Women from A Who's Who of Tudor Women
Who Appear
in the Novels
of Kathy
Lynn Emerson and Kate Emerson
Under the names Kathy Lynn Emerson and
Kate Emerson, I've written
numerous novels in which real Tudor women make an appearance. In the Secrets of
the Tudor Court series written as Kate Emerson, a real woman is center stage in
each novel. In the mysteries and historical romances written as Kathy Lynn
Emerson, they are minor characters interacting with my fictional protagonists.
In a few cases, a real sixteenth-century woman served as the model for a
fictional character. Below you will find brief summaries of the novels I've set in the sixteenth century and
a note on real women included in the stories.
DEATH OF AN INTELLIGENCE GATHERER (2023) is set in 1553-4, during the reign of Mary
Tudor. After the murder of her father, with whom she has been living in exile
in Strasbourg, Cordell Ingram is desperate to return to England. To achieve
this goal, she marries Roger Allington, a young Englishman about whom she
harbors the darkest suspicions. Intrigue, romance, and espionage abound in this
picaresque adventure. Members of the English Protestant community in exile
appear as characters, including Maria Heyman, wife of John Ponet. In England
there are brief appearances by Elizabeth Brooke, Marchioness of Northampton,
Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Lady Browne (later countess of Lincoln), and Katherine
Champernowne Astley. I was inspired, in part, by the lives of the Cooke sisters
of Gidea Hall.
LOVE AND MURDER IN THE TIME OF THE
TUDORS (2023)
This is an
omnibus edition containing two earlier novels of romantic suspense, revised
before publication to stress the suspense elements.
UNQUIET HEARTS (1994) is set in 1561Lancashire. It doesn't involve any real Elizabethans, but
I loosely based some of the storyline, which has to do with a group of women
their neighbors mistakenly believe to be witches, on later events in Tudor
history.
THE GREEN ROSE (1994) is set in 1590. Orphaned Meriall
Sentlow enters the service of a distant relative in
order to survive and encounters intrigues on both the romantic and the
political level. The characters of Lady Dixfield, her daughters, and her
servant are loosely based on Elizabeth Cooke, Lady Russell and her household at
Blackfriars. The character of Amata is loosely based on Emilia Bassano, a
contender to be the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets.
THE FACE DOWN MYSTERY SERIES:
These titles have been revised and
re-released but the plots remain the same as in the original versions.
FACE DOWN IN THE MARROW-BONE PIE (1997), set in 1559, is the first in the Face Down
Mystery Series featuring Susanna, Lady Appleton, as the amateur detective. She
is an expert on poisonous herbs. Although Susanna does not meet Queen
Elizabeth, the queen does appear in scenes with other characters. This
particular entry in the series focuses on the mysterious death of the steward
at Appleton Manor, childhood home of Susanna's (for the most part) absent husband. Sir Robert Appleton is an
intelligence gatherer for the Crown.
FACE DOWN UPON AN HERBAL (1998) is set at Christmas 1561. Susanna's Cautionary Herbal on
poisonous plants has been published and as a result the queen sends Sir Walter
Pendennis, one of Sir Robert Appleton's
colleagues, to request that she assist in the completion of another herbal . .
. and do a little sleuthing on the side. All characters who appear in the text
are fictitious, although both Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots are just
offstage.
FACE DOWN AMONG THE WINCHESTER
GEESE (1999) is set in 1563. The
plot revolves around a serial killer who has been murdering prostitutes in
Southwark at the rate of one a year, with a subplot involving Sir Robert's involvement in a scheme to kidnap
Lady Mary Grey, who makes an appearance late in the story. Another real person
with a walk-on role is Johanne Turnbull, hostess at the Crowne Inn.
FACE DOWN BENEATH THE ELEANOR
CROSS (2000) is set in 1565 and
involves Sir Robert's return
from the dead just in time to be murdered. Susanna is arrested for the crime
and must stand trial. Her friends rally to find the real killer. I did a great
deal of research into the realities of law enforcement and the legal process.
As unbelievable as some of these details are, they have all been verified.
Elizabeth Brooke, marchioness of Northampton, has a small role in the story,
and Lady Mary Grey returns, albeit briefly.
Below is the artwork I commissioned from
artist Linda Weatherly S. for the large print edition of this book:
FACE DOWN UNDER THE WYCH ELM
(2000) is set in 1567 and once again the real witch trials of Tudor England
influence the plot but the characters are entirely fictional. Susanna's efforts to help accused witches
put her in jeopardy of being charged with the same crime.
FACE DOWN BEFORE REBEL HOOVES (2001) is set in 1569 and this one very much involves
real Tudor women since it is set during the rebellion of the Northern Earls.
Jane Howard, Countess of Westmorland and Anne Somerset, Countess of
Northumberland are front and center in the plot when Susanna goes undercover at
the request of Sir Walter Pendennis.
FACE DOWN ACROSS THE WESTERN SEA (2002) is set in 1571. The plot, which involves a
scholarly attempt to establish England's
claim to the New World by tracing its discovery back before Columbus, features
several real Tudor men as characters but no real sixteenth-century women.
FACE DOWN BELOW THE BANQUETING
HOUSE (2005) is set in 1573.
Queen Elizabeth appears in this one, but not in a scene with Susanna, who
always avoids going to court. Her home, Leigh Abbey in Kent, is on the list of
places the queen intends to visit on progress, but when a body is discovered below
the banqueting house purpose built for that visit, plans change.
FACE DOWN BESIDE ST. ANNE'S WELL
(2006) is set in 1575 at the baths at Buxton, Derbyshire. Bess of Hardwick and
her granddaughter, Elizabeth Pierrepont, appear briefly, and a plot to rescue
Mary Queen of Scots from captivity in England is at the center of the story.
FACE DOWN O'ER THE BORDER (2007) is set in 1577 and takes place in Scotland. Annabella Moray or
Murray, Countess of Mar is not in the Who's Who, but she plays an
important role in the story.
LADY APPLETON'S WORLD (2024) is a collection of short stories featuring
Lady Appleton and her friends.
THE MISTRESS JAFFREY MYSTERIES:
These three novels are spinoffs from the
Face Down series and feature Lady Appleton's foster daughter, Rosamond. They were
reissued in 2025.
MURDER IN THE QUEEN'S WARDROBE
(2014) is set in 1582/3. Real Tudor women who appear include Lady Mary
Hastings, Catherine Dudley, Countess of Huntingdon, and Jane Richards Bomelius.
The action takes place at court and in Muscovy, where Rosamond's young husband has gone
adventuring.
MURDER IN THE MERCHANT'S HALL
(2015) is set in 1583. A fictionalized version of Black Luce of Clerkenwell is
a secondary character.
MURDER IN A CORNISH ALEHOUSE (2016) is set in 1584. A fictionalized version of
Honor Piers, daughter of the land pirate Anne Piers, appears as a secondary
character.
SECRETS OF THE TUDOR COURT SERIES written as Kate Emerson:
Set, at least in part, at the court of
Henry VIII, each novel features a fictionalized version of a real Tudor woman
as the protagonist and contains numerous other characters based on real women.
THE PLEASURE PALACE (2009) Jane Popyncourt
BETWEEN TWO QUEENS
(2010) Anne Bassett
BY ROYAL DECREE (2010)
Elizabeth Brooke, Lady Northampton.
AT THE KING'S PLEASURE
(2012) Lady Anne Stafford, Lady Hastings.
THE KING'S DAMSEL
(2012) an unnamed damsel at the court of Henry VIII who is alleged to have had
an affair with the king. I created an entirely fictional name and background
for this character but used a supporting cast made up of real people, including
Anne Boleyn, Jane Parker Boleyn, Mary Boleyn, Margaret Bacon Butts, Catherine
of Aragon, Cecily Dabridgecourt, Mary Dannett, Mary
Fitzherbert, Lady Catherine Gordon, Elizabeth Holland, Mary, Princess of Wales,
Margaret Plantagenet Pole, Anne Rede, Anne Savage, Jane Seymour, Margaret
Shelton, Mary Victoria, and Joan North Wilkinson.
ROYAL INHERITANCE (2013) Audrey (or Ethelreda) Malte
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