top of page

BLOG: Intelligencers, Spies, and Secret Agents

Greetings, dear readers. I received uplifting news this week. WEST OF SANTILLANE is Long-Listed for the Chanticleer International Book Awards, Goethe Division. Next, it will be judged for a slot in the Short-List, as the competition continues to heat up. I'll certainly be crowing about it if it makes it that far!


Next, I am so excited about this week's blog post. Elizabeth St. John is one of my favorite colleagues. We share a fabulous editor, and are also members of the same author support group. She's become such a cherished friend and has visited Brook's Journal before. Her novels center around her thrilling ancestral history, which is well-preserved within a stately British estate, known as Lydiard Park.


St. John's last award-winning book, The Godmother's Secret, takes place during the Wars of the Roses, and was truly a hit with readers. I loved it so much, I had Liz send me a copy of it for my cousin's Christmas present! It focused on the disappearance of the two princes in the Tower of London, and what might have occurred. It remains a perplexing historical mystery that is now being investigated by Philippa Langley, the same woman who located Richard III's grave beneath a parking lot.


For those of us who simply adored that novel, now there is The King's Intelligencer--a companion novel to Godmother--which just launched this week. It revolves around the discovery of two skeletons in the Tower of London, which Charles II's court immediately assume to be the two missing princes. But are they? One young woman--another of St. John's actual ancestresses--is charged to find out.


It has been a joy being able to be an advance reader for my friend, "Liz". Her work never disappoints, and if you haven't had opportunity to read The Godmother's Secret, I encourage you to get on board, so you can progress to The King's Intelligencer. And that title? The word "intelligencer" had never been a part of my vocabulary! Therefore, Elizabeth St. John is joining us this week on Brook's Journal to inform us more about this subject. Welcome back, Liz. Congrats on yet another fantastic book being born!


Read on, everyone.



ALL ABOUT THE BOOK


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.



Intelligencers, Spies and Secret Agents:

A family tradition portrayed in The King’s Intelligencer

By: Elizabeth St. John


Researching family history can be an immersive and often surprising journey. While working on Written in Their Stars, part of The Lydiard Chronicles, I uncovered a family tradition of spy craft. The novel follows three extraordinary women—Luce Hutchinson, Frances Apsley, and Nan Wilmot—who played active roles in shaping history through rebellion and espionage during the English Civil War. This earlier generation of ancestors involved in intelligence work for King Charles fascinated me, and I knew I wanted to explore it further. Little did I know that I would find the perfect intelligencer protagonist in Franny Apsley, Nan Wilmot’s ambitious young cousin, and a favourite to the future Queen Mary.


The inspiration for The King’s Intelligencer emerged from my research for The Godmother’s Secret, which delves into the story of the missing princes in the Tower of London. During my research, I spent time at Westminster Abbey, particularly in the Chapel of the Innocents, where Sir Christopher Wren’s white marble urn is displayed, just by the glorious tomb of Elizabeth I.



Commissioned in 1675 by Charles II, the urn supposedly holds the bones of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York—the two princes who disappeared in the Tower of London. The inscription claims that these brothers, confined in the Tower, were stifled with pillows and buried at the order of their “perfidious uncle Richard the Usurper”. The bones discovered in the Tower after being buried for 191 years.



But as I stood near the urn, only steps away from where Franny Apsley’s real-life seventeenth-century parents, Sir Allen Apsley and Frances Apsley, are buried, I couldn’t help but question this official story. This curiosity led me to Helen Maurer’s paper Bones in the Tower: A Discussion of Time, Place and Circumstance, which raises doubts about the authenticity of the bones. Further investigation, including Annette Carson’s article The Bones in the Urn, provided even more questions. What if these bones weren’t the princes’ at all, but a politically convenient discovery for Charles II to solidify his claim to the throne? After all, this was a time of intense political intrigue, where religion, power, and royal loyalty were in constant conflict.


Charles’s reign was marked by deep religious divides between Protestants and Catholics, and the political landscape was shaped by these tensions. While the king outwardly practiced Protestantism, he was notably tolerant of Catholics and converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. His brother, James II, was openly Catholic, a fact that led to his short-lived reign before being deposed by his Protestant daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange. It was in this atmosphere of religious and political conflict that espionage flourished. The role of “intelligencers” emerged as crucial in gathering information—often through subtle, unofficial means. A friend once joked that intelligencers were the 17th-century equivalent of people who sit in coffee shops eavesdropping on conversations. That description resonated with me and perfectly fit not only the world of historical espionage but also my character, Franny Apsley, who would thrive in such an environment.


In real life, Franny’s family was deeply involved in this secretive world. Her parents, Sir Allen and Frances Apsley, as well as her cousin Nan Wilmot, Countess of Rochester, were involved in espionage during the English Civil War, before Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660. Allen was one of the founders of The Sealed Knot, a Royalist spy network, while Nan was known for befuddling Cromwell with her subterfuge to save her home, Ditchley Park, from sequestration. Later, Franny’s brother, Peter Apsley, was listed as an intelligencer for both Charles and his brother, James II, receiving substantial payments for his covert work. These activities formed the backbone of The King’s Intelligencer.


I’ve always enjoyed novels that incorporate historical texts and hidden meanings concealed within paintings. In The King’s Intelligencer, I drew on elements from Lydiard Park’s history, including ancient books and painted monuments. Franny Apsley’s search through family documents and memorials offered rich opportunities for clues to the real mystery of the missing princes, sharpening her investigative skills.

Wanting to not only write about family history but also place it in the context of the wider national landscape, I also incorporated into the novel the fascinating discovery of King Charles II’s Secret Treaty of Dover. In this treaty, Charles secretly agreed to declare himself a Catholic in exchange for financial support from King Louis XIV of France. Though I fictionalized some elements of another treaty between James and the French king, it was well-known at the time that Charles and James were deeply involved in secret negotiations with France, hidden from the public for over a century.


The King’s Intelligencer connects these family stories and national events in an immersive historical novel filled with conspiracy, passion, and courage. Following Franny Apsley as she embarks on a dangerous quest for truth, the novel blends fiction with fact, inspired by the hidden history I uncovered in both public records and private archives. This novel is a companion to The Godmother’s Secret and The Lydiard Chronicles, continuing the exploration of secrets buried in the past.



ALL ABOUT ELIZABETH ST. JOHN


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.


CONNECT WITH ELIZABETH



BUY A BOOK!!!


***This title is available on KindleUnlimited***

~Click the bookcover for buy-link.~


+















































16 views1 comment

1 Comment


Liz St.John
Liz St.John
Oct 17

Thanks for having me on your fabulous blog, Brook! And CONGRATS on the Chanticleer Long List - you've got this!

Like
bottom of page