Dark Queen Wary
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
With an imposter prince claiming he is Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort must play the game of kings very carefully in this richly-imagined medieval mystery.
“Uneasy lies the head which wears the crown”
1472. Edward IV reigns triumphant over England and his rivals, the Lancastrians. But he is uneasy, for one true claimant remains: the young Henry Tudor, son of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. Henry's continued existence worries Edward, so he hatches a plan to bring a cuckoo into the nest – an imposter prince is presented to Margaret Beaufort as her son.
Margaret is no fool and knows she must play this game of kings carefully . . . When she is invited to George Neville’s beautiful home ‘The Moor’ to help investigate some mysterious and gruesome murders she knows dark forces are at play. Whispers of a shadowy figure called Achitophel hang over the house's occupants, like the impenetrable mist that descended on the battle of Barnet the previous year and secured the crown for Edward. And as the body count increases, Margaret suspects there is a link to that fateful battle and the murderer who seems relentless in his thirst for blood . . .
Can Margaret protect her life as well as her true son’s claim to the throne?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1472, Doherty's strong fourth Margaret Beaufort mystery (after 2021's Dark Queen Watching) finds Margaret at the Moor, a beautiful palace with an eerie maze and a sinister history, where people associated with the victorious Yorkist side are starting to get murdered. With the Lancaster faction crushed at the recent Battle of Barnet, Margaret, the mother of the last Lancaster heir, Henry Tudor, is in a vulnerable position, made even worse when an imposter shows up, claiming to be her son returned from exile, and the king, Edward IV, insists that she house him. Beaufort's trusted clerk, Christopher Urswicke, counsels her on how to avoid incurring the king's wrath while investigating the murders at the Moor, which began with a Yorkist mercenary and are now moving on to the members of the personal guard of Richard Neville, who switched from York to Lancaster and died at the Battle of Barnet because his guards failed to protect him. Doherty does a fine job evoking the brutal atmosphere of the era, in both rich palaces and crime-infested London streets. Those familiar with the players in the Wars of the Roses and all the dynastic plotting will best appreciate this one.
