The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh

                                          

First Line: "What have you done to her?"

1603. Queen Elizabeth I is dead. As the men in power decide to pass the throne to James VI of Scotland, one woman debates changing the course of history. The identities of two Tudor heirs have been covered up for decades, and with a foreign king about to take over, this may well be the time to let the truth out. But there are reasons why the Tudor children were put into hiding and exposing them would not only put their lives in danger, but the lives of many others as well.

2019. Dr. Perdita Rivers and her twin sister Piper are back in their ancestral home of Marquess House in Wales. The walls of their home contain many riddles that they need to solve. They've already uncovered earth-shattering secrets, but they are still missing one piece of the puzzle. And just when it seems they're ready to expose the centuries-old conspiracy, old enemies resurface to put their very lives at risk.

This is a trilogy that, although it has some minor flaws, I recommend to any reader who's ever had a fascination with Tudor and Stuart history. I know I have, and I've lost count of the books, both fiction and non-fiction, that I've read about this period. It seemed as though any man with any sort of high status was out to grab all the wealth and power that he could-- and he didn't care who he had to knock down to get it. There is a sort of glamor to this period, and it's also an extremely brutal era. This period was also graced with some formidable women, Elizabeth I and Bess of Hardwick, to name just two. How women of their power and intelligence had the fortitude to deal with the men of the day escapes me. I think I'd lose all patience and keep the royal executioners busy.

The Marquess House trilogy is just the sort of dual timeline story that I love. In this third book, Arbella Stuart takes the spotlight as she tries to outlast all those who are after her-- which includes her cousin James who makes his leisurely way down to London to be crowned King James I of England. Alexandra Walsh has shown a brilliant capability for finding little-known trails in history that lead to locked doors. Nothing is known about what happened behind those doors, so she weaves a story to fill in the blanks. Most of her work at her fictional loom has made me smile, but in this third book, the fate of one of the male characters was a bit of a stretch that my imagination really didn't want to make.

For large periods of time, nothing is mentioned about the groups of people who are out to get Perdita and Piper in the modern timeline. We're just told how superior the security is at Marquess House. It's almost as if Walsh were having so much fun with her histories that she forgot all about the modern-day bad guys. When she did remember them, the only thing she could do was to create some incredibly bone-headed lapses in that superior security. Ah well. A minor quibble.

One of the most powerful themes throughout this trilogy has always been women fighting for the right to their own voice, to their own power, and the author had me mentally cheering in solidarity more than once. If you think you may want to read Walsh's work, please read The Catherine Howard Conspiracy and The Elizabeth Tudor Conspiracy first or you may become confused. This trilogy is fun, and it's so good to see an author with a good knowledge of history go to work on it with her imagination to create something that might just have happened.

The Arbella Stuart Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh

eISBN: 9781913335847

Sapere Books © 2020

eBook, 398 pages

Thriller, #3 Marquess House Trilogy

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

The Catherine Howard Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh

First Line: "Is there news?" asked the man as the shadowy figure of the Abbess appeared in the doorway.

Sometimes I like to sit back and wonder "What if?" I was just in the mood to do that, and Alexandra Walsh's The Catherine Howard Conspiracy was just the book to satisfy my craving.

The tale is told in two timelines. One in 2018 in the fabulous Marquess House in Pembrokeshire, Wales; the second beginning in 1539 when Catherine Howard arrives at Henry VIII's court to be maid of honor in the household of his new bride, Anne of Cleves.

For the first half of the book, the Catherine Howard timeline was much the better. I have read quite a bit of Tudor history, and at first my reaction to Walsh's portrayal of Howard was, "Wait a second... I've been told that she was a flibbertigibbet whose only interests were flirting, gossiping, dancing, and the latest fashions?" Then I remembered two things. The history of that period was written by men-- mostly in the employ of the king-- so who knows what Catherine was really like? And... this is fiction. Let's see where the story goes.

I loved where the story went. Total willing suspension of disbelief here. The portrayal of Henry VIII fit my personal opinion of the man, the political machinations were pitch perfect, and Walsh had me living with these characters in the 1540s.

Not so much in 2018 with Dr. Perdita Rivers. Since childhood, she's been estranged from her Tudor historian grandmother, Mary Fitzroy, and when Fitzroy dies and leaves her (and her twin sister Piper) her entire estate, Perdita spends way too much time moaning about poor little me, my grandmother never treated me right. Evidently I'm more mercenary; I would've cut the old girl some slack because of the centuries-old Marquess House and its fabulous research center filled with ancient documents and other treasures.

The first half of The Catherine Howard Conspiracy was extremely slow. It took too long to set the stage-- especially with Perdita and Piper, whose nicknames (Perds and Pipes)-- were over-used and drove me batty. Halfway in, characters stopped calling the two by their nicknames, and they put their shoulders to the wheel to begin piecing together the mystery of Catherine Howard. That is when the story really took flight.

I may have had a couple of other minor concerns, i.e. the Duke of Norfolk's behavior at the end of the book and the feeling that MI One seemed a bit far-fetched, but having read the entire story, I now have an idea of where book two in this trilogy is going... and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Love to read tales of Tudor England? I think there's an excellent chance you'll really enjoy Alexandra Walsh's The Catherine Howard Conspiracy.

The Catherine Howard Conspiracy by Alexandra Walsh

ASIN: B07ML4LN96

Sapere Books © 2019

eBook, 467 pages

Thriller, #1 in the Marquess House trilogy

Rating: A

Source: NetGalley