A Defiant Woman: A Modern Tudor Mystery

The wives, children, and courtiers of Henry VIII are shrewdly reimagined as contemporary acquaintances of billionaire businessman Hank Tudor in Olson’s entertaining sequel to An Inconvenient Wife. Lizzie, Hank’s youngest daughter, has been kidnapped from the family estate on Martha’s Vineyard. Suspects abound, including Lizzie’s mother, Nan, who quietly fled to France eight years earlier to escape the domineering Hank. Kate, Hank’s sharp former assistant turned sixth wife, is torn between her wish to help Lizzie and her distrust of Hank, from whom she has recently separated. When Kate starts receiving threats from what appear to be Lizzie’s kidnappers, she teams up with Nan to figure out what’s going on, evading questions from scuzzy reporter Tom Seymour and Hank’s dedicated corporate fixer Thomas Cromwell in the process. Mapping Olson’s sprawling cast onto their 16th-century inspirations is wicked fun for readers with even basic Tudor knowledge, and Nan (the series’ Anne Boleyn) proves a particularly fascinating protagonist. Though the conclusion of the kidnapping plot lacks punch, there are enough surprises and Easter eggs on offer to leave readers primed for the next installment. It’s royally amusing. Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Getzler Literary. (Mar.)