Congratulations to Alexandra Walsh, whose page-turning historical saga, The Jane Seymour Conspiracy, is published today!
The Jane Seymour Conspiracy is the fourth book in the Marquess House series, dual timeline conspiracy thrillers with an ingenious twist on a well-known period of Tudor and Stuart history.
London, 1527
Nineteen-year-old Jane Seymour arrives at court to take her place with Queen Katherine of Aragon. Discovering a court already beginning to divide into factions between Katherine and Jane’s second cousin, Anne Boleyn, Jane finds herself caught between the old world and the new. Determined to have a son, the king appears to be prepared to take whatever steps he deems necessary to secure the Tudor dynasty.
When King Henry VIII finally succeeds in his pursuit of Anne, Jane witnesses the slow unravelling of his interest in the new queen as she, too, fails in her task to deliver a son. Having watched both Katherine and Anne fall from grace, Jane has no ambition for the throne, but when the king begins seeking her out, Jane realises the decision may be out of her hands…
Pembrokeshire, 2020
When a set of papers called The Pentagram Manuscript makes its way to Perdita and Piper at Marquess House, they find they have a new mystery to unravel. The manuscript is the tale of five women on a quest to find true love, written while Anne Boleyn was queen. As Perdita begins to unravel the text, she discovers a code that leads to a whole new outlook on Henry’s relationship with Jane Seymour.
But before they have a chance to reveal all, the twins find themselves under threat from a different source. Their second cousin, Xavier Connors, is determined to wrest Marquess House from them. As Marquess House must be passed down through the female line, and Perdita and Piper do not have children, Xavier sees his twin daughter as being next in line. And when Piper is nearly driven off the road, they realise he will stop at nothing to get what he wants…
What really happened to Henry VIII’s Tudor queens? Why was history rewritten?
Will Piper and Perdita be able to unravel all of the secrets before it’s too late…?
We are delighted to announce that we have signed up the fourth instalment of Alexandra Walsh’s captivating Marquess House Series – dual timeline conspiracy thrillers with ingenious twists on Tudor and Stuart history – as well as the next novel in her new Victorian series.
In Alexandra’s words:
“It’s wonderful to have signed with Sapere Books to continue writing about my favourite eras: Victorian and Tudor. THE MUSIC MAKERS tells the tale of another branch of the family tree established in THE WIND CHIME (the first novel in my new Victorian series). THE MUSIC MAKERS follows two timelines: one set in the Victorian era and one set in the present day. The Victorian timeline follows the life of Esme Blood, a singer and performer in the music halls and theatres of London. Adopted at birth, Esme has no desire to find her birth mother, but fate has other plans. In the present day, Eleanor Wilder is recovering from a serious illness and has returned to the family farm in Pembrokeshire to rebuild her life. Delving into Esme’s life, she uncovers a tale of love, loss and survival, all of which help her to unravel her own problems and those of the man who has unexpectedly arrived in her life.
“My other forthcoming book, THE JANE SEYMOUR CONSPIRACY, is a return to Marquess House. Although I had always intended this series to be a trilogy, when I completed it in 2020 it felt as though there was more to tell. I resisted for a while but when Perdita, Piper and Kit began interrupting my research with suggestions, I realised my trilogy was about to expand. Having always pitched it as three-book series, I was unsure how Sapere Books would feel about it continuing, but my editor, Amy Durant, said she would be delighted to return to Marquess House.
“THE JANE SEYMOUR CONSPIRACY follows Perdita and Piper as they fully embrace their lives at Marquess House. A friend of Kit’s asks for advice on a manuscript that has been in his family’s archive for generations, which seems to suggest an entirely new interpretation of the events leading up to Anne Boleyn’s execution, Jane Seymour’s marriage to Henry VIII and the death of the king’s only acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset. In the present, danger reaches out to Perdita and Piper again as they realise their battle with the Connors family is far from over. THE JANE SEYMOUR CONSPIRACY will be released in 2022.
“Being part of the Sapere Books family is one of the best things about being published; Amy, Caoimhe, Richard, Natalie, Matilda and Helen make everyone feel so welcome and are a dynamic and forward-thinking team. My books could not be in safer hands. The weekly Zoom meet-ups with the other authors are fascinating, funny, inspiring and often educational! It’s a great feeling to be part of such a talented group of writers and publishers who are always willing to help or offer advice.”
Click here to find out more about The Marquess House Series
Click here to pre-order THE WIND CHIME
Following the publication of Alexandra’s Walsh’s captivating Marquess House Trilogy – dual timeline conspiracy thrillers with ingenious twists on Tudor and Stuart history – editorial director Amy Durant has signed her fourth book.
In Alexandra’s words:
“It’s very exciting to be working with Sapere Books on my new publication. THE WINDCHIME is a story that is very special to me, as it involves some of my own family history. Once again, it’s a dual timeline novel, with the split moving from the present day to the Victorian era. Set on the Pembrokeshire coast, it involves a multi-generational family with a secret at their heart. It also explores hereditary madness and the contrasting treatments of mental health in the Victorian era and the present day.
“A love story brings it all together as the present-day characters uncover the tragedy that took place in the past. I hope everyone enjoys this shift of era and will like my new characters. Once again, it’s been a pleasure to work with everyone at Sapere Books and be part of the Sapere family. Not only is the support and guidance of the publishing team of Amy, Caoimhe, Richard and Natalie, invaluable; the encouragement, friendship and advice of the other Sapere Books authors has been extremely helpful and has offered great inspiration.”
Click here to order THE CATHERINE HOWARD CONSPIRACY
Click here to find out more about The Marquess House Trilogy
To help keep you entertained during quarantine we’ve put together a list of some of our most absorbing thrillers, featuring mysterious disappearances, historical conspiracies, ghostly dreams and more…
Paternoster, Kim Fleet
A compelling timeshift mystery, Paternoster moves between 18th Century and modern-day England. In 1795, kept woman Rachel Lovett is left homeless and destitute when her benefactor loses his money. Forced to steal jewellery to survive, Rachel finds herself constantly on the run from the law and the hangman’s noose. And when she joins a brothel, she is soon introduced into the ruthless Paternoster Club…
In 2013, Private Investigator Eden Grey is called in to examine a pair of skeletons found in the grounds of a prestigious school. It soon becomes obvious that these are not recent murders – the bodies have been buried for centuries. And now Eden must unravel a historic mystery while concealing her own personal demons…
Click here to order Paternoster
The Black and the White, Alis Hawkins
Set in 1349, The Black and the White is a chilling medieval mystery that explores the ravages of the infamous Black Death. Martin Collyer wakes up in his family’s charcoaling hut, having made a miraculous recovery. But his father, who showed no signs of the plague, is dead.
With no home to go to, Martin seizes his second chance at life and goes on a journey to seek salvation for his father’s unconfessed soul. Along the way, he befriends another traveller, the enigmatic Hob Cleve. But when more suspicious deaths occur, Martin begins to wonder whether he is travelling with a killer…
Click here to order The Black and the White
Abduction, Gillian Jackson
Abduction is an emotional psychological thriller that confronts every parent’s worst nightmare. During her third birthday party, little Grace disappears without a trace while playing a game of hide and seek.
As the years go by and the case goes cold, Grace’s parents lose hope of ever finding her and do their best to move on with their lives. But her older sister, Elise, refuses to give up. And a chance encounter leads her to believe that she may have found her…
Past Imperfect, John Matthews
Spanning three decades, Past Imperfect is a gripping international crime novel with a paranormal twist. In 1963, a boy is kidnapped and murdered in the French countryside. The killer is seemingly caught, but young policeman Dominic Fornier is convinced he is innocent.
In London thirty years later, a boy loses his parents in a car accident and is left comatose. And when he regains consciousness, he is plagued by eerie dreams of a life that isn’t his. When Fornier hears of a possible link between the two boys, he throws himself into a desperate race against time to catch a brutal killer and right the wrongs of the past…
Click here to order Past Imperfect
The Catherine Howard Conspiracy, Alexandra Walsh
The Catherine Howard Conspiracy is an absorbing dual timeline conspiracy thriller with a shocking twist on Tudor history. In 1539, young Catherine Howard is brought to the court of King Henry VIII to be a lady in waiting to the new queen, Ann of Cleves. But when she catches the king’s eye, her uncle begins scheming to secure a Howard heir to the throne. After the fate that befell her cousin, Anne Boleyn, Catherine is terrified of the unpredictable king and begins to fear for her life.
In 2018, Perdita and Piper Rivers inherit Marquess House from their estranged grandmother, renowned Tudor historian Mary Fitzroy. When Perdita sets out to uncover Mary’s reasons for abandoning them, she is drawn into the mysterious archives of Marquess House: a collection of letters and diaries that claim all records of Catherine Howard’s execution were falsified…
Click here to order The Catherine Howard Conspiracy
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To celebrate International Women’s Day (8th March) we asked five of our authors to tell us all about their favourite female writers. Read on to find out more about their literary heroines!
Alis Hawkins, author of The Black and the White and Testament
My all-time favourite author is Joanna Trollope. An odd choice for a crime author? Not at all. Wonderful writing transcends genre, and she inspires me by drawing characters with a fine eye to dialogue and interaction; by bringing whole scenes to life with a few telling details; by making her readers care passionately about what happens to her characters.
Joanna Trollope has shown me how essential it is to do your research meticulously, to immerse your readers in the world you’re writing about – whether it’s a cathedral close or a dairy farm, a ceramics factory or a Spanish vineyard – but never to include a single unnecessary fact that might slow the action down.
Each Joanna Trollope novel begins with a single key event that turns the lives of all her interrelated characters upside down – and what else does a murder at the beginning of a book do but that?
Order THE BLACK AND THE WHITE here
M. J. Logue, author of the Thomazine and Major Russell Thrillers
My busy little mind raced over all the possibilities – Tanith Lee, Storm Constantine, Dorothy Dunnett, Helen Hollick … but there can be only one, for me. Aphra Behn, of course. It’s not the what or the how of her writing, but the enigma and the old-school glamour of the writing persona she created – the international woman of mystery, the myths with which she surrounded herself – that inspires me. (Three hundred and fifty years later, she’s still a mystery!)
She was the first female literary professional, she did all her own publicity, and she’s still incredible. Possibly a spy, possibly bisexual – both, I suspect, images she manipulated to the hilt – and definitely a woman who knew how to work an audience. The fact that her plays and poems still resonate with us now is remarkable. She created characters that speak to us, no matter what clothes they’re wearing.
Or find out more about the Thomazine and Major Russell Thrillers here
Deborah Swift, author of Past Encounters and The Occupation
The first Rosie Tremain novel I read was Music and Silence, set in the Danish court in the early 17th Century. Marvellously atmospheric, it shifts between different narrative styles: small vignettes that add up to a magnified version of life in Copenhagen that is so real, you feel you are there.
I’ve read all her other books since, including the more contemporary The Road Home, about an economic migrant arriving in the UK, who observes with bafflement the English obsession with status and success. I admire Tremain’s precision, and that is something I want to achieve in my own writing.
Gaynor Torrance, author of the DI Jemima Huxley Thrillers
I write in the genre I love to read, and being an avid reader of crime fiction, there are so many female authors whose work I admire. A particular favourite of mine is Sophie Hannah. I first stumbled across her books by chance, when I borrowed a copy of Little Face from my local library. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down.
Since finishing that particular book, I’ve worked my way through much of the Culver Valley Crime series. I adore the originality and complexity of Sophie’s plots, which have lashings of intrigue and misdirection. The central characters, DS Charlie Zailer and DC Simon Waterhouse, are such a great pairing. They’re both so dysfunctional and vulnerable in many ways, yet somehow form a compelling and likeable team.
Or find out more about the DI Jemima Huxley Thrillers here
Alexandra Walsh, author of The Marquess House Trilogy
She may be old-fashioned, and her comments can make me wince, but take away the occasionally dubious contents of a bygone era and Enid Blyton remains a huge inspiration with the breadth of her storytelling skill. In her adventure books, her plotting is deft and sharp, while in her fantasy books her imagination is broad and tantalising.
As a child, she shaped my reading habits but my eureka moment came when I was reading In the Fifth at Malory Towers. I was already harbouring ambitions to be a writer, but it was only a dream. Then, the heroine of the series, Darrell Rivers, wrote the school pantomime. Suddenly, I thought, If Darrell can do it, then so can I! My life path was set. From reading Enid Blyton’s work, I learned that girls were stronger and more effective if they worked together, that girls could do as much as boys and usually more, and that if you were determined you could solve anything – lessons that still resonate today.
Order THE CATHERINE HOWARD CONSPIRACY here
Or find out more about The Marquess House Trilogy here
Happy new year to all of our wonderful authors and readers, and thank you for your continued faith and support! 2019 saw us expand our list with some incredible titles and we can’t wait to share more with you this year.
Here’s what to expect from 2020:
We will soon launch our non-fiction list, led by Sapere co-founder Richard Simpson. Richard is on the lookout for military history titles – backlist in particular – and aims to launch the first few books on our second anniversary in March.
Our ‘call for nautical fiction’ has been successful and we will soon be releasing Irving A. Greenfield’s Depth Force series – thrilling submarine adventures set in the 90s, as well as the first in a series of Second World War naval thrillers by Justin Fox, and a trilogy of Tudor nautical adventure books by David Field.
We also have plenty of exciting new projects from our current authors, so look out for the next books in the series you already love! These include the final instalment of Alexandra Walsh’s Marquess House Trilogy; the next ghostly adventure in Linda Stratmann’s Mina Scarletti series; a new Lady Fan regency mystery from Elizabeth Bailey and a return of Charles Dickens as private investigator in J C Briggs’ Victorian series.
We also have brand new authors launching next year and plenty more fan favourites! Make sure you sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date with our latest releases and monthly deals.
