{"id":27078,"date":"2026-05-21T21:25:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T01:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=27078"},"modified":"2026-05-22T21:48:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:48:40","slug":"in-a-treacherous-court-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27078","title":{"rendered":"In a Treacherous Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a Treacherous Court<\/em> (2011) Michelle Diener<\/a> (Susanna Horenbout and John Parker #1)<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>Set in London in 1525<\/p>\n

Although the main characters are based upon real people, almost nothing is known about Susanna Horenbout and John Parker except for their court positions and that they were married to each other.<\/p>\n

Additionally part of the story hinges upon a possible reason for why Henry VII all but locked up his son for a year, even forbidding him to speak to anyone.<\/p>\n

Susanna has come to the court of the young Henry VII to be his court illustrator. She is met at the docks by John Parker, Keeper of the Palace of Westminster and Henry\u2019s Yeoman of the Crossbows (and later promoted to Keeper of the King\u2019s Robes) where she attended the death of Master Harvey, and someone believes he told her a secret–and seems to want her dead before she can betray that secret.<\/p>\n

The story doesn’t pull any punches about the kind of place the courts were at the time.<\/p>\n

Parker wondered for the hundredth time how Henry and Nicholas Carew broke bread together, joked and tourneyed together, with Elizabeth between them. William Carey had received an estate, payment for services rendered by his wife, now that those services were no longer required.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And John Parker is contrasted with one of the lords who holds him in contempt.<\/p>\n

Henry prized grace and elegance, courtly manners, romance. Norfolk was a boor whose only accomplishment was hunting deer and whose idea of courtly romance was to beat his wife when she complained about his mistress being given quarters in her home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the painting bits are lovely.<\/p>\n

But there was no fun for her in producing a faithful rendition of the scene. She slipped in a tiny mouse, peeping from behind a guard\u2019s shoe. A cat\u2014plenty of those had slunk past her as she waited\u2014crouched under a heavy chair, shoulders hunched, weight forward, its eyes steady in readiness to pounce. From the patterned silk paneling, a small songbird broke free of the fabric and fluttered up to perch on a wooden window frame.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s been ages since I read this series, and I’m glad I picked it up again.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: John Parker, Mistress Susanna Horenbout, Mistress Greene, Peter Jack, Eric, Harry, Simon, Master Harvey, Mistress Harvey, Dr. Pettigrew, King Henry (VIII), Queen Katherine, Father Haden, Master Selby, Gripper, Gladys Goodnight, Rhys, Maggie, Marcus, Charles Brandon the Duke of Suffolk, Will, Francis Bryan, George Boleyn, Tom Fielder, Edward Neville, William Carey, Henry Courtenay, Henry Guildford, Elizabeth Carew, Nicholas Carew, Denny, John Rightwise, Norris, Lady Mary Browne, Margaret, Lady Guildford<\/p>\n

Publisher: Gallery Books<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a Treacherous Court (2011) Michelle Diener (Susanna Horenbout and John Parker #1) Set in London in 1525 Although the main characters are based upon real people, almost nothing is known about Susanna Horenbout and John Parker except for their court positions and that they were married to each other. Additionally part of the story […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,30,292,33,8,41,26,56],"tags":[251,253],"class_list":["post-27078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-british","category-ebook","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-michelle-diener","tag-susanna-horenbout-and-john-parker"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-72K","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19921,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19921","url_meta":{"origin":27078,"position":0},"title":"In a Treacherous Court","author":"Michelle","date":"April 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In a Treacherous Court (2011) Michelle Diener (Susanna Horenbout and John Parker) Set in England in 1525 Although this is fiction, it is based upon real historical characters. Few details are known about them, so aside from the bare details, this is fictional, although the time period is well-researched. Susanna\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"In a Treacherous Court","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/In-a-Treacherous-Court.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/In-a-Treacherous-Court.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/In-a-Treacherous-Court.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/In-a-Treacherous-Court.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5788,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5788","url_meta":{"origin":27078,"position":1},"title":"Keeper of the King’s Secrets","author":"Michelle","date":"April 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Keeper of the King's Secrets (2012) Michelle Diener Set in England in 1525 Susanna Horenbout and John Parker believe that things have settled down, now that the king has agreed to allow them to marry, however, intrigue spawns in the court of Henry the VIII, and Susanna's life is one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Keeper-of-the-Kings-Secrets","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Keeper-of-the-Kings-Secrets.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5780,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5780","url_meta":{"origin":27078,"position":2},"title":"Dangerous Sanctuary","author":"Michelle","date":"April 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dangerous Sanctuary (2012) Michelle Diener Set in England in 1525 This novella occurs after the book In a Treacherous Court. King Henry VIII is celebrating the defeat of Francis I of France and his English ally(ies), and Susanna Horenbout has been commissioned to paint the ceremony in St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dangerous-Sanctuary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Dangerous-Sanctuary-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5742,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5742","url_meta":{"origin":27078,"position":3},"title":"In a Treacherous Court","author":"Michelle","date":"March 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In a Treacherous Court (2011) Michelle Diener Set in England in 1525 London was a cesspit of mud and filth. Susanna Horenbout is a Flemish painter sent by her father to the court of King Henry VIII to be his illuminator. But when she is the witness to the death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"In-a-Treacherous-Court","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/In-a-Treacherous-Court.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2724,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2724","url_meta":{"origin":27078,"position":4},"title":"Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell","author":"Michelle","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2004) Susanna Clarke I admit it. When I saw this on sale on the kindle I grabbed it even though we already have the hardback book. Because this is a HUGE book, and it's so much nicer to read a kindle than an 800 page\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14157,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14157","url_meta":{"origin":27078,"position":5},"title":"The Emperor’s Conspiracy","author":"Michelle","date":"March 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Emperor's Conspiracy (2012) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in London in 1811 Charlotte Raven is the ward of Lady Howe, and likely her heir. Despite that, she is almost a wall-flower in society, enjoying herself but never making splash. Emma tried to think if she had ever heard any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Emperor's Conspiracy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Emperors-Conspiracy-e1511011261344.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27079,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27078\/revisions\/27079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}