#0.5 – The Tudor Heresy
England, 1548. The young Princess Elizabeth lives in the household of her stepmother Catherine Parr and Catherine’s ambitious new husband, Thomas Seymour. Seymour’s intrusive behaviour towards Elizabeth produces gossip capable of destroying her reputation, while his rivalry with his brother, Lord Protector Edward Seymour, turns the…
#1 – A Queen’s Spy
England, 1553. As Edward VI’s health fails, rival factions prepare to control the succession and prevent the return of Catholic rule. Richard Fitzwarren, a disgraced nobleman surviving as a mercenary, is drawn back from exile and into a covert struggle surrounding Princess Elizabeth. His knowledge of…
#2 – A Queen’s Traitor
Richard Fitzwarren has been branded a traitor after resisting a scheme to remove Princess Elizabeth from the succession. Protestant reformers now plan to take her abroad, believing that exile will protect their future figurehead from Mary I’s government. Elizabeth refuses to abandon England, leaving Richard to…
#3 – A Queen’s Mercenary
Richard and Jack Fitzwarren travel towards Venice with a stolen shipment of weapons and a plan to sell it to the highest bidder. Their preferred customers are connected to the Knights of St John in Malta, but the Order’s political interests, the brothers’ uncertain ownership of…
#4 – A Queen’s Knight
Richard Fitzwarren has lost his name, property and apparent identity to Andrew Kineer, and he and Jack must recover what was taken before their enemies make the dispossession permanent. Their struggle continues around the Mediterranean world of the Knights of St John, where military obligation, imprisonment…
#5 – A Queen’s Assassin
Richard and Jack return from Europe carrying obligations to the Knights of St John and hoping to free Lizbet and the men held on Malta. Andrew Kineer is travelling towards England with plans of his own, and the brothers must reach home before he can convert…
#6 – A Queen’s Executioner
Richard Fitzwarren is ordered to find Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, during his exile in Italy. Courtenay’s royal descent and association with Wyatt’s Rebellion have made him a continuing threat to Mary I’s government, particularly because marriage to Princess Elizabeth could unite a rival dynastic claim…
#7 – A Queen’s Champion
Richard and Jack Fitzwarren return to England after years shaped by exile, mercenary work and the Knights of St John. Elizabeth’s accession appears to offer Richard the recognition and protection that his loyalty has long been denied. Yet royal favour cannot automatically restore property, settle old…
#8 – A Queen’s Conspirator
In 1559, Protestant Scottish nobles seek English help against the French forces supporting Mary of Guise. William Cecil gives Richard Fitzwarren a mission that the government must be able to deny: escort the reformer John Knox safely towards Scotland, where his preaching can strengthen the Lords…
#9 – A Queen’s Rebel
Elizabeth I’s reign begins with promises of stability, but the settlement of religion leaves Catholics and Protestants watching one another for signs of disloyalty. Richard Fitzwarren had hoped that Mary I’s persecutions would end with her death; instead, he sees pressure building against landowners and officeholders…
#10 – A Queen’s Privateer
Early in Elizabeth I’s reign, the London sailor and former thief Jack Stannard is pressed into a covert Atlantic voyage aboard the privateer Lucianna. Richard Fitzwarren travels as the queen’s envoy, accompanied by Emilio, an exiled knight from Malta. Their task is to gather intelligence about…