Tuesday, December 22, 2015

What is D. K. Wilson reading?

Featured at Writers Read: D. K. Wilson, author of The Traitor's Mark.

His entry begins:
My next two books – Superstition and Science – Renaissance to Enlightenment, a non-fic study of 16th-17th C thought, and The Devil’s Chalice – No.3 in the Thomas Treviot series of Tudor crime novels – are taking me deep into the world of the Renaissance magi. This is well-populated territory but, at the moment, I am particularly enjoying Philip Ball, The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science and Allan Chapman, Stargazers: Copernicus, Galileo, the Telescope and the Church....[read on]
About The Traitor's Mark, from the publisher:
Based on the true story of the unsolved disappearance of Hans Holbein—famed portrait-painter of Henry VIII—this atmospheric historical novel plunges into an underworld of Tudor politics and intrigue.

The Real Crime: Hans Holbein, King Henry VIII's portrait painter, died in the autumn of 1543. A century later a chronicler reported that the artist had succumbed to plague, yet there is no contemporary evidence to support this. Suspicions have been raised over the centuries, but the mystery of what actually happened remains unsolved to this day.

Our Story: Young London goldsmith Thomas Treviot is awaiting a design for a very important jewelry commission from Hans Holbein. When the design fails to turn up, Thomas sends a servant to track Holbein down, only to discover that the painter has disappeared. In his hunt for Holbein and the lost design, Thomas is led into a morass of dangerous political intrigue, Spanish spies and courtiers that is more treacherous than he could ever have anticipated...
Visit Derek Wilson's website.

Writers Read: D. K. Wilson.

--Marshal Zeringue