Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries Series
Enter the world of the Tudors, and meet Simon Maldon, an unassuming young man who becomes part of Elizabeth Tudor’s life. When murder strikes, Simon and Elizabeth join forces to find the killer. With the political situation of the time, it’s always doubly dangerous for Simon: first to hunt a killer, but also to be called friend to the most fascinating Tudor of them all.
The Lady Flirts With Death
Book 3
In this third book of the Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries, Elizabeth Tudor is accused of treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Most, including Elizabeth herself and her old friend Simon Maldon, believe she will never leave the place alive.
Loyal to a fault, Simon manages to get in to see his "Highness," once a princess but now demoted to simply Lady Elizabeth. After one of his visits, Simon meets another old friend, Peto the Pope. Accused of murder, Peto swears he is innocent. Simon can’t resist investigating to learn what really happened.
At the same time, Simon’s wife Hannah takes in a frightened pregnant girl who refuses to identify herself. Hannah is captivated when her guest has a baby girl. Childless herself, Hannah is determined to help this mother and child get a start in life.
Distracted by his own concerns, how to help Elizabeth escape and how to prove Peto’s innocence, Simon pays little attention to what’s happening at home. Neither he nor Hannah realizes they should be listening to each other. When they finally do, it’s too late. In trying to help others, they have put themselves in deadly danger.
Available Early Summer, 2013
" This fast-paced journey through 16th Century England reintroduces characters well-developed in earlier novels, where Lady Elizabeth’s credible detective reasoning was first developed. Her ability thus seems believable even while in prison. Her loyal friend, Simon Maldon, with an apothecary’s scientific curiosity, considers attempts to help her escape, and explores helping a friend framed for murder. The two plots intertwine with vivid imagery and meticulous details to bring the time period to life.
This historical amateur sleuth mystery includes enough suspects to keep the reader intrigued, but it’s the characters that especially hold you in their grip. The reader will fall in love with Hannah for her simple ways and faith in the best in people. Meanwhile, one isn’t sure whether to sympathize or despise the mysterious pregnant woman who becomes another twist in the plot. Each conversation reveals layers of meaning, some the readers can surmise, while the plot divulges others as it rapidly moves along.
The ending is not only plausible but satisfying."
Reviewed by Judith Mehl
Author of Formula for Murder and Game, Set, Murder
Publishers Weekly Review 3/1/13
Poison, Your Grace - Book 2
Henry VIII is dead. His son Edward reigns, but it is obvious he will not live long. What will happen to the old king’s daughters when the young king is gone? Will the nation choose Catholic Mary, Protestant Elizabeth, or someone else entirely? These questions niggle at Simon Maldon’s mind, but as an apothecary’s apprentice, he is more worried about making enough money to marry his beloved Hannah and start a family.
Simon thinks Elizabeth has forgotten their friendship, but when one of the king’s ministers is poisoned, she calls on him to help, being well aware that the crime could be laid at her feet. Both Hannah and Simon are caught up in the investigation of a crime that turns more and more dangerous for them. Two commoners’ lives hardly matter to the powerful people who guide the young, sickly king. And what better way to eliminate a troublesome princess than to accuse Her Grace of murder by poison?
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Book 1 in the Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries Series
Her Highness' First Murder
Elizabeth Tudor is as appalled as everyone else when headless corpses litter the streets of London, but when one of her own ladies is murdered, she vows to stop the killer. Her new friend Simon Maldon wants to help, and they join with a sergeant of the King’s Welsh Guard to investigate. Is the killer Elizabeth’s castellan? A creepy cleric who manages her household accounts? A madman captured on the grounds?
Religion seems to be a factor, since the murdered women are dressed in nun’s robes. Is it due to the fact that Henry has beheaded two wives or that he’s outlawed Catholicism in England? The answers aren’t clear, but danger soon stalks the two young people. As the guardsmen search frantically for the depraved killer, Simon finds himself a prisoner, alone and in trouble. Elizabeth’s life is threatened as well. It may be too late for one of them, maybe both, to emerge from Her Highness’ first murder alive.
