The Twylight Tower - An Elizabeth I Mystery

Zusatztext “Harper’s exquisite mastery of the period! lively dialogue! energetic plot! devious characters! and excellent rendition of the willful queen make this a pleasure....” –Library Journal “An intoxicating blending of historical pageantry with 21st-century suspense laced with high drama and deadly intrigue.” –Abilene Reporter-News (Tex.) Informationen zum Autor Karen Harper is the author of two previous Elizabeth I mysteries, The Tidal Poole and The Poyson Garden , as well as a number of contemporary suspense and historical novels. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, and Naples, Florida. Klappentext It is May 1560. As sinister storm clouds gather overhead, twenty-six-year-old Queen Elizabeth dispatches William Cecil, her most trusted adviser, to Scotland for crucial negotiations. Handsome, ambitious Lord Robert Dudley is at her side. But their leisurely midsummer idyll is cut short when the court's master lutenist plunges to his death from a parapet beneath the queen's window. The loyal retainers of Elizabeth's privy council do not accept the official verdict of accidental death. Their fears are borne out when another tragedy rocks the realm, and points the way to a conspiracy to bring down Elizabeth and seize the throne. As ill winds of treachery swirl around the court, and suspicion falls on those within Elizabeth's intimate circle, a vengeful enemy slips from the shadows...a traitorous usurper who would be sovereign. With The Twylight Tower, Karen Harper brings a legendary era to life, drawing us into an intoxicating world of majesty and mayhem, political intrigue and adventure...where danger is everywhere...and where a young queen journeys to greatness in the long shadow of her bloodstained past.Pastime with good company I love and shall until I die. Grudge who will but none deny May God be pleased, thus live will I For my pastance, hunt, sing, and dance My heart is set on goodly sport For my comfort, who shall me let? --King Henry VIII July 28, 1560 William Cecil strode rapidly from his hired barge through the edge of town to Richmond Palace. Though but forty years old, the pounding ride from Edinburgh had made mincemeat of his muscles, so he'd managed to come the last few miles on the Thames. Usually he was glad to see the tower-topped silhouette of Richmond, the queen's favorite summer home, but today he wasn't so sure. Rumors the queen was besotted with Robert Dudley were rampant, even in the northern shires, and he could tell from afar she was letting her royal duties slide. Did she think the business of her kingdom could go on a holiday at her whim? He'd been away from court two months, and that was two months too long. Cecil stopped and stared at the looming palace. Situated eight miles outside London with thick orchards and a game-filled park embracing it, Richmond offered all sorts of pleasant diversions and escapes, though this visit promised neither. As he gripped the leather satchel with his important papers close to his chest, hoping something would calm him, his eyes skimmed the balanced beauty of the place. Unlike jumbled Whitehall, the queen's principal palace in London, the main structure here had been laid out in a planned and orderly fashion. It was a place after his own heart, he thought as he trudged across the outer quadrangle. The first Tudor ruler, the queen's grandfather, King Henry VII, a stern and disciplined man, had overseen Richmond's construction. Ironic, Cecil mused, that his heir, Henry VIII, was of the opposite disposition, all passion, appetites, and swagger. And their heir Elizabeth? Somehow she was both personalities at war with each other. "Good for you, Lord Secretary, settling the Scots war with profit for our England!" someone called to him from a cluster of courtiers as he entered the gate to the middle court. He lifted his free arm in reply, but ke...

Product details

• Authors: Karen Harper
• Publisher: Dell Publishing Inc.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 29.01.2002
• EAN: 9780440235927
• ISBN: 978-0-440-23592-7
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 107 mm x 171 mm x 20 mm
• Series: Elizabeth I; Elizabeth I; Elizabeth I Mystery
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature