It debuted at #6 on The New York Times E-Book Fiction Best-Seller List. ;Plot In 1760, Lord John and Jamie Fraser are reunited again as Grey seeks Jamie's help investigating a conspiracy that leads them to Ireland, and danger. Lord John and the Plague of Zombies (2011) The novella Lord John and the Plague of Zombies was first published in the 2011 Ace Books urban fantasy anthology Down These Strange Streets, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. In April 2013, it became available as a standalone e-book titled A Plague of Zombies, and was later included in A Trail of Fire, an Outlander collection released in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand in late 2012 and expected to be released in the United States and Canada in early 2014. The novella was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for the “Best Short Mystery Story” of 2011. It was later collected in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall (2017). ;Plot In 1761, Lord John is sent to Jamaica in command of a battalion to put down a slave rebellion and soon finds himself investigating a mystery involving snakes, spiders and zombies. Besieged (2017) The novella Besieged was first published in the 2017 Gabaldon collection Seven Stones to Stand or Fall. ;Plot In 1762, Lord John is set to step down as temporary military governor of Jamaica when he learns that his mother is in Havana, Cuba, where the British Navy is headed to lay siege. He departs to rescue her, accompanied by his valet, Tom Byrd, the ex-zombie Rodrigo, and Rodrigo's wife, Azeel. ==Collections==

Lord John and the Hand of Devils (2007) Lord John and the Hand of Devils is a 2007 Delacorte Press collection of the first three Lord John novellas: the previously published Lord John and the Hellfire Club (1998) and Lord John and the Succubus (2003), and the new tale Lord John and the Haunted Soldier, exclusive to this volume. Publishers Weekly noted, "Gabaldon brings an effusive joy to her fiction that proves infectious even for readers unfamiliar with her work or the period." Though calling itself an omnibus, the collection does not include the previously published Lord John novellas The Custom of the Army (2010) and Lord John and the Plague of Zombies (2011), which appear together in the Outlander collection A Trail of Fire. ==Reception==

In August 2016, Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair called Grey "a character so popular, Gabaldon eventually spun him off into his own novels". Lord John and the Private Matter reached #8 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best-Seller List in 2003. A television series adaptation of Gabaldon's Outlander series premiered on Starz in 2014, and Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore was asked in March 2015 about the possibility of a Lord John television series. He said, "It's in the back of our minds as a potential thing, but right now our minds are pretty firmly set on just delivering the second season. We'll see what happens down the line on Lord Grey." With the August 2016 casting of David Berry as the adult Grey for season three of the series, Joanna Robinson theorized about the possibility of an eventual spin-off series. ==References==