Barbara Brooks Wallace has written Victorian mysteries that include a parlor, a tavern, a castle, a scullery, and a gallery. But she claims never to have lived in a tavern or a castle, or owned a house with a parlor, a scullery, or a gallery. So far she has not lived in a tenement, either. She simply dwells in a nice little house in Alexandria, Virginia, with her very nice husband; affectionate Burmese cat, Cleo; and turtle, Peter. Her son, Jimmy, daughter-in-law, Christina, and Victoria and Elizabeth, their two daughters, live nearby.