DARK QUEEN WARY

A dark, grisly tale of love, hate, treason, and trickery.

The year 1472 finds Yorkist Edward IV in power after destroying the Lancastrian army at the battle of Barnet, where the Earl of Warwick was killed, leaving Henry Tudor, a possible heir to the throne, and his mother, Margaret Beaufort, in a precarious position, subject to death at any moment. While her son is safe in France, Margaret is in London with her loyal personal clerk, Christopher Urswicke, and her steward, Reginald Bray, trying to avoid the machinations of the king’s followers, including Christopher’s father, Sir Thomas Urswicke, Recorder of London and chief schemer in all efforts to keep Edward IV in power. No one may ever know what happened at Barnet, where it seems the Earl of Warwick’s personal bodyguards, the Five Wounds, may have betrayed him. Achitophel, a professional Judas, works both sides of many conflicts, taking on only the jobs he wants and successfully concealing his true identity. When the members of the Five Wounds start to die in brutal ways, Christopher’s father orders him to find the killer, who may be the mysterious Achitophel. Margaret is forced to house a young imposter the king insists is her son, who she suspects will be used in a plot to ruin her. All are ordered to remove to The Moor, the magnificent estate where the Five Wounds are already semiprisoners and the first murder has already taken place. Christopher must be even more clever than his hated father if he is to solve a series of murders and protect Margaret from a cascade of plots.

A very good mystery cleverly entwined with brutally realistic historic detail.