Appleyard, Susan: - Susan Appleyard is originally from England, where she developed a love for history. She has published fourteen historical fiction novels-two with a traditional publisher-before signing with Ingenium Books. Her books Dark Spirit: Ludwig II the 'Mad' King of Bavaria, In a Gilded Cage, and Queen of Trial and Sorrow have won B.R.A.G. Medallions; In a Gilded Cage was a finalist in the M.M. Bennetts Award for historical fiction and the Wishing Shelf Book Awards; and Bonfire of the Perfect won The Coffee Pot Book Club's Book of the Year Award Gold Medal for medieval historical fiction. Escape of the Grand Duchess is her second book about the Romanovs, after The Disappearance of Michael Romanov. Susan lives part of the year in Canada and the rest in Arizona-no prizes for guessing which part of the year she spends where.