Sub Title: Discovering the Missing Princes in the Tower
Author: Elizabeth St.John
Publication Date: 15th October, 2024
Publisher: Falcon Historical
Pages: 494
Genre: Historical Fiction
London, 1674: When children’s bones are unexpectedly unearthed in the Tower of London, England’s most haunting mystery—the fate of the missing princes—is reignited.
Franny Apsley, trusted confidante to Charles II’s beloved niece and heir, Lady Mary Stuart, is caught up in the court’s excitement surrounding the find. Yet, as a dark family secret comes to light, Franny realises the truth behind the missing princes is far more complex—and dangerous—than anyone suspects. Recruited by her formidable cousin Nan Wilmot, Dowager Countess of Rochester, to discover the truth behind the bones, Franny is thrust into the shadowy world of intelligencers.
But her quest is complicated by an attraction to the charismatic court artist Nicholas Jameson, a recent arrival from Paris who harbours secrets of his own.
Pursued by Nicholas, Franny searches for evidence hidden in secret family letters and paintings, and uncovers a startling diplomatic plot involving Lady Mary, which causes Franny to question her own judgment, threatens the throne, and sets England on a course for war. With only her courage and the guidance of an enigmatic spy within the royal household, Franny must decide how far she will go to expose the truth—and whether that truth will lead to England’s salvation or her own heartbreak.
In a glittering and debauched society where love is treacherous and loyalty masked, Franny must navigate a world where a woman’s voice is often silenced and confront the ultimate question: What is she willing to risk for the sake of her country, her happiness, and her family’s safety?
A captivating historical novel of conspiracy, passion, and courage, The King’s Intelligencer is one woman's quest for a truth that could change the fate of a nation. A companion to the critically acclaimed best-selling novels The Godmother’s Secret and The Lydiard Chronicles, The King’s Intelligencer weaves together beloved characters and actual events to bring a suspenseful mystery to life.
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Author Bio:
Elizabeth St.John’s critically acclaimed historical fiction novels tell the stories of her ancestors: extraordinary women whose intriguing kinship with England's kings and queens brings an intimately unique perspective to Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times.
Inspired by family archives and residences from Lydiard Park to the Tower of London, Elizabeth spends much of her time exploring ancestral portraits, diaries, and lost gardens. And encountering the occasional ghost. But that’s another story.
Living between California, England, and the past, Elizabeth is the International Ambassador for The Friends of Lydiard Park, an English charity dedicated to conserving and enhancing this beautiful centuries-old country house and park. As a curator for The Lydiard Archives, she is constantly looking for an undiscovered treasure to inspire her next novel.
Elizabeth's works include The Lydiard Chronicles, a trilogy set in 17th-century England during the Civil War, and The Godmother's Secret, which unravels the medieval mystery of the missing princes in the Tower of London. Her latest release, The King’s Intelligencer, follows Franny Apsley's perilous quest to uncover the truth behind the sudden discovery of the princes' bones. In Charles II's court of intrigue and deceit, Franny must decide what she’ll risk—for England’s salvation, her family's safety, and her own happiness.
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The King’s Intelligencer - Chapter 5
Tower Green was inviting and
enticing with the fresh tang of a July night meadow after the dank enclosure of
More’s cell. Behind her, the last of the courtiers fanned out
across the grass, Rochester directing the setting of carpets and food, the
staging of musicians, and the distribution of wine. Guards stood at the
corners, watching but obviously warned by Robinson not to interfere.
Franny had done the best she could,
gaining admission to the Tower. There was no chance to see the bones, after
all. The only consolation for Nan was neither could anyone else, under Robinson’s
watch. Now all she wanted was to go back to her apartments at St. James’s
Palace and hand the legacy of the dead princes to someone else. They were not
her problem, whatever Nan thought.
She wandered back to Coldharbour
Gate and entered the ruins of the royal lodgings. Summer’s
cloudless moon had alchemised from silver to gold, risen above the ramparts,
sharpening the outline of a derelict great hall, crumbling towers, and a
spectre of forgotten gardens. A distant candle flickered in a window in the
Lanthorn Tower, and someone had lit the beacon at the top, a signal to ships
navigating the dark river waters they had reached the safe harbour of the
Tower.
Walking around the broken
foundations and soaring walls, ruined ghosts of the grand residence where once
kings lived and played, Franny sat on a stone overlooking the hedged bones of
the privy garden and let the quiet of the ancient palace seep into her.
“Withdrew them to the inner walls of
the Tower proper, ‘til at length they ceased to appear altogether.” The man’s
voice breathed so close to her that she jumped up, her heart beating in her
throat. It was, however, no ghost, but the very real figure of Nicholas
Jameson.
“What
do you mean?” Franny demanded. “And why do you come upon me stealthily?”
He stepped upon the wall and
dropped lightly over to her side. “You were in deep thought. And I was
simply describing the last place the princes were seen before disappearing.
Don’t tell me you’re not interested.”
“I’m
not.” Franny was truthful. After this evening, she really wanted to rebury the
princes and be done.
“And
yet you’re here, tonight, looking for them.”
“There’s
nothing to look for, now they are found.”
“And
yet for so long they were lost. Don’t you want to know how they vanished?”
Nicholas Jameson looked up at the White Tower, his profile clear against the
starlit sky. “Who was with them those last days?”
He took her hand. She stood up. Was
it the darkness which made her daring? “It’s a well-known fact. King
Richard murdered them.”
“As
said More. I just quoted the letters of Mancini, an Italian spy in London that
summer.” Nicholas stepped over a fallen beam, helped her across. “He wrote he did not know what
happened to them. They simply disappeared.”
“I
suppose there are many places for them to have been hidden.”
“Or
killed. And buried.” Nicholas nodded towards the keep. “You were there when
their bones were unearthed. You must have felt something.”
“Yes.”
Franny was hesitant to share her conflicting feelings, as piebald as a magpie. Relief
the princes could finally be buried in peace. Sorrow their bones had been
found.
He caught her thought. “I
had hoped they were not murdered. But Thomas More’s account is fully detailed.”
Taking her hand, he walked further towards the keep. “Metely deep, by a staircase. He gives names, method, timing. And
now, it seems, the proof, in the discovery.”
“Proof?”
She tried to ignore the heat of his palm in hers.
“That
an English king slaughtered his own nephews to gain the throne.”
“You
are well-read in their history.” This man was mercurial in his moods.
Perplexing at Westminster Abbey. Teasing as he left the balcony at Whitehall.
Today, thoughtful, educated, as he talked of the bones. Unusual for a courtier
to speak without jest or flattery. But then this man was not a courtier. Had
contempt for them, even. She remembered Rochester’s words. “Especially for a
man from the Paris court.”
“The
missing princes is a story which never dies,” he replied. “Whether it is retold
in England or France. And always the mystery returns to the Tower.” Still, he
held her hand.
'A real page turner' is a compliment made for many novels - in the case of The King's Intelligencer: The Discovery of the Missing Princes in the Tower it's perfectly true. I was rather pleased that I was reading on a Kindle, not a paperback, because it was so hard to resist finding out 'what happens next?' ... easy to succumb to a quick look in a book, not so easy with an e-reader!
I honestly couldn't put this one down. Apart from the magnificent writing, compulsive plot and intriguing characters, I think this was because I couldn't guess what would happen next or at the end, apart, of course, that I knew the princes are the ones acknowledged today in Westminster Abbey. But there's more to it than that - as I discovered in this wonderful novel.
I loved the way Ms St.John so expertly blended together the facts (what little there are) and the imagined fiction, and also tied this story seamlessly with her previous The Godmother's Secret. Add to that, there is the bonus that this novel is not just a romance or an historical novel, but it's a historical 'whodunit' mystery! All that in one novel! Wow!
The characters were compelling (no spoilers!) ... will they, won't they? Is he, isn't he? When Franny was tempted: "No, no, no, you silly girl...!!!"
So: compelling, engrossing, entertaining, beautifully written, food for thought... what more can I say?
How about:
"Probably the best novel of history and mystery that I have ever read, with barely a pause for breath, in a long while. Ms St.John must rank as one of our top independent writers. She's a hard act for other authors to follow."
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