Publisher's Synopsis
Daisy Kirkcaldy (The Last Knight's Daughter) has become the most successful of the small group of female entrepreneurs in Scotland, but success has brought her little joy. While she stayed behind in Scotland awaiting the arrival of her firstborn, Hepburn's merchant ship is blown out of the water by the Spanish near Ostend. Nearly two years pass without any word of survivors and no demand for ransom. With emotional support from Uncle James Melville, her half-brother Gil, and Queen Anne's prim but smitten secretary Will Fowler, she pursues her money-lending enterprises and her fabrication of fine jewelry for the Queen, doing her best to provide a cheerful household environment for her wee bairn, Peter. But, being a wealthy widow makes her vulnerable. Even Queen Anne has been pushing her to accept Hepburn's death and move on with her life. But Daisy is quick to declare she will do no such thing until someone brings her a sack containing her husband's bones. When an assassin attempts to scale the outer walls of Cockie house to enter her second-floor chamber, Daisy has no idea of the motive for the attack, but she suspects is not a robbery. Then, she receives a note from her foster-sister, the French nun known as La Belle Ecossaise, with news that Hepburn may be alive. Sister Marguerite de Kircaldie suspects Will's disappearance may be part of a plot to kill the Scottish king when Elizabeth Tudor dies, replacing him with the Marie Stuart's daughter, a princess born in secret at Loch Leven. But the thwarted attack on Daisy meant to assure her silence was designed by those who had to no appreciation of what it was like to challenge the Last Knight's daughter. Join Daisy and her eclectic group of allies on a bold enterprise ending in a dramatic showdown in the Spanish Netherlands, once again pitting Daisy against Will Hepburn's traitorous cousin Wild Frank Stewart, the half-mad Earl of Bothwell. With the executed Queen of Scots' heartrending secret in the balance, Daisy places her life on the line in a contest in which the English crown is the trophy, and the likely hero is a horse. Join Daisy, Will, and a host of charters from Unknown Princess and The Last Knight's Daughter, along with cameo appearance by Catherine d'Medici's granddaughter, Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, and her husband Archduke Albert of Austria. The newest addition to the Scots in the series is the historical character, Sir Andrew Ker of Oxnam, Master of Jedburgh, who appears as Dand, in honor of his infamous Reiver ancestor, Sir Andrew (Dand) Ker of Ferniehirst, scourge of the Middle Marches during the first half of the 16th Century.
