Lament for a Lost Lover by Philippa Carr
Various editions, circa 1977
Daughters of England Series, book 5
My previous reviews from this series

I edited this synopsis myself to avoid spoilers:

Against the background of an England torn by civil war, religious persecution, and political treachery in the turbulent era of Cromwell and the Stuart Restoration, Philippa Carr has set the passionate story of Arabella Tolworthy, whose loves and destiny are inextricably linked to the plight of her nation.

The dethroned Charles I had met the executioner's ax with regal calm, and as Oliver Cromwell tightened his Puritan grip on English church and state, thousands of royalists fled their confiscated lands. Among them was young Arabella, her family seeking safe harbor in France where they hoped to serve the exiled royal heir, Charles II. Separated from her parents, confronted by the unaccustomed hardships of political banishment, she finds solace in the company or the ravishing and charismatic actress, Harriet Main.

Little does Arabella suspect the threat Harriet will pose to her future happiness.
Nor does she envision what lies ahead when dashing Edwin Eversleigh, Cavalier and heir to a titular fortune, makes her his bride after a whirlwind courtship. For in the deceptive peace following Parliament's Restoration of the Crown,  Arabella returns to England bearing a new scion of the Eversleigh estate.
With its skillful narrative, Lament for a Lost Lover is a worthy and engrossing successor to the previous novels of the Daughters of England saga.

This is the fifth Carr book I've read, which is a series written under a pseudonym of Jean Plaidy/Eleanor Hibbert. My fellow Carr reader and I had a mini read along as we could not wait to get to the next book in the Daughters of England series after finishing book 4, Saraband for Two Sisters. The story picks up with the next generation, and Arabella does not disappoint. What was a pivotal character in this one, the witchy one again - was Harriet. Once Harriet comes along, poor Arabella doesn't know which way was up. She had a fascination for the dramatic Harriet and Arabella lets herself be led around like a marionette. It was wicked fun to watch and while the Gothic tones were minimal in this one, there was still a sinister something out there that was a dun dun dunnnn waiting to happen.

I really enjoy these novels in spite of the formulaic plots centered around marriage, birth and death. The characters are the spice of the story, and there are many times the reader could be screaming at the character to open your eyes! I loved how the historical details were a little more in depth with this novel as the focus was always on whether Charles could have his English Crown back.The London Fire and the plague also make their appearance, and how it affects Arabella is part of the novel.

The next novel looks completely totally delish and I cannot wait to read book six, The Love Child. I need to make sure my life is not too crazy because I want to be able to enjoy that one, too! Come visit our Goodreads group for more read alongs on Jean Plaidy's works.

Saraband for Two Sisters by Philippa Carr
Published 1976
The Miracle at St. Bruno's -read my review
The Lion Triumphant - read my review
The Witch From the Sea- read, but never reviewed here.

Synopsis:

Angelet and Bersaba. They were identical twins, but their alikeness stopped at their physical appearance. Angelet was gentle and mild in her innocence. While Bersaba was dark and devious in her overwhelming sensuality. They had never been apart--until Bersaba became ill. Angelet was immediately packed off to London. There she met and married Richard Tolworthy and went to live at the handsome, brooding manor house at Far Flamstead. Bersaba had always thought she would be the first to wed. Recovered, she went to visit the newlyweds with more jealousy than joy in her heart. Nothing could have prepared her for the secrets she discovered there. Secrets of a carefully hidden past that could unleash dangerous passions and forever separate her from the sister she had always loved...

This is the fourth novel I have read of the Daughters of England series created by Philippa Carr who is also known as Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt. The series is a historical gothic romance saga that follows the same family tree from one generation to the next, set against intriguing backdrops of historical importance. While Plaidy's work can be incessantly dry and monotonous as she details historical events with her royal character portrayals, the Carr pen name allowed her to freely carve out fanciful reimaginings with some pretty far-fetched plots which makes it so much fun to read.

The previous novel The Witch from The Sea brought us the story of a woman being washed ashore and the drama that was caused by her arrival. In Saraband for Two Sisters that woman's daughter arrives back at Trystan Priory and creates turmoil within the lives of twins Angelet and Bersaba. This novel is told in alternating first person accounts by these sisters, who are twins only in appearance. Their characters are developed before our eyes as Bersaba is the impetuous passionate one, and Angelet is the sweeter kinder of the two. The reign of King Charles is at question in England and the two key men in the novel are at opposite ends of the political beliefs of the time: Royalist and Puritan. Of course, the twins wind up with one of each.

Wild events occur from smallpox and secrets of a mysterious castle, poisons and falling in love with the wrong men. It was fast paced and seemed better to stomach than the previous novel; with some of the previous Carr novels the males were portrayed as overbearing brutes and this one only seems to have the recurring character of the grumpy maniacal Grandfather Casvellyn as the mean man. The others were pretty darned good to a fault. This time...I know it can't last forever.

These are the type of novels that you can't go too much into the detail without giving away a spoiler, so I will end it here with the remarks that I enjoy the Daughters of England series for the dramatic license it exhibits even while still setting a historical tone, and the characters are so easy to root for. The gothic suspense with romance thrown in is always a treat and whenever I finish a Carr novel I always want to binge read and move on to the next one. These novels would have made a fantastic TV series with awesome instrumentals playing in the background.

Since I own all the titles, just for kicks I looked up the next book: Lament for A Lost Lover and it will bring us more turbulent political drama of Cromwell and will follow the daughter of Bersaba as they are forced away from their home to take exile with the rightful king.

The Passionate Enemies: Book 3 of the Norman Trilogy by Jean Plaidy
First published about 1976
Not even gonna try to rate this bad boy

This is the third and final book in The Norman Trilogy and tells the story of the last days of the reign of Henry I. His son and wife are dead, and Henry hastily remarries a woman more than thirty years his junior in the hope of producing a male heir and securing the succession.

If he fails, the throne will pass to Matilda, and Henry fears that his nobles will not willingly serve a woman. But after his death this feckless daughter becomes the focus of a line of would-be kings and soon the country is plunged into a bitter civil war that only a child can undo.

What a thorn in my side this book was. I was so looking forward to getting to a Plaidy historical, for Jean Plaidy has been lauded as a favorite author by many. I have seen many posts by people who state that they read her novels when in high school and loved them so. I wanted to love this book, but much like book two of the Norman trilogy, this was a major bomb.

The story follows the timeline of Empress Matilda and her cousin Stephen, when Henry I is aging and needs to name a successor since his one legitimate son perished on the White Ship. The characters of the Empress and Stephen were repeatedly cemented in throughout the novel: the Empress: a virago, and Stephen, the weak usurper.

The novel has a bit of floof to it as well, with the Empress and Stephen secretly in love (which is not a secret or a spoiler since that is what the synopsis implies). The Empress could wield the magic stick and bring Stephen to his knees, pretty much the whole entire novel was the going back and forth .. one of my Goodreads status updates was "Please don't be more about how Stephen wants Matilda and Matilda holds crown over Stephen's head."

Among the many repeated themes in the novel was the fact that the Empress was named Matilda and Stephen's queen was also Matilda. Over and over again the two Matildas were compared to each other, mostly as Stephen mooned over one while ignoring the other. The novel was so very character focused that one does not completely get the feel of how England suffered during the turmoil of the Stephen vs. Empress wars.

I started the novel in the beginning of August. The dog then ate the book, so I had a week off while I waited for another copy. I finally finished the book on September 8. Not exactly one of those page turning novels!
I think over the years the historical fiction genre has seen the rise of excellent writers such as Sharon Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick which then makes picking up a practically vintage Plaidy a hit or miss type of option.

I have enjoyed the three novels I've read under the Phillippa Carr pseudonym, and definitely will return to that series before I can brave another Jean Plaidy.

Thank you so much to MaryKate to being my fellow sufferer. Though perhaps I would have fed the second copy of the book to the dog if I didn't have someone waiting on me for a readalong. BUT it was nice to  have someone who understood what I was going through! The fourth Carr will be our next read along as soon as I can muster up the strength to try again :)

The previous reviews of the Norman trilogy:

The Bastard King Vol. 1
The Lion of Justice Vol. 2
The Passionate Enemies Vol. 3

Not quite so loving, but a saga of a woman's search for it.

The Courts of Love by Jean Plaidy (Queens of England #5)
Published December 30th 1989 by Fawcett (first published 1987)
Personal reading copy
Burton Book Review Rating: 3.5 stars

'When I look back over my long and tempestuous life, I can see that much of what happened to me—my triumphs and most of my misfortunes—was due to my passionate relationships with men. I was a woman who considered herself their equal—and in many ways their superior—but it seemed that I depended on them, while seeking to be the dominant partner—an attitude which could hardly be expected to bring about a harmonious existence.'

Eleanor of Aquitaine was revered for her superior intellect, extraordinary courage, and fierce loyalty. She was equally famous for her turbulent relationships, which included marriages to the kings of both France and England.

As a child, Eleanor reveled in her beloved grandfather’s Courts of Love, where troubadours sang of romantic devotion and passion filled the air. In 1137, at the age of fifteen, Eleanor became Duchess of Aquitaine, the richest province in Europe. A union with Louis VII allowed her to ascend the French throne, yet he was a tepid and possessive man and no match for a young woman raised in the Courts of Love. When Eleanor met the magnetic Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England, their stormy pairing set great change in motion—and produced many sons and daughters, two of whom would one day reign in their own right.

In this majestic and sweeping story, set against a backdrop of medieval politics, intrigue, and strife, Jean Plaidy weaves a tapestry of love, passion, betrayal, and heartbreak—and reveals the life of a most remarkable woman whose iron will and political savvy enabled her to hold her own against the most powerful men of her time.

Historical fiction lovers recognize this prolific author of Jean Plaidy who goes by several different pseudonyms as each evoke a different style of writing.  After reading some of Plaidy's, some of Holt's, and one of Carr's I can safely make the assertion that Plaidy's work under that name is historically based but yet she still seems to impart a bit of "liberty" into her fiction, though she doesn't do it in an over the top kind of way. By using this tactic with her slightly dry/to-the-point prose, readers are often left wondering of what was factual and what was not.

With The Courts of Love, Plaidy also imparts a few nuances of liberties, but I felt like she portrays Eleanor of Aquitaine very well, as I've come to believe of her. A passionate woman, a ruler by her own right and by her husband's right, she was at the heart of many events during England's and France's history. The novel opens up with Eleanor and her sister Petronilla, with a bit of an awkward relationship with her father, and then transitions to Queen of France and finally to Queen of England. I have always deplored the whole sad relationship Eleanor had with the pious Louis, and it was there that the story stalled, especially since we know the fun stuff doesn't really happen till she meets the young-soon-to-be King Henry. There was a lot of "Oh, how I wish Louis were more like Uncle Raymond" and it wasn't until we get to having kids with King Henry that the story began to take off.

This novel is one that is the same to those of us who have read a few Eleanor novels, so if you are like me in that regard (my Eleanor reviews) there is a high chance you could be bored with more than just the France part. It glazes through everything of Eleanor's life swiftly, as if to fit it all in, which leaves us wondering if she left all the meaty historical bits for her Plantagenet series. I did feel several times that I wanted to pick up a Penman novel after this (Lionheart has been neglected for quite awhile already). I did not appreciate how Petronilla was a big part of her life up to the point she met  Henry, and how she then dropped off the face of the earth.

As it was so character-oriented with Eleanor, it also served as a spotlight of Eleanor's and Henry's relationship. I felt like slapping Henry several times, and hoped that Eleanor wasn't so detached from her children as she seemed to be. From the way Plaidy tells it, Eleanor did not have a very happy life, though she had several triumphant moments. It does speak to the fact that men ruled everything, which really grates my nerves. And while the title is The Courts of Love, the novel instead is representative of The Courts of Betrayal. There was not a surfeit of love going on in this one, and one of my pet peeves is the fact my husband believes I am reading some smutty romance because of some of the titles of books I read. This is one example of that injustice.

Eleanor was constantly reaching for those courts of love that her childhood represented, but as she got older it became more and more elusive to her. She never does find it, especially as she finds that her husband has strayed from her. Her heart is broken, and we can't help but feel for this queenly woman who fought for everything she owned, though it was never enough.

I would recommend this novel for those who haven't read more than five Eleanor-related titles, but it would be a perfect read for those who are just starting to get to know her. The fact that Plaidy DOES manage to fit a ton of small baiting type of historical tidbits into this story is why I felt compelled to give it an extra half star. Her storytelling is exact and to the point though sometimes repetitive, but in the end you're still glad you finally read that Plaidy novel that's been beckoning for so long. Jean Plaidy is a pioneer in the historical fiction field especially with how prolific she was, and I feel she helped to pave the way for more contemporary favorites such as Sharon Penman and Elizabeth Chadwick.

bodice ripper material? or gothic romance? or psycho madness? or all?

The Demon Lover by Victoria Holt
First published 1982
Personal reading copy
Burton Book Review Rating: 3 to 3.5 stars

When Kate Collison, to help her ailing father, completes his portrait of the powerful Baron de Centeville, her only thought is to be a dutiful daughter. But when the Baron presents her to Parisian society as the painter, Kate finds herself basking in the recognition . . . until she discovers that the Baron has plans for her -- shocking plans that will change her life unless she can fight the Baron with his own weapons . . .

I was reading this for a group read when I found that I wasn't really reading this fast enough, which means perhaps it wasn't that great. Or I'm being a finicky/picky/bored/tired reader or any combo thereof. Who knows, but I do know I am tired of being disappointed by Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt/Phillippa Carr whoever she is pretending to be at the moment of the publication of whatever zillionth book she was writing.

It's a strange story -- gothicky in a way, but mostly, cringe-worthy. Not cringe-worthy in a good way where you are on the edge of the seat wondering what is lurking around the corner, but more like wow what a creepy thing that is sorta sick/mental and perhaps I need to distance myself from the weirdness. The Baron is a strange man, and Kate is seduced in a way even while she knows he is so cringe-worthy. But there were other characters too that were a little odd and added depth to the story. Being told in first person by Kate did get tiresome halfway through, and while her character didn't change too much by the end I was able to put up with her wearisome traits.

I don't want to get too much into the plot line since there is one dramatic event that the whole book revolves around; the same event that other reviewers had given away (& thus spoiled the story for me as well). The last three chapters made the whole thing worthwhile, as it tidied up most of the plot lines but still kinda weirded me out. Which stays in tune with the rest of the book at least. I did say "oh, my God!" in an amazed sort of way as I turned the last page.

The Lion of Justice by Jean Plaidy

By God's Splendour, this was a great intro to William The Conqueror!

The Bastard King by Jean Plaidy

Princess Matilda at last found the man she would marry- William, the fierce bastard of Normandy. Proud and fearless, the Duke had ridden into the stronghold of his enemies, dragged her by her thick golden hair into the gutter, and left with her heart. It was a love story that would change the face of history.
Battles, triumphs, revenge and jealousy crowd the dramatic years leading to William's fateful conflict with Harold of England and its bitter aftermath as Queen Matilda's love for her children threatens her loyalty to William, Bastard, Conqueror and King.

This novel was part of my 2013 To-Be-Read-Pile Reading Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader


I read along with the Goodreads Plaidy group, my second with that group. I wonder what we'll read next!

The Miracle at St. Bruno's (Daughters of England #1) by Philippa Carr
Gothic Historical Romance of the 70's
Book from my personal collection
Burton Book Review Rating: 3.5 Stars

"I was born in the September of 1523, nine months after the monks had discovered the child in the crib on that Christmas morning. My birth was, my father used to say, another miracle: He was not young at the time being forty years of age . . . My mother, whose great pleasure was tending her gardens, called me Damask, after the rose which Dr. Linacre, the King's physician, had brought into England that year."

Thus begins the story narrated by Damask Farland, daughter of a well-to-do lawyer whose considerable lands adjoin those of St. Bruno's Abbey. It is a story of a life inextricably enmeshed with that of Bruno, the mysterious child found on the abbey altar that Christmas morning and raised by the monks to become a man at once handsome and saintly, but also brooding and ominous, tortured by the secret of his origin which looms ever more menacingly over the huge abbey he comes to dominate.

This is also the story of an engaging family, the Farlands. Of a father wise enough to understand "the happier our King is, the happier I as a true subject must be," a wife twenty years his junior, and a daughter whose intelligence is constantly to war with the strange hold Bruno has upon her destiny. What happens to the Farlands against the background of what is happening to King Henry and his court during this robust period provides a novel in which suspense and the highlights of history are wonderfully balanced.

I was fortunate to be able to participate in the read along for this first book of the gothic series that prolific author Eleanor Hibbert/Jean Plaidy wrote under her pen-name of Philippa Carr. It is the story of a family in England struggling to stay out of trouble during the tyrannical reign of Henry VIII and eventually his daughter Queen Mary.

The main characters are three .. "we three as one": Damask, the daughter of the household, Kate, her distant cousin, and Bruno, the miracle child that was brought up next door to Damask in the Abbey. Religious turmoil permeates the land, as persecution reaches its wicked tentacles out to the innocents, and Damask and Kate attempt to live their lives after tragedies occur.

Damask is introduced to us as a young girl, and by the end of the story we pretty much see what would be the end of her life as well. She was a narrator that could easily get on your nerves though, she is supposed to be so uber smart, yet it seems she doesn't see the reality in front of her face and that got tedious after awhile. The other characters were all well done with bad guys and good guys; the plus was that in the background  we also had Henry VIII and his wives.  The writing had small lulls - as we knew that the proverbial shoe was going to drop and we kept waiting for it. Full of tension and the gothic style of melodramatics, this was a fun read that definitely has me intrigued enough to at least see what happens with the next generation in book two. I had been suspecting what was to be the "climatic moment" when it hit by page 357, but it was still awesome.


I haven't read a series in a very long time that features a particular family through a long period of time, though the Morland series comes to mind (Cynthia Harrod Eagles). These two series have completely different tones, as I would not hesitate to recommend this first book of the Daughters of England to the Young Adult reader who is intrigued by the tumultuous reign of the Tudors and their effects on the families of England.

This novel was part of my 2013 To-Be-Read-Pile Reading Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader

The next novel I'm reading for the challenge will be another by the same author (different pen-name) The Bastard King by Plaidy.

I read along with the Goodreads Plaidy group for The Miracle at St. Bruno's and we had great discussions there about the book, but here are some of the status updates from the book as I was reading (you may have to be my friend there in order to see since I'm pasting):

Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Fawcett (printed August 28, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0449217795
ISBN-13: 978-0449217795
The Burton Review Rating: 4 stars
Plaidy Reading Group June 1, 2009
Plaidy Reading Challenge #6 Completed

Synopsis:
"Princess Caroline of Brunswick was twenty-six years old and people were saying that she would never have married... But a grand destiny was about to unfold for the lively Princess, as bride of England's handsome Prince of Wales, soon to be Regent and later King George IV of England. Unfortunately, although Caroline fell madly in love with her charming royal spouse, his own affections had been stolen years before by the beautiful Maria Fitzherbert- to whom, it was whispered, he was actually secretly married.
So, as a lonely, unsophisticated outsider in her husband's dissipated circle, Caroline determines to live her own life. Her reckless search for affection infuriates the King, shocks the court, delights the common people, and culminates in one of the most famous court cases in history- in which the Queen of England stands trial, charged with adultery."

This is an interesting story of the 'injured' Queen of England, better known as Caroline of Brunswick. The novel opens up to Caroline as a young woman still at home with her family in Germany and her stubbornness and zest for childish antics shine through early on. Plaidy does a good job with her historical information and makes the most of the story with the characterization of the zany Caroline, although there were a few slow parts probably not due to Plaidy's writing precisely; history took its time being played out as we follow Caroline from her first love to her marriage to the highly acclaimed eligible bachelor the Prince of Wales, having a baby and then the silly antics throughout the remainder of her life.

Caroline was ill treated when she left Germany to become the wife of George the Prince of Wales, she did not listen to others when she was given advice on how to look more attractive or how to act; she was instantly disliked by her betrothed; probably also due to the fact he had a wife before her that he had still loved. The Prince did not marry his first wife under the sanctioning eyes of the courts, therefore the courts and England did not find it necessary to uphold the marriage George had made previously to the one woman he seemed to love, Maria Fitzherbert (she was also a Catholic which they did not approve of). George married his first-cousin Caroline purely to attempt to pay off some debts, and it proved disastrous twofold since he did not get any more money to actually line his own pockets with.

There were a few other royal figures that I enjoyed the back stories on, such as the Old King George III and his mean-spirited wife Queen Charlotte. They had 15 children together and 13 who lived to maturity, which seems astounding and tragically comical that they all seemed not fit to inherit the crown, therefore all eyes rested on the eccentric Caroline and the flamboyant Prince of Wales.

I found it most interesting that Caroline did not attempt to clean herself up to make herself more appealing, she clearly did not outwardly care how others thought of her. Through the course of the marriage though, she enjoyed the companionship of many other people, as people who disliked the Prince naturally gravitated towards Caroline. She seemed to live comfortably throughout the estrangement and finally towards the end of the novel the old King George III dies and the Prince becomes the next King George, but he is in no way about to accept the eccentric Caroline as England's Queen. He had placed spies in Caroline's midst so that they can report on all infidelities and unbecoming conduct and attempts to publicly defame her during a trial as he finally wants a divorce from her. The novel doesn't specifically state if they get divorced, it was a trial seeking to prove her adulterous. I did enjoy reading the story overall but since it seemed a little slow in some parts I give it 4 stars for making the Georgian era readable and the interesting way a myriad of characters were all brought into the story. This was my introduction to the Georgian Era and if possible I think it would be better for readers to start new to them eras with the beginning of a series and not something towards the end. Yet this was an endearing read of a unique woman and most unlike most of Plaidy's other heroines, so don't miss this one. Her antics are preposterous and make you shake your head, but leaves you smiling at Caroline's devil-may-care attitude as well.


I also posted two of the different covers of this book. The first one is the one I have, and honestly could not even imagine at any point where that was Caroline, and the second cover seems to depict her in a more honest light. She was probably large, as George IV was also.

Plaidy mentions Maria Fitzherbert, George's first wife in the story, and focuses on her a few times just enough to make me want to pick up another Plaidy novel "Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill" which focuses on the devout Maria and probably should have been read before this one. And the old king George III seemed a little odd in this novel, which is another life story that I will look forward to when reading "The Third George".

The original printing dates for the books in the Georgian Saga series are:

QUEEN IN WAITING (Robert Hale, 1967)

THE PRINCESS OF CELLE (Robert Hale, 1967)

THE PRINCE AND THE QUAKERESS (Robert Hale, 1968)

CAROLINE, THE QUEEN (Robert Hale, 1968)

THE THIRD GEORGE (Robert Hale, 1969)

PERDITA'S PRINCE (Robert Hale, 1969)

SWEET LASS OF RICHMOND HILL (Robert Hale, 1970)

INDISCRETIONS OF THE QUEEN (Robert Hale, 1970)

THE REGENT'S DAUGHTER (Robert Hale, 1971)

GODDESS OF THE GREEN ROOM (Robert Hale, 1971)

St. Thomas's Eve or Kings' Confidante by Jean Plaidy

Review Part Two
(Here are my thoughts from Part One)
Now that I've officially finished "Castile", I wanted to get the quick final review in. I mentioned most of the plot in the earlier post, and it continues with the focus on Isabella and ends when she finally manages to obtain the throne of Castile. As with most books dealing with crowns and disunity, there were several opposing forces at work trying to achieve their own status or prominence via their proximity to the crown, which was the plot for the book. Isabella stays true to herself and her upbringing and does not let others persuade her into an otherwise unhealthy alliance with anyone but her betrothed, Ferdinand. What were interesting were the characters surrounding Isabella, and the myriad of unworthy people prying their way into Isabella's life. She has an unstable mother, a younger brother who is docile and loving, and an older brother who is King of Castile but who is pretty much useless in all ways.

Plaidy stays the course in this novel and is not as gripping as some of her other novels, yet Isabella as a young girl is not all that extraordinary, yet rather pious (her nickname is Isabella the Catholic). The character of Isabella is that of practically a saint, and her main focus is her betrothal and her vision of the alliance of Castile and Aragon. It will be interesting to see how Ferdinand and Isabella strategize for power both in state matters and marriage with the next novel of the trilogy. I'll give this one 3.5 stars.

The Murder in The Tower by Jean Plaidy (pseudonym used by Eleanor Hibbert, aka Victoria Holt)
(It's been listed as the first book in the Stuart Saga series, but it seems to stand alone as a James I novel; 1964)
Also reprinted and available as a reissue.
Personal copy
Burton Book Review Rating:

"The drama is played out against the background of the Court of James I."
The dashing Robert Carr is a well-known favorite of King James I. After attracting his attention by falling from a horse in the tiltyard, Robert rises quickly through the ranks. But when the cunning and beautiful Frances Howard comes to court, a very dangerous liaison changes everything. Married against her will while still a child, Frances emerges from that experience a headstrong force of nature—determined to have her own way, no matter what the consequences. Her attempts to rid herself of an unwanted husband, and later to ensnare a lukewarm lover, have led her deep into the world of spell-makers and poisoners. This is a woman to underestimate at great peril. But not until Robert finds himself ensnared in one of Frances’s plots—imprisoned in the Tower of London and accused of murder—does he learn at last what she is truly capable of.

After finishing this first installment of Plaidy's Stuart Saga by Jean Plaidy, I would still love to delve more into the characters that Plaidy described. When you think of a Tudor or Stuart novel, with this title of Murder, one tends to think of Anne Boleyn, or maybe Mary Queen of Scots. This novel is actually concerning the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, who is not the main protagonist of this intriguing novel.
The book is based on the life of Frances Howard, and her loves and wicked ways that she uses to attain all that she desires. She starts out as a passionate young woman and we think we like her, but as she grows and becomes more and more of a selfish evil woman, there is no sympathy for her. I did find sympathy for Robert Carr, the man she fell in love with when she was a married woman.

Robert Carr caught King James' eye when he fell from his horse as a young man, and quickly shot up in the ranks with titles and favoritism from James. He is portrayed as a pretty boy who really didn't deserve the posts he had since he had to have another man, Thomas Overbury, secretly do most of the work for Robert Carr. They called Thomas a scribe. One thing led to another and once Thomas realizes that Robert wants to marry Frances Howard, he is incensed. He has no respect for Frances and happens to know she had visits with unworthy people who dealt with witchcraft. Since Thomas would not back down, Frances and her witchcraft friends decided to take matters into their own hands. Supposedly Robert Carr has no idea what is going on.

Even though this book has James I in it, it was only set within the time period of James I and his family. There was a small story line with Frances and the King's son, Henry, and a bit on the royal family and the royal children but not an incredible amount.

This was a quick read, and I definitely loved the deliciously entertaining Frances Howard and her intense need to fulfill her every whim. Although not an influential person by herself in the era, she caused quite a scandal and led a very interesting life which was a joy to read about. Plaidy fans do not want to miss this one, this was a quick read that stays with you.

If this is the first time coming to read the Mary Stuart Reviews then I would suggest starting a few posts down with the Fotheringay post and then upwards to the recent Captive Queen Post so that you get the chronological order of my musings. It is pretty tough to keep up with me even that way, but it's worth a shot.