A lot has happened since 2018, the last time I posted anything on this blog. My daughter graduated from college and moved to the West Coast; I was in a car accident and suffered a concussion; COVID upended all of our lives and after catching it in the early days of March 2020, I have been dealing with long covid issues (albeit much less so now, but it's not completely gone.)
In the midst of all that, the book that I've been working on for years had a lot of fits and starts. But I am so thrilled to finally announce that AN INCONVENIENT WIFE is going to be published on April 2, 2024 by Pegasus Crime. I am beyond thrilled to be part of their list. The book description is as follows:
Kate Parker knows what she’s getting into when she marries billionaire businessman Hank Tudor—she’s his sixth wife, after all, and was by his side as his assistant when his fifth marriage to actress Caitlyn Howard fell apart.
But honeymoon plans go awry when a headless body is discovered near Hank’s summer home, forcing Kate to contend with two more of his exes: Catherine Alvarez—the first—who lives as a shut-in with her computers carefully following Tudor Enterprises; and Anna Klein—the fourth—who runs a bed-and-breakfast where she and her wife keep a steady eye on things—particularly Hank’s children, Lizzie and Teddy.
The three women become entwined in a game of cat and mouse with each other, Hank, and Hank’s fixer Tom Cromwell, as Kate seeks to figure out who the murdered woman is, who killed her, if and how she is related to Hank, and whether her death has any connection to the other headless body eight years earlier.
If this sounds familiar, it's because it is. Anyone who knows the story of Henry VIII and his six wives will see that story in this one. I've always wanted to explore a modern retelling. What might Henry and his wives be like in the 21st century? What would the wives be like? Would they get along? Why would the sixth wife actually marry him after seeing his track record with wives?
I've been obsessed with the Tudors since I was 14 and read Mary Luke's A Crown for Elizabeth. I don't generally read historical fiction; in fact, the only novels about the Tudors that I've read are the Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall books and Elizabeth Freemantle's Queen's Gambit. Instead I've read countless biographies by historians Alison Weir, Antonia Fraser, Joanna Denny, David Starkey, Linda Porter, Gareth Russell, and Hayley Nolan.
I was curious what a Tudor historian might think of the book and Joanne Paul, who has written the recent House of Dudley (I haven't read it yet but it's next on my TBR pile), said this about it:
“An Inconvenient Wife is a truly captivating and often startling ‘what if’ adventure, both eerily familiar and entirely unknown. Karen E. Olson brilliantly captures the psychological terror of the Tudor period, translating it into a vivid twenty-first century world. It is clever, captivating and oh-so-difficult to put down; the mystery deepens with every turn of the page. The book combines all the feminist fire of SIX with the dark familial murder-mystery of Knives Out.”—Joanne Paul, author of The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England
This made me so happy!
I've also gotten wonderful endorsements from Alafair Burke, Alison Gaylin, Laura Benedict, Michele Campbell, Reed Farrel Coleman, Elizabeth Freemantle, and Naomi Hirahara.
I hope you'll check out the book! It's up for preorder, and you can find links at my website here.
And if you're a reviewer and would like a review copy or a press kit, please find the link here to email my publisher.
