About the Author
Samantha J. Mason is a homeschooling mother of two who writes from the foothills of North Carolina, where history feels close enough to touch. She crafts character-driven historical mysteries inspired by real events, forgotten oddities, and the wonderfully strange corners of the past.
Her debut novel, The Palace Mix-Up, is a testament to her favorite things: clever heroines, twisty conspiracies, and the kind of historical details that make readers say, "Wait… that actually happened?" Samantha delights in uncovering the quirks, secrets, and surprising truths hidden in old archives and weaving them into stories filled with humor and heart.
When she isn't writing, Samantha can be found exploring mountain trails with her family, reading by a campfire, or doing her best thinking with a marshmallow in hand.
On Writing Historical Mystery
History is full of gaps — and those gaps are where stories live. The Victorian era in particular is rich with contradiction: breathtaking innovation alongside rigid class structures, imperial grandeur alongside secret unraveling. Penny Pym is Samantha's way of asking what happens when someone who doesn't fit the expected mold walks into the center of it all.
The palace cats, the forged letter, the Diamond Jubilee — the research that went into The Palace Mix-Up turned up surprises at every turn. That's the gift of history: the truth is often stranger, and richer, than anything you could invent.