Anne Somerset was born in 1955 and read history at King's College London. Her first book was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1980, since then she has gone on to write five further works on English history. Unnatural Murder: Poison at the Court of James I - an account of the sensational scandal arising from the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury in 1613 - was shortlisted in 1997 for the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger award for non-fiction. Her most recent work was awarded the 2013 Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography. Until his death in 2011, she was married to the artist Matthew Carr. She lives in London with her daughter.