We are delighted to announce that we have signed two new books in Angela Ranson’s Catrin Surovell Tudor Mystery series: exciting historical thrillers set at the court of Elizabeth I.
Here, Angela tells us more about the series and what to expect from the latest instalments:
“I started working with Sapere Books in March 2022, when I was named as a runner-up in their first writing competition. From the very first, the people at Sapere have brought light and positivity to my writing life. They have offered real help and support, and their editing process has improved my writing enormously. Sapere has helped me understand and appreciate the many stages of writing a book.
“Or, as it has turned out, a series of books. We started out with three Catrin Surovell Tudor mysteries, and then it grew to five, and just last month it grew to seven. I was so excited to receive the latest contracts and know that I could continue to explore the character of Lady Catrin, Countess of Ashbourne and favoured lady of the bedchamber for Queen Elizabeth I. Lady Catrin is a clever and courageous woman in a dangerous world — much as Elizabeth’s real ladies of the bedchamber would have been. It was not all music, gossip, fine clothes and embroidery for these women, despite the way they are portrayed in modern movies. In real life, they had difficult battles to fight.
“Thus far, Lady Catrin has remained close to her queen at court. She has battled many villains who have tried to remove Elizabeth from her throne, or destroy the reforms the queen has put in place. She has fought against religious zealots, royal traitors and court conspirators, all with the help of her close friend Lady Lucy and a collection of people as dedicated to the queen’s service as she is. In the fourth book, Grave Merriment (which will be released in March 2026), Lady Catrin will battle two villains, each with a specific goal but one area of common ground: the desire to destroy all the queen holds dear, at the most festive time of the year.
“It is important to me that Lady Catrin’s adventures could have happened and that Lady Catrin herself could have investigated and unmasked the villains. I try very hard not to change history or give Lady Catrin more power than she would have had. I do, however, often answer historical questions that have never been answered, or create fictional scenarios that take place in parallel with a known event. That is why the fifth book in the series will focus on an event that never took place: a meeting between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. This meeting has been included in many fictional accounts of these two queens. Usually, the wise queen of England grows frustrated with how the reckless and impulsive Queen of Scots always ‘feeds her with fair words’ that mean nothing.
“Instead of following this trend, the fifth Catrin Surovell mystery will follow history more closely, and focus instead on why that meeting didn’t happen. Lady Catrin will be the one who learns the secret that keeps these ‘fair cousins’ apart … just in time to save their lives.”
Grave Merriment is available to pre-order now.
Visit Angela’s website to stay up to date with her news and latest releases.
Congratulations to Angela Ranson, whose gripping Tudor mystery, A Glittering Peril, is out now!
A Glittering Peril is the third book in the Catrin Surovell Tudor Mysteries Series: exciting historical thrillers set at the court of Elizabeth I.
1561
Every summer, Queen Elizabeth takes a journey around her kingdom. It is a time of revels and celebration, full of pleasure and extravagance.
But in July 1561, the trip begins badly when the corpse of an unknown man is left in her path.
The nervous queen asks Catrin Surovell, her trusted favourite lady-in-waiting, to find out who is trying to sabotage her journey.
But Catrin soon discovers that the queen’s nervousness stems from something greater than the mysterious death.
Someone has been leaving reminders of the queen’s mother, Anne Boleyn, in strange places. A woman appears in the distance who looks like her; the scent of Anne’s perfume is left in the queen’s chamber, and Anne’s favourite French ballads are sung by a disembodied voice as the queen is travelling.
Worst of all, Anne Boleyn’s famous gold-and-pearl necklace with teardrop pearls hanging from a letter ‘B’ is taken from the queen’s bedchamber. The queen is devastated by the loss, for the necklace was one of very few mementos she had of her mother.
The queen begins to suspect one of her courtiers, so Catrin visits his home to conduct a secret investigation into his actions. And that’s when she discovers this is the most difficult mystery she has ever had to solve.
Is Queen Elizabeth being haunted by her ill-fated mother? Or is someone trying to drive her insane?
And can Catrin find the connection between the missing jewels and the unknown corpse…?
In this behind-the-scenes blog series, Sapere Books authors offer an intriguing insight into how, where and why they write.
Today, we are delighted to spotlight Angela Ranson, author of the Catrin Surovell Tudor Mysteries.
Angela’s study
I write in my study, which doubles as a playroom for my two cats. I love having their energy and curiosity as the backdrop for my writing. This is especially true because I write about a world long dead — Tudor England — and try with every scene to bring it back to life.
My books centre around the early years in the reign of Elizabeth I (the 1560s), which I studied when I earned my doctorate in sixteenth-century English history. I live in York, within a stone’s throw of King’s Manor. This was the building where Henry VIII stayed in 1536, and his suite of rooms is now one of the University of York’s libraries. If you stand at the back of the building, you can see a tiny window that leads to nowhere: it originally let some light into Henry’s specially-made toilet, or garderobe.
I love that York has these little historical treasures; I go looking for them whenever I have the opportunity. That isn’t as often as I would like, because I write between the hours dedicated to two jobs at the university. Writing is what I do to relax, to escape from the trials of daily life. Thus, you’ll often see me writing while I eat my supper, or early on a Saturday morning when I’m still in my pyjamas. Turns out, those are the hours when dreams come true.
Congratulations to Angela Ranson, whose gripping murder mystery, Dead Foretold, is published today!
Dead Foretold is the second book in the Catrin Surovell Tudor Mystery Series. It is an exciting historical thriller set at the court of Elizabeth I.
1561
Queen Elizabeth is under pressure from all her advisors to marry, but no one can agree on a potential husband.
The conflict is slowly eroding Elizabeth’s power and authority among the nobility, especially when a prophecy starts to spread that seems to predict the deaths of senior members of the queen’s court.
Tension grows when one of the queen’s maids of honour, Mathilda, is killed and placed on a false altar of hawthorn branches.
Her death follows the first lines of the prophecy, making people fearful about who could be next.
Amid rising hysteria, the queen orders her trusted lady-in-waiting Catrin Surovell to investigate.
Catrin soon learns that there is more to this mysterious death than anyone thought.
Strange symbols and eerie events put her on the trail of the murderer.
What do the symbols mean? Is someone using the guise of magic to destabilise the queen’s reign?
Catrin has to figure it out and stop the murderer before he strikes again…
Congratulations to Angela Ranson, whose absorbing historical mystery, Shades of Death, is out now!
Shades of Death is the first book in the Catrin Surovell Tudor Mystery Series: exciting historical thrillers set at the court of Elizabeth I.
1560
When Elizabeth Tudor first became queen, the realm rejoiced. Now, two years later, the queen has formed an attachment to Lord Robert Dudley that is causing widespread restlessness and discontent.
The tense situation threatens to become a full-blown disaster when Lord Robert’s wife, Amy, is found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Rumours fly through court suggesting Lord Robert killed her so he could marry the queen.
He is banished from court, but the queen is sure he is innocent. She sends her ladies-in-waiting, Catrin Surovell and Lucy Howard to the scene of Amy’s death, Cumnor Place, to discover as much as they can about what really happened.
Once there, Catrin and Lucy find evidence that the death was no accident, and discover that a stranger was with Lady Amy on the day she died.
And as Catrin investigates further, she finds a secret cache of dangerous documents in Amy’s handwriting, suggesting that she was part of a conspiracy against the crown.
But to find out who was responsible for Lady Amy’s death, Catrin will have to put her own life in danger…
Who was the stranger with Amy Dudley on the day of her murder? Did he cause her untimely death?
And can Catrin escape this dangerous web of secrets and betrayal?
