The King's Stolen Jewels

by Adele Jordan

The Tudor cutpurses are back in a festive mystery! For fans of S J Parris, Andrew Taylor, S W Perry and Andrew Swanston.

Goodwill to all men … including thieves…

Christmas, 1536

Thief-turned-espionage-agent Gwynnie Wightham is stunned by the reappearance of her mother, Emlyn, who is supposed to be on the run.

Emlyn has returned to Greenwich Palace to enlist Gwynnie’s help. She has discovered the location of a hoard of jewels taken from King Henry VIII fourteen years earlier.

But as she is injured and wanted by the authorities, she cannot recover them on her own.

She wants Gwynnie to join her once more as a shadow cutpurse, risking their necks for the chance at a life-changing reward.

Gwynnie is not convinced, but she knows that if her employer Elric Tombstone discovers Emlyn, she will be hanged for murder.

Can Gwynnie keep her mother from the noose? Will she be persuaded to return to her old ways?

Or has she renounced the Shadow Cutpurses for good…?

THE KING’S STOLEN JEWELS is the fourth book in the Shadow Cutpurses Tudor Thriller Series. It is a thrilling historical espionage adventure during King Henry VIII’s reign in England with a feisty female lead.

THE SHADOW CUTPURSES TUDOR THRILLER
Book Murder at Greenwich Palace
Book Death at The Tower
Book The Body in the Chamber
Book The King’s Stolen Jewels

239 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 27, 2026

About the author

Adele is a writer with a fascination for history. Her focus is fiction in the Tudor era, telling the stories of women and adventure. Whether it’s inspired by true events or created purely from imagination, she desires to write stories from this captivating era that haven’t been written before of those on the edges of society, the paupers, the spies, the workers and those who have not had a voice.

Adele studied English at the University of Exeter before moving into an eclectic career of publishing and marketing. Having worked with the National Trust’s photography department for two years, Adele travelled the country to visit the landscapes and historical places that have carved England and Wales’ heritage. When Covid struck, the job disappeared overnight, and Adele committed her time to ghost writing and authoring her own stories, returning to her childhood dream job. Since then, she has had over twenty successful books published as a ghost writer and hopes to turn that success into stories now written in her own name.

Reviews

[NikyB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another story involving Gwynnie and her mother at the Tudor Court. This time we are looking for stolen jewels and then dealing with a reappearance of an arch enemy. Not quite as gripping as previous stories but still enjoyable.

[MidgeB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick little palate cleanser set in Tudor times at the palace of Henry VIII. I enjoy these mysteries - they are easily readable I finished this in less than 24 hours

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each book in this Shadow Cutpurses Tudor Thrillers series just gets better and better! The King's Stolen Jewels is set at Greenwich Palace during the 1536 Christmas season. (Henry VIII is married to Jane Seymour, the Pilgrimage of Grace is over, and the River Thames freezes over.) The genius of this series is that Ms. Jordan's characters are fictional but interact with historical figures. I particularly like the cultural context that frames how women of all social statuses lived and dealt with the gender inequalities. I admit I wasn't pleased that Gwynnie's mother made a reappearance, knowing that trouble always follows her, and it did. I was shocked at the return of a dangerous villain from a previous book, but I love it when an author surprises me like that. Learning that poor women waded into the Thames as leech bait so they could sell them at the market made me break out in a sweat. I hate leeches! (When I was a child, during the monsoon season, we had to carry small bags of rock salt in our pockets to make leeches detach from our arms and legs...ewww.) Except for the leeches episode, The King's Stolen Jewels was everything I hoped it would be, and now I impatiently await the next one.

[Maya Ch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas 1536 at Greenwich palace, Thames is frozen and festivities are moved to icy surface.
Emlyn is back and possessed with finding the long lost loot of king’s jewels. Gwynnie, being a loving daughter, has to help her , even against her best judgment. Tombstone is always a friend.
Entertaining and light read.