Years ago, I read several of Kathy Lynn Emerson's Susanna Appleton series which were also set during the Elizabethan period.
Here is a little bookish biographical info on Emerson:
Kathy Lynn Emerson is the author of over fifty works of fiction and nonfiction written under the names Kathy Lynn Emerson, Kaitlyn Dunnett, Kate Emerson, and Kaitlyn Gorton. Many of them reflect her interest in life in sixteenth-century England and she maintains a series of mini-biographies online as "A Who's Who of Tudor Women." She won the Agatha award for mystery nonfiction for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries: The Art and Adventure of Sleuthing Through the Past. Currently she writes the Liss MacCrimmon Scottish-American Heritage Mystery series (Ho-Ho-Homicide, 2014) as Kaitlyn Dunnett and as Kathy Lynn Emerson writes the Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries (Murder in the Queen's Wardrobe, 2015), featuring Elizabethan gentlewoman, sleuth, and spy Rosamond Jaffrey. For more information, visit Kathy's webpages at KathyLynnEmerson.com
Wow, I had no idea she wrote so prolifically or under so many names!
At any rate, Mistress Rosamund Jaffrey, who made an appearance in the "Face Down" mystery series featuring Susannah Appleton, now has a series of her own. Recruited by Queen Elizabeth's spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham (any mention of Walsingham always interests me as Christopher Marlowe may have been one of his spies or intelligencers), Mistress Jaffrey has been tasked to spy on and protect Lady Mary, one of the queen's cousins who is being courted by Tsar Ivan (the Terrible) of Russia.
Rosamund needs to protect Mary, gather intelligence, and hopefully, protect her estranged husband.
Read Oct., 2014; review scheduled for Feb. 15, 2015
NetGalley/Severn House
Historic Mystery. March 1, 2015. Print length: 256 pages.
I'm usually not a fan of spy novels but I like the historical setting of this so I'll have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteThis is really more of a mystery than a spy novel, but the Elizabethan era was full of spying for religious and political reasons. Rosamund's character felt one-dimensional, though.
DeleteWow, she sure is a prolific writer. I don't think I've read anything by her so ill have to check out her books.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Emerson had written under so many names. I don't know if I'll follow up on this series, although I like the time period.
DeleteI so love a female spy mystery!
ReplyDelete:) I usually like all the intrigue surrounding Elizabeth and her Spy Master, Walsingham. This one isn't my favorite, but it is the first in a series and may be one of those series that improves with each book.
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