When I first found Amy Bruno’s book touring company for book bloggers in the Autumn of 2013, I remember finding C.W. Gortner had recently toured with her and that struck an interest to seek out a way to host blog tours with Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, as I have always had a keen interest in the historical past as much as I love finding new timescapes inside history to explore! There is such wicked joy in the adventure of seeking out stories either based on living persons and/or original characters drawn out of the imagination of the writers, which tethers me to convicting narratives and exciting time travelling rendezvous points!

When I saw Mr. Gortner was going on tour with The Tudor Vendetta, I realised I had come full circle from being a 1st Year Book Blogger gaining foot and ground within the opening months of going live to the world of readers and book bloggers, carving out my own little niche in the book blogosphere and taking up the conversation with other bookishly engaging spirits as I would come to find them — that now, a full year later, I have the honour of conversing with and hosting the original author who sparked my eye to turn interest into being a host(ess) for Amy Bruno!

How lovely, isn’t it how magical our lives can become whilst we are seeking out stimulating stories and drawing a connection to characters who lived such heroic (at times) and difficult lives?

Book Synopsis:

Winter, 1558: Elizabeth I has ascended the throne but the first days of her reign are already fraught with turmoil, the kingdom weakened by strife and her ability to rule uncertain.

Summoned from exile abroad at the new queen’s behest, Brendan Prescott arrives in London to face his shattered past. He soon finds himself pitted in deadly rivalry with his life-long foe, Robert Dudley, but when a poison attempt overshadows the queen’s coronation, Elizabeth privately dispatches Brendan on a far more dangerous assignation: to find her favored lady-in-waiting, Lady Parry, who has vanished in Yorkshire.

Upon his arrival at the crumbling sea-side manor that may hold the key to Lady Parry’s disappearance, he encounters a strange, impoverished family beset by grief, as well as mounting evidence that they hide a secret from him. The mystery surrounding Lady Parry deepens as Brendan begins to realize there is far more going on at the manor than meets the eye, but the closer he gets to the heart of the mystery, the more he becomes the quarry of an elusive stranger with a vendetta— one that could expose both his own buried identity and a long-hidden revelation that will bring about Elizabeth’s doom.

From the intrigue-laden passages of Whitehall to a foreboding Catholic manor and the prisons of the Tower, Brendan must risk everything to unravel a vendetta that strikes at the very core of his world, including his loyalty to his queen.

The Tudor Vendetta is the third book in Gortner’s Elizabeth I Spymaster Trilogy.

What I found incredible is how when you were having trouble with your stories gaining traction and acceptance, you found inspiration to start to create mysteries; even though you did not have a lot of experience in writing mysteries prior to the Spymaster Chronicles series, which writers and/or tv/movie mysteries were you attracted to and why?

Gortner  responds: Honestly, I rarely watched TV mystery series or read mystery books. I did love Alexander Dumas’s historical novels as a boy, like The Count of Monte Cristo, and Rafael Sabatini’s adventures, like Capitan Blood. But mystery wasn’t a genre I read a lot of. The idea for the Spymaster books just came to me one day out of the blue; I didn’t intend to write a mystery but more of an adventure novel in the spirit of the old swashbucklers that I’d grown up with, a homage to the stories of ordinary men thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

What is the most challenging part about writing a story hinged to the historical past and curates an intriguing mystery for historical fiction lovers to draw themselves into as if our era and the era your writing are not so far apart?

Gortner  responds: I think it’s always challenging to convey the mindset of a person who lived 500 years ago for a modern-day reader. A Tudor person saw and interpreted the world very differently than the way we do, and of course, lived in a world that bears little resemblance to ours. As a writer, I have to find ways to bring the past to life that remains authentic yet doesn’t utterly alienate a modern reader. Many of the things that a Tudor person wouldn’t have frowned upon, such as baiting a chained bear with dogs for entertainment, are repugnant to 21st century sensibilities, so in some ways, my lead character Brendan is more enlightened than his counterparts; he loves animals, for example. This is one of the methods I employ to make him accessible to the reader, while still depicting his staunch loyalty to Elizabeth, which is a very 16th century trait. Brendan’s ultimate reward is not money or power: it’s the chance to serve and protect his sovereign. Read More