Mary Beacock Fryer is a well known expert on Upper Canadian history. She has written a trilogy on the Simcoe family: Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe: A Biography, Our Young Soldier: Lieutenant Francis Simcoe, 6 June 1791-6 April 1812, and John Graves Simcoe: 1752-186, A Biography. Among Fryer's other books are Escape, Beginning Again, and Buckskin Pimpernel.