George MacDonald Fraser wrote The Candlemass Road after completing his research and writing The Steel Bonnets, his nonfiction account of the Anglo-Scottish border Reivers. Young Lady Margaret Dacre was brought up in the genteel fashion at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. When her father is murdered, she inherits his lands in the English West March and is plunged into a world where violence and raiding are commonplace. Fraser's characters are, as always, richly developed through vivid descriptions and witty dialogues. His novel is true to the spirit of the Anglo-Scottish frontier feud.