Book Tour organised by Rachel’s Random Resources!
Happy Saturday everyone!
If you’re into historical thrillers and William Shakespeare, I have just the book for you! Thanks to Rachel, I’ve just finished Twelve Nights by Penny Ingham!
Twelve Nights is a work of historical fiction set in Elizabethan times. The book first came out on the 6th of May and was published by Nerthus. It’s the first book in The Heavenly Charmers series and is available for free to Kindle Unlimited members. This is also not Penny Inghams first book; she’s written 3 others, all available of which are also on Kindle Unlimited.
Giveaway
I never post a giveaway at the end, but I would love it if you did continue reading my post!
The winner of the giveaway will win a paperback copy of Twelve Nights (Open to UK Only)
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Review
Our main character, Magdalen, the wardrobe mistress of the theatre, stands accused of murdering a player; just because they think poison is a woman’s weapon. As Magdalen tries to find out who really murdered the other player, asking other people makes her a very visible target to kill next. She’s also hampered by how women were treated in that day and age, and her grandmother is catholic to boot. While everyone, besides the jailer and coroner, think she’s innocent, they aren’t able or sometimes willing to do a lot about that. When everyone is doing their best to just survive, you can’t stick your next out too much.
Historical mystery is an interesting genre as a whole. It feels like it’s easier to get away with murder than it is to solve it because the tools are just so much more limited. It’s insane to see how the end comes about, especially when, she doesn’t really solve it herself.
I thought it was interesting that the second they asked around about the player they were able to discover so many of his secrets. Everyone was pretty open about what dealings they had with the man, and who he was sleeping with. It’s also acknowledged that this was an addiction on his part; one that hurt not just him, but his last remaining family. I loved that he was made such a complicated character, but I really don’t want to spoil anything!
At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge that there really isn’t a happy ending. For a poor woman on her own, in that day and age, there just couldn’t have been. Keep in mind that there is definite sexual harassment and violence in the story. I don’t think Penny Ingham added this to be sensational, but to depict what those times were like for women; despite there being a female ruler. In that sense it was really interesting to contrast the lives of Magdalen and Amelia Bassano.
I hope that the second book wraps up a lot of things that the author started in the first one. For instance, what happens to Amelia Bassano ? I mean we know what happens to her in real life, but I’d love to see her in another book. Does Christopher Mountjoy get his comeuppance? Is she able to complete the order? There are, of course, other questions that I want answered, but I’m really trying to keep the spoilers to a minimum.
About Penny Ingham:
I was born and raised in Yorkshire where my father inspired my love of history from an early age. He is a born story teller and would take us to the top of Iron Age hillforts, often as dusk was falling, and regale us with stirring tales of battles lost and won. Not surprisingly, I went on to study Classics at university, and still love spending my summers on archaeological digs. For me, there is nothing more thrilling than finding an artefact that has not seen the light of day for thousands of years. I find so much inspiration for my novels from archaeology.
I have had a variety of jobs over the years, including working for the British Forces newspaper in Germany, and at the BBC. When our family was little, the only available space for me to write was a small walk-in wardrobe. The children used to say, ‘oh, mum’s in the cupboard again’.
I have written four historical novels: The King’s Daughter explores the story of Aethelflaed, the Lady of the Mercians. The Saxon Wolves and the Saxon Plague are both set in fifth century AD, a time of enormous upheaval and uncertainty in Britain as the Romans departed and the Saxon era began. My latest is something a bit different. Twelve Nights is a crime thriller set in sixteenth century London, and features William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.
I now live with my husband in the Hampshire countryside. Like many others during the pandemic, we decided to try growing our own fruit and vegetables – with mixed results! We can only get better!
Blurb for Twelve Nights
The Theatre
London, 1592
When a player is murdered, suspicion falls on the wardrobe mistress, Magdalen Bisset, because everyone knows poison is a woman’s weapon. The scandal-pamphlets vilify her. The coroner is convinced of her guilt.
Magdalen is innocent, although few are willing to help her prove it. Her much-loved grandmother is too old and sick. Will Shakespeare is benignly detached, and her friend Christopher Marlowe is wholly unreliable. Only one man offers his assistance, but dare she trust him when nothing about him rings true?
With just two weeks until the inquest, Magdalen ignores anonymous threats to ‘leave it be’, and delves into the dangerous underworld of a city seething with religious and racial tension. As time runs out, she must risk everything in her search for the true killer – for all other roads lead to the gallows.
The Girl Who Reads 
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