Tudors Archives - Aspects of History

Karen Haden on Naming the Dead

Karen Haden discusses her latest Tudor novel and the historical inspiration behind it.

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 Letters

A new book examines Mary Stuart’s encrypted documents and here the author writes about letters and their use by Mary during captivity.

Jade Scott

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...

Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives, by Alice Loxton

In this wonderfully entertaining book, written with assured flair, historian Alice Loxton takes the age of eighteen as a unifying theme for telling the story of Britain.

Richard Stone

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...

Shadow of Poison, by Peter Tonkin

Peter Tonkin once again demonstrates why he stands head and shoulders above the crowd with a novel to be enjoyed by those who know the era well as well as newcomers.

Steven Veerapen

The world of Elizabethan spiery is a crowded one – but, in Shadow of Poison, Peter Tonkin once again demonstrates why he stands head and shoulders above the crowd. Given his history of writing thrillers and Elizabethan fiction, Tonkin is a master of genre and era. His...

AoH Book Club: Sarah Gristwood on the Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe

In a century of turmoil and conflict, both religious and political, women often stood up to govern and rule, assuming serious roles in the absence of male counterparts. Historian Sarah Gristwood discusses with our editor the stories and successes of several female leaders who wielded influence across the continent.

Sarah Gristwood

AoH Book Club: Sarah Gristwood on the Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe Sarah, what are your thoughts on Game of Queens today, nearly ten years after it was published? It's one of the books of which I am most proud - because I really did feel that for the...

Who Tells the Story?

The 1601 Essex Rebellion through different eyes.

Karen Haden

Who Tells the Story? In August 1999 Cornwall experienced a total eclipse of the sun on a cloudy day. Positioned along the south coast, BBC and other journalists reported the national disappointment. Locals and tourists on the north coast had a wonderful view,...

Karen Haden

Karen Haden discusses her Tudor detective series, writing and her historical inspirations.

Karen Haden

Karen Haden, what first attracted you to the period in which you write, and historical fiction in general? Having previously worked as a consultant for intelligence and cyber security agencies, I was drawn to the Tudor and Stewart years, with their complex mix of...

Karen Haden

Karen Haden’s Alexander Baxby historical mystery series is set during the Tudor and Stewart years with their rich mix of domestic and foreign threats, when the printing press was still changing the ‘landscape’ as the internet and social media are now. Reflecting the broad nature of her earlier career, her writing includes the perspectives of ordinary people not just those at court.In her debut crime thriller Paying in Blood ambitious young Baxby welcomes the opportunity to train as a physician in the city of Lincoln, hoping this will enable him to escape the clutches of his secretive patron Geoffrey. However, Baxby is drawn into a murky world of political/religious intrigue and espionage, after vowing to discover the truth about the suspicious death of his friend’s wife.Paying in Blood was published by Sharpe Books in March 2024. The second Alexander Baxby mystery is scheduled for May 2025, in which the physician’s hopes of starting his life afresh in Amsterdam, free from Geoffrey and the Church’s control, are dashed when the body of a young Englishman is found in the River Amstel.

Karen Haden

Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on AmazonArticles Click on the links below to read the full article[dpdfg_filtergrid custom_query="advanced" use_taxonomy_terms="on" multiple_taxonomies="name_of_author"...

Holand Press

Holand Press is a new, independent publisher which is focused on fostering new talent. We believe in building brands and generating sales through an ongoing, long-term strategy.

Sharpe Books

Holand Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on AmazonFrom the Publisher Books matter. Readers matter. Writers matter. As such, there is always a demand for new stories and new authors. Holand Press has been founded to help...

The Lopez Case

The thriller writer of the Tudor era delves into the mysterious case of Roderigo Lopez.

Peter Tonkin

The case of Dr Roderigo Lopez, the only physician to English royalty ever to be executed for high treason, is not particularly well known, though Dominic Green’s The Double Life of Dr Lopez has done much to fill this gap in our knowledge. The case, however, provides a...