I have a biology and chemistry degree and have worked in a hospital laboratory for over 25 years. History has always been an interest, and my affection for the Tudor era was sparked after learning some background about Shakespeare’s works. The politics, the forgotten words and their meanings from that time, fascinate me. I fancy myself a bit of an armchair historian and time traveler. My suggested books succeed in transporting me back in time. I learn on the coattails of smart protagonists created by intelligent writers who get the mix of history, mystery, and science just right.
P.F. Chisholm is my go-to author when I want to escape modern life and enjoy a light-hearted visit to Elizabethan England. I love her character, Sir Robert Carey, a courtier and a bit of a conniver enlisted by the queen to solve crimes in the Scottish borderlands.
Chisholm balances the perfect dose of action and romp while incorporating accessible historical details—my definition of a fun read. Her Sir Robert Carey adventures always entertain and put a smile on my face.
With a Note From the Author. In the year 1592, Sir Robert Carey, a handsome courtier, comes north to Carlisle to take up his new post as Deputy Warden of the West March. He has wrangled his appointment to be nearer to his true love, a married woman, and farther from the gimlet eyes of his creditors and the disapproving eye of his father (the Queen's cousin-possibly her half-brother). And of course, he can use the money�?�. Sir Robert is quick to realize he won't see a profit from the perks if he fails to keep the peace. Alas, he…
I admire C.J. Sansom’s meticulous research in his book, which lends authenticity and believability to his story. Sansom’s Mathew Shardlake series is set during the reign of King Henry VIII.
There is plenty of history, law, and court politics as Shardlake–a hunchback lawyer, undertakes politically motivated murders and crimes. I also appreciate that his main character has a physical disability, and Sansom uses it effectively to reflect the attitudes (mostly ungenerous) of the time.
Awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger - the highest honor in British crime writing
From the bestselling author of Winter in Madrid and Dominion comes the exciting and elegantly written first novel in the Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery series
Dissolution is an utterly riveting portrayal of Tudor England. The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's feared vicar general, summons…
One of the smartest books I’ve ever read portraying a woman in a “man’s job” in medieval England. Adelia is trained in Italy as a ‘Mistress of the Art of Death,’ a precursor to today’s medical examiner.
She’s brilliant and brave, and she engages in repartee with Sir Rowley—King Henry II’s tax collector and love interest—that has me turning the pages eager for their next encounter. This is a smart, funny, well-researched thriller that I return to every few years to reread.
Winner of the CWA Best Historical Crime Novel of the Year
'Great fun! Franklin succeeds in vividly bringing the 12th century to life with this cracking good story' KATE MOSSE
Medieval England. A hideous murder. Enter the first female anatomist...
Adelia Aguilar is a rare thing in medieval Europe - a woman who has trained as a doctor. Her speciality is the study of corpses, a skill that must be concealed if she is to avoid accusations of witchcraft.
But in Cambridge a child has been murdered, others are disappearing, and King Henry has called upon a renowned Italian investigator…
One of the first books I ever read set in the medieval period that hooked me on historical mysteries set in medieval/Tudor times.
Eco’s plot is absolutely unique and memorable. The story is dotted with eccentric monks who do not always follow the rules. The atmosphere feels incredibly well done. I feel present in the cavernous stone abbey, with the winter chill and sinister machinations that seep straight into my bones.
A true genre classic, they even made it into a movie starring Sean Connery.
The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective.
William collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey where extraordinary things are happening under the cover of night. A spectacular popular and critical success, The Name of the Rose is not only a narrative of a murder investigation but an astonishing chronicle of the Middle Ages.
Ellis Peters is an expert in crafting a lovable character in Brother Cadfael. His wry humor and astute observations of human foibles keep me returning to her series.
This is the first in the series, introducing a man who has become a Benedictine monk, an herbalist, and a ‘medical examiner’, so to speak.
I thoroughly relate to his love of science and plants. Brother Cadfael is a smart, steady observer of his time period.
In the gentle Shrewsbury spring of 1140 the midnight matins at the Benedictine abbey suddenly reverberates with an unholy sound - a hunt in full cry. Pursued by a drunken mob, the quarry is running for its life. When the frantic creature bursts into the nave to claim sanctuary, Brother Cadfael finds himself fighting off armed townsmen to save a terrified young man. Accused of robbery and murder is Liliwin, a wandering minstrel who performed at the wedding of the local goldsmith's son. But his supposed victim, the miserly craftsman, is still alive, although a strongbox lies empty. Brother Cadfael…
Set in the slums and sinister underbelly of Tudor London, the daughter of an infamous alchemist is accused of killing her best friend during the final years of King Henry VIII’s brutal reign. To clear her name, Bianca must apply her knowledge of alchemy and medicine to deduce exactly how her friend was murdered, and by whom—before she ends at the gallows—punished for a crime she did not commit.
My book offers a different perspective of Tudor life. Instead of focusing on the courtiers and nobility, the story delves into the world of commoners—the men and women who must live under a petulant king and navigate an ever-shifting political and religious backdrop.
I love a good fight scene! It doesn’t need to be long and gruesome, but it must be visceral and make me nervous for those involved. Don’t get me wrong, I also love a good first-kiss scene but unfortunately, my past has made me more adept at recognizing and writing one over the other. I started training in martial arts at the age of nine and continued for thirty years. I don’t train much these days but I took up bowmaking a few years back and now spend a lot of time carving English longbows and First Nations’ bows. I recently also took up Chinese archery.
A wild land too mountainous to be tamed by plows. A duke of the empire, his cunning overshadowed only by his ambitions. A young priestess of the Old Religion, together with a charismatic outlaw, sparking a rebellion from deep within the forests. And an ex-Hospitaller caught between them all.
A druid priestess enlists the help of an ex-Hospitaller warrior and a charismatic outlaw to fight Austrian tyranny in medieval Switzerland. A subtle blend of fantasy and history, ALTDORF (Book 1) tells the events leading up to one of the greatest underdog stories of the medieval age, the Battle of MORGARTEN (Book 2).
