"Bristling with treachery, death and intrigue, THE TUDOR CONSPIRACY is as fast-paced and thrilling as THE TUDOR SECRET, its predecessor in the ELIZABETH'S SPYMASTER series.
1553: Harsh winter falls across the realm. Mary Tudor has become queen and her enemies are imprisoned in the Tower, but rumours of a plot to depose her swirl around the one person many consider to be England's heir and only hope-- her half-sister, Princess Elizabeth.
Brendan Prescott's foe and mentor, the spymaster Cecil, brings news that sends Brendan back to London on a dangerous mission. Intent upon trying to save Elizabeth, he soon finds himself working as a double-agent for Mary herself.
Plunged into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a shadowy opponent who hides a terrifying secret, Brendan races against time to retrieve a cache of the princess's private letters, even as he begins to realize that in this dark world of betrayal and deceit – where power is supreme and sister can turn against sister – nobody can be trusted."
From here
link
Also an Interview to Christopher Gortner.
"…1) The Tudor period has been written extensively about, both in fiction and non-fiction, what made you set this series there?
When I first decided to write a book set in the Tudor era, I did worry about it being over-done, with many excellent writers having covered the era extensively. However, my research seemed to indicate that unlike the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the so-called forgotten Tudors—Edward VI and Mary I— appeared to be less popularized. Likewise, their reigns were fraught with social and cultural changes that seemed ideal for the type of spy adventure I wanted to write, featuring a young man with a secret past who becomes a protector of Elizabeth before she becomes queen, when she faced some of her greatest challenges and dangers without the benefit of her full royal power. The period after Henry VIII's death and Elizabeth's accession offered a wealth of situations for my fictional spy to engage with; it was the perfect milieu for Brendan and his friends.
2) How much research went in to this book?
Far more than will ever show in the final product! I have been researching the Tudors for many years, so it is almost impossible to quantify. For this particular novel, I did a lot of extra research into Mary's reign and events surrounding the Wyatt Revolt, as well as less-accessible research into the sexual mores of the era, the types of entertainments—tawdry and otherwise—available at the time in Southwark, as well as a comprehensive exploration of Old London Bridge. Research for any historical novel takes years, so I was fortunate to have a solid foundation to build upon. More importantly, for me, as well, is researching the emotional and psychological aspects of my characters, in order to understand how they saw and interacted with their world. I try to balance my fiction with the realities of life in the time, to show the underside of the glamour we have come to associate with the Tudors. Television shows and movies depict a far less grim world than it actually was. Death was an ever-present concern, whether from disease, injury, or as the result of a lethal gambit at court. People lived much closer to the edge, which I think lends fascination to the era.
3) Queen Mary is known to history as ‘Bloody Mary' but you write her sympathetically, was this a deliberate ploy or came from researching her?
Mary became a monstrous tyrant through experiences she had; she was not born one. This was a queen who came to the throne relatively late in life, after having endured a traumatic adolescence and embittered young womanhood. She cleaved to her Catholic faith both in her mother's memory and in defiance of those who tried to browbeat her into submission. Faith became an integral part of her being, almost like a defense mechanism. It hardened her personality, leading eventually to the obstinate and often terrifying woman we meet in the book. I also wanted to show her innate compassion toward those she believed were loyal to her, her human need to feel loved and sense of time slipping away, as well as her relentless drive to vindicate the past. Good people can do terrible things; Mary is one of those…"
See here
link
Hope you enjoy!.
Amicalement
Armand
