Corrected fourth edition now available (Oct 2014). 1576. A secret child born to the Queen of England is given to a poor family, to protect the life of the monarch and her lover and to save the country from civil war. 450 years later, a vicar is slain in a churchyard, the only clue a card, showing a heraldic symbol left with the body. Andrew Larkin, a young MI5 officer, aided by an eminent genealogist, is drawn into a race against time to prevent a brutal yet ingenious serial killer from murdering an ever more prominent list of people. Could these murders be linked to the descendants of the child and will the course of British history need to be rewritten? The Royal Descendant is a fast paced thriller that takes the reader from the splendour and political manoeuvring of the court of Elizabeth I, to the intrigue and technology of the intelligence services and the painstaking skills of genealogy, to unravel a historic mystery linked to a modern day killer.