What really happened to Edward and Richard, two young English princes who vanished from the Tower of London six hundred years ago? Were they murdered by agents of their uncle, Richard III, who was next in line to the throne and became king after their disappearance? Or was there a happier ending for them? Were they spirited away in the dead of night? Did they grow up on foreign shores, safely out of harms way, perhaps plotting their return to England?
In the 17th century, an astounding twist deepened this mystery even further. Children’s bones were discovered in the Tower of London, under the stairs of the room occupied by the boys two centuries before. Were these the princes’ bones? If they didn’t belong to the princes, whose bones were they? (DNA evidence would likely solve this riddle for all time, but the Royal Family of England so far has refused to allow scientific analysis of the bones.)
When English novelist Elizabeth St.John wrote her gripping novel The Godmother’s Secret about this enduring mystery, I was captivated. Set in the 15th century during the tumultuous Wars of the Roses period that culminated with the rise of the Tudor dynasty, the book drew on Elizabeth’s own family history. It stars her ancestress, Elizabeth Scrope, who was godmother to one of those princes and intricately involved in their astonishing story.
St.John’s new novel, The King’s Intelligencer, picks up the threads of that mystery by returning to the heart of the matter: those mysterious bones in the Tower of London. Discovered in 1674 during the tumultuous reign of Charles II, the children’s bones pose a threat to some of England’s most powerful families—and even to the monarchy itself. St.John’s ancestress Franny Apsley is the heroine of this spectacular tale, and it is her family that stands to lose everything if the bones’ dark secret is revealed.
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. I was mesmerized by Franny’s quest to solve the riddle of the bones while keeping her family safe—and her adventures in the debauched court of Charles II are gorgeously written. Read on for my review of this gripping and thoroughly entertaining novel.
With The King’s Intelligencer, Elizabeth St.John delivers a tale that’s got it all: dazzling court drama, brilliant characters, stunning world-building, sizzling plot twists…and a spectacular conclusion.
The King’s Intelligencer is a marvel of plot, pacing, and characterization, and Elizabeth St.John is a master of storytelling. Each setting—from Westminster Abbey to the Tower of London to the bucolic countryside—is beautifully rendered. The characters are gorgeously wrought, and their relationships rich and riveting. And the high-stakes royal intrigue will keep you turning the pages far into the night.
Franny Apsley is a captivating heroine, confident and courageous, torn by conflicting loyalties within her own family and the royal court but dogged in her pursuit of the truth about mysterious children’s bones discovered in the Tower of London. Franny’s puzzle-solving sleuth work is nothing short of intoxicating for a mystery fan like myself. As an intelligencer, she walks a tightrope of duplicity at great personal risk, and the stakes rise with every step she takes toward the novel’s stunning conclusion.
The breathtaking reveals and revelations in the final third of the book are an exhilarating rollercoaster ride, and the novel’s spectacular finale is deeply satisfying. The King’s Intelligencer is a perfect companion to Ms. St.John’s previous novels, The Godmother’s Secret and The Lydiard Chronicles. Highly recommended.
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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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