TheTudor Book Shop Blog

Available as: Kindle

Amazon Blurb: When one deadly plot is foiled, another begins. England, 1583. Tom Walsingham is back in London, being groomed for intelligence work by his spymaster cousin, Sir Francis. An anonymous informer has started sending letters from the French ambassador’s residence, claiming to have bribed the man’s secretary to pass on information.The informer has discovered messages between the French and Mary, Queen of Scots, which could harm the English Queen Elizabeth.

When someone who works for the French Ambassador is killed in suspicious circumstances, Sir Francis sends Tom to investigate the matter – and to uncover the identity of the informer. Tom must find a way into the French Ambassador’s good graces and make friends within his retinue without giving himself away. And as the news from Scotland grow more and more alarming, it becomes imperative that Tom unveils the identity of the secret informer and exposes the intrigues at play.

Can Tom unravel the mystery and protect the Queen? Will he unmask the killer? Or could he find himself the target of a deadly plot…?

This book is a sequel to the first in the series:

Available as: Paperback and Kindle

Amazon Blurb: When twenty-year-old history student, Beth Wickers starts her second year of university, she has no idea that her whole world is about to be turned upside down.

Beth’s favourite lecturer gives Beth a box of books on Tudor history to borrow, and nestled among them is an ornate cypher ring with the letters ‘AB’ inscribed onto it.

When Beth tries the ring on, the unimaginable happens.

It carries her back through time to Hever Castle in 1521. And she is no longer in her professor’s office, but in the bedroom of none other than Lady Anne Boleyn.

Beth quickly becomes enchanted by Tudor England and is captivated by Anne. But she knows she can’t leave her loved ones behind forever.

Tormented by the knowledge of what will happen to Anne in the future, can Beth stop herself from intervening and rewriting history? Can she use the cypher ring to return home?

Or will Tudor life be too hard to leave behind…?

Available as: Hardcover and Kindle

Amazon Blurb: Lincolnshire, 1537. Amid England’s religious turmoil, fifteen-year-old Anne Askew is forced to take her dead sister’s place in an arranged marriage. The witty, well-educated gentleman’s daughter is determined to free herself from her abusive husband, harsh in-laws, and the cruel strictures of her married life. But this is the England of Henry VIII, where religion and politics are dangerously entangled. A young woman of Anne’s fierce independence, Reformist faith, uncanny command of plainspoken scripture, and—not least—connections to Queen Katheryn Parr’s court cannot long escape official notice, or censure.

In a deft blend of history and imagination, award-winning novelist Rilla Askew brings to life a young woman who defied the conventions of her time, ultimately braving torture and the fire of martyrdom for her convictions. A rich evocation of Reformation England, from the fenlands of Lincolnshire to the teeming religious underground of London to the court of Henry VIII, this gripping tale of defiance is as pertinent today as it was in the sixteenth century.

While skillfully portraying a significant historical figure—one of the first female writers known to have composed in the English language—Prize for the Fire renders the inner life of Anne Askew with a depth and immediacy that transcends time.

Available as: Kindle

Amazon Blurb: He was trying to make a living. The Street Gang wanted him dead.

England, 1535. A Wherryman and his best friend lose everything trying to save themselves after their coin-laden passenger drowns during a violent November storm…

Starving and alone, and with the street gangs hellbent on revenge, Andrew Cullane and his friend face the fight of their lives to stay alive on the violent streets of Henry VIII’s London…

After discovering homeless children, Andrew’s only hope is to escape London and head north. With time running out they make a run for it. Can they make it before it’s too late?

Before John Howard found sanctuary on the streets of London, Andrew Cullane formed a small band of outlawed survivors called the Underlings. Discover their fight for life in this exciting prequel to the John Howard Tudor Series.

The John Howard Tudor Series in The Tudor Book Shop

Available as: Kindle and Paperback

Amazon Blurb: Two women with opposing allegiances are bound together by desperate circumstances: one must birth a son to secure the throne. The other hides a dangerous secret that could cost them their lives.No longer the meek and mild, ineffectual queen of the history books, Jane Seymour is reimagined as a woman on the precipice-one misplaced step away from oblivion.In the maid’s dormitory, Margery Horsman struggles as she comes to terms with the fallout of her careless words, uttered recklessly in a fit of envy and greed, ending in the ruin and death of her first love. Surrounded, yet feeling alone and abandoned, Margery searches for her place in the world. When a young widower still grieving over the loss of his wife asks for her hand, Margery steps into a role she never imagined, that of mother to a half-orphaned boy.As religious rebellion threatens to tear the country in two, fortune’s wheel turns, and formerly rising stars of the Tudor Court tumble. Amid the upheaval, a queen and her devoted maid will unite to preserve the legacy of Anne Boleyn for England’s once and future Queen: Gloriana.

First Published: 6 October 2022
Available as: Kindle and Paperback

Amazon Blurb: Born with the ability to hear thoughts and feelings when there is no sound, Margaretta Morgan’s strange gift sees her apprenticed to Doctor John Dee, mathematician, astronomer, and alchemist. Using her secret link with the hidden side and her master’s brilliance, Margaretta faces her first murder mystery. In the cruel time of Tudor England, Margaretta and Dee must uncover the evil bound to unravel the court of Bloody Mary.

The year is 1555. This is a time ruled by fear. What secrets await to be pulled from the water?

First Published: 4 October 2022
Available as: Hardcover and Kindle

Amazon Blurb: August, 1556. Jack Blackjack is on a simple mission: make it back home to his beloved London. It should be simple, right? Wrong. He’s made it as far as Exeter, but before he can secure a fresh steed in that hellish city, he’s faced with a dead priest, ruthless thieves, and a devious Dean who’s determined to see the back of Jack. That suits Jack just fine - he wants to leave!

So when wealthy merchant Wolfe, offers passage to London via sea, Jack jumps at the chance . . . and unwittingly into further danger! With thieves, pirates and potential murderers at every turn who can Jack trust? Will he uncover the truth behind the dead priest and missing merchant ships? But more importantly, will he ever make it home to London with his purse strings and limbs intact?

Set during the brief but exceedingly troubled reign of Queen Mary I, elder half-sister to the future Elizabeth I, (1553-1558) the Bloody Mary series features the amoral former cutpurse turned paid assassin, Jack Blackjack, as its cowardly, lecherous, yet strangely likeable amateur sleuth protagonist. The joke is always on Jack as he lurches from one crisis to the next, never quite sure what’s going on, yet always - just about - managing to keep one step ahead of his many enemies and those who, for whatever reason, are trying to kill him.

First Published: 4 October 2022
Available as: Paperback and Kindle

Amazon Blurb: If you knew the fate of the Princes in the Tower would you tell? Or forever keep the secret?

May 1483: The Tower of London. When King Edward IV dies and Lady Elysabeth Scrope delivers her young godson, Edward V, into the Tower of London to prepare for his coronation, she is engulfed in political turmoil. Within months, the prince and his brother have disappeared, Richard III is declared king, and Elysabeth’s sister Margaret Beaufort conspires with her son Henry Tudor to invade England and claim the throne.

Desperate to protect her godson, Elysabeth battles the intrigue, betrayal and power of the last medieval court, defying her Yorkist husband and her Lancastrian sister under her godmother’s sacred oath to keep Prince Edward safe. Bound by blood and rent by honour, Elysabeth is torn between the crown and her family, knowing that if her loyalty is questioned, she is in peril of losing everything—including her life.

Were the princes murdered by their uncle, Richard III? Did Margaret Beaufort mastermind their disappearance to usher in the Tudor dynasty? Or did the young boys vanish for their own safety? Of anyone at the royal court, Elysabeth has the most to lose–and the most to gain–by keeping secret the fate of the Princes in the Tower.

Inspired by England’s most enduring historical mystery, Elizabeth St.John blends her family history with known facts and centuries of speculation to create an intriguing story about what happened to the Princes in the Tower.