The Murder in the Tower

by Jean Plaidy Book 1 in the The Stuarts series.

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At the court of James I, Frances Howard is determined to escape an unhappy marriage and secure a future with Robert Carr, the king’s influential favourite. Her efforts draw powerful families, lawyers and courtiers into a struggle over annulment, patronage and access to the monarch, where private relationships can quickly become matters of state.

The political manoeuvring culminates in the imprisonment and poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London. Jean Plaidy follows the real scandal through Frances, Carr and the circle around the king, showing how royal favour encouraged ambition while leaving favourites dangerously exposed when public suspicion turned against them. The novel presents the Overbury murder as both a personal crime and a revealing episode in the factional politics of the early Stuart court.