1603:The Queen’s Revenge: The Legacy of the Queen of Scots, Book 3

Daisy Kirkcaldy (The Other Daughter) returns to Scotland married to her lover Will Hepburn and confident that their French adventures have assured the safety of the nun La Belle Ecossaise, the mysterious Marguerite Kirkcaldy. Daisy remains in Scotland handling their domestic business enterprises while awaiting the birth of their child while Hepburn travels from Scotland to the thriving ports of the Dutch Republic and his mother’s native Scandinavia. Disaster strikes when Hepburn’s homeward bound convey is sunk by a Spanish fleet with no sign of survivors. With the support of her kinsman Sir James Melvillle, her younger half-brother Gil and the friendship of Queen Anne’s personal secretary Fowler, she pursues the export business and money lending enterprises, while doing her best to provide a happy environment for her wee son Peter. She fends off the advances of the king’s Vice-Chancellor Fowler and her nephew Sir Andrew Ker of Ferniehirst, whose attensions become increasingly aggressive. In spite of her vulnerable position, she refuses to accept Hepburn’s death, but in time even she harbors doubts. Then she receives a note from Sister Marguerite exposing the existence of a desperate plot to kill the Scottish king before Elizabeth Tudor dies, and indicating that Hepburn’s disappearance may be part of it. Just as in The Other Daughter, the knight Kirkcaldy’s daughter in not one to sit on the sidelines. With the help of her great uncle James Melville, Vice-Chancellor Fowler, a mysterious nighttime visitor to her lodge at Kinghorn, and Sister Marguerite’s protectors Renee de Guise, Jamie Maitland and the Duke of Mayenne, Daisy embarks upon an adventure that ends in a dramatic showdown in the Spanish Netherlands, pitting Daisy against the king’s enemy Lord Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, with the midwife’s secret in the balance and the English succession as the ultimate prize.