The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
With Americans celebrating Thanksgiving at the end of the month, November seems a good time to consider the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower from Europe in 1620. Whilst researching my Alexander Baxby mystery Paying in Blood, I learnt more about their roots in...
Shadow of A Queen As I am by no means the first to observe, history, like hindsight, tends to be 20/20 vision. We know how things turned out in the end and we often assume that this was the way they were meant to be - whereas of course the men and women actually...
The Captive Years of Mary, Queen of Scots If my latest book Exile were a novel, nobody could predict its ending. With the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, however, the final chapter is well known: the ailing queen, dressed in russet, with a small dog hidden beneath her...
The Succession of King James Recently, some have suggested that Scottish King James stole the English throne after Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603. Although it is impossible to prove Elizabeth really named him as her successor on her death bed, as is usually claimed,...
Spymasters Book Prize 2025 We are pleased and proud to announce the shortlist for the first Spymasters Book Prize. Our judges have thoroughly enjoyed reading and debating the entries. We would recommend you all to read the shortlist - and longlist - and choose your...
My second Alexander Baxby novel Naming the Dead is an exciting tale of murder, mystery and suspense, set against the colourful backdrop of early seventeenth century Amsterdam. Political and religious intrigue are closely entwined, as in the first book Paying in Blood....
It’s perhaps true that for some of us, our understanding of early 17th century England stems from the closing chapters of classroom textbooks on the Tudors, often ending with the infamous Gunpowder Plot. Paying in Blood, however, draws our focus away from familiar...
Karen, congratulations on your new novel, Naming the Dead. How has the story moved on from the first in the series, Paying in Blood? It is exciting to release my second Alexander Baxby mystery, set in Amsterdam during the so-called Dutch Golden Age. The action follows...
Mary, Queen of Scots has traditionally been perceived as a queen who let her emotions overcome her reason, as someone who let her heart rule her head. It’s a dismissive attitude that is often used to compare her, unfavourably, to Queen Elizabeth I, who is seen instead...
Views on age and life’s milestones have changed over time. In the last century average life expectancy exceeded what we would call middle age for the first time and in the process changed perspectives. Empress Matilda, one of the subjects of Eighteen, married Henry V...
