The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Peter Tonkin, can you first tell us about your latest Poley novel? Shadow of Poison follows Queen’s Intelligencer Robert Poley from the aftermath of his unmasking of the Babington Plot in 1586, through the next eight years as he works to counter other, secret schemes...
Nature: Challenges & Changes I live in the polders of the Netherlands, within sight of what used to be called the Zuiderzee in the old atlases of my childhood. Outside my window where I write I look onto a large pool of water, formed by the confluence of the...
James I: The Wisest Fool What makes a good king? What, for that matter, makes a good leader? Nowadays, we might identify qualities such as charisma, presence, and – one would hope – intelligence in decision-making and genuine care for the wellbeing of the people...
We are in a modern suburban house occupied by a boy and his father. The boy is a teenager, with an enquiring mind and a predilection for bad jokes. The somewhat inept father is usually the butt of these and the banter adds to the humorous lightness of touch that...
My teenage son and daughter reckon that most history books are dull and boring. And you know what…I tend to agree with them. No, please don’t stop reading. Don’t throw me and my books on the fire – I’m no history heretic (or perhaps I am). Like you, I love history. So...
Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on Amazon From the Publisher Chiselbury Publishing was founded 2011 to make the works of James Leasor, one of the bestselling and most prolific British authors of the second half of the...
Our hapless hero, son of the king’s late black trumpeter John Blanke, is once again pressed into service as a spy by Cardinal Wolsey, the second most powerful figure in the land. Wolsey is pre-occupied with preparations for the forthcoming opening of Parliament at...
As a former policewoman, Blessin Adams is well aware of the human cost of murder. In Great and Horrible News, this moving nonfiction study, she investigates the crimes that shook Tudor and Stuart England. In doing so, she approaches her cases forensically: and what a...
The Queen’s Fire is the third instalment in the Christopher Marlowe series, how does this novel differ from the first two in the collection? The difference between this book and the previous ones is two-fold, I think. For one, Christopher Marlowe is, for once, dragged...
Summer Reads from Sharpe BooksAlan Bardos Author of The Dardanelles ConspiracyThe Unseen Enemy by Tom Walker, is a perfect summer read invoking Sunday afternoons watching a black and white war film. Tom Walker effortlessly brings to life an RAF squadron in World War...
