Responding to a reader question

I was just digging through some old email posts, searching for a particular email, when I came across this, a fun exchange with a reader when THE PERFECT RAKE, my first book with Berkley, came out.  I thought I’d share it, for a little smile.

The reader said: I don’t know. Why is it always rakes? Why not mattocks, shovels, hedgeclippers… The list is endless. But noooo. It’s the bloody rakes get the attention every time.

I responded thus:
Well, naturally I have a *series* in mind! I’m not implementist!
              : The Perfect Scythe (he was just a  young whippersnipper until he met his match in Miss Petunia de la Hedgerow),
              : The Perfect Spade (A gambling den was all he knew (spades, get it!) until she coaxed him outside and showed him to her fallow bed)
              : The Perfect Plough. (Our roman-nosed hero finds a sultry Egyptian lass under the axminster. He ploughed her and she cropped.)
            : The Dashing Blade ( When our heroine is kidnapped by feral nuns, the hero disguises himself as his twin, the Gay Blade, and, dressed in women’s attire, follows in hot pursuit)