Assassin

November 1, 2004
This snappily paced caper launches the Lady Grace Mysteries, a series of attractively designed and priced paper-over-board volumes written as journal entries in the "daybooke" of a young Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth I. On her deathbed a year earlier, Lady Grace Cavendish's mother (who was poisoned when she sipped tainted wine intended for the queen) entrusted the monarch with finding a suitable husband for her daughter. The queen has summoned three suitors to Whitehall Palace and, at a pageantry-filled St. Valentine's Day ball, Grace must chose one to wed. The girl selects bashful, stammering Lord Robert, who is then arrested for the stabbing of another suitor (an aiglet bearing Robert's family crest is discovered near the body). Realizing that it makes little sense for Robert, victorious in winning her hand, to have killed his former rival, Grace asks Queen Elizabeth to delay committing her intended to the Tower while she tries to "find out the truth of the matter." Thus the stage is set for this spunky sleuth to follow a curlicue trail of clues to crack the mystery. Peppered with Elizabethan expressions and Court titles (explained in a concluding glossary), the narrative provides an engaging look at 16th-century Court life. Readers will be encouraged to search out further intrigue in the series' second installment, Betrayal (ISBN
0-385-73152-3
)
, due out the same month. Ages 8-12.

October 1, 2004
Gr 7 Up -Pre-sented in the form of "daybookes" written by Lady Grace Cavendish, and "discovered" by Patricia Finney, this mystery series engages readers from the beginning. Lady Grace, a favorite Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth I, is intelligent, observant, and quick thinking. At the Valentine's ball, she must choose her fianc from among three suitors. Later that evening, one of the rejected men is found with a knife in his back, and the chosen suitor is charged with murder. Something seems amiss to the protagonist, and when she shares her concerns, Queen Elizabeth allows her to investigate the situation secretly. When Lady Grace and her friends complete the daring rescue of the third suitor, who has been kidnapped, all of the answers fall into place. Action makes the story a page-turner, but Lady Grace's wit and personality are what readers will really enjoy. In Betrayal, captains Francis Drake and Hugh Derby are quite taken with another Maid of Honor and vie for her affections. Several days later, a letter arrives saying that Lady Sarah and Capt. Drake have eloped. Lady Grace is suspicious, and she and a friend go to Drake's ship to investigate. They are inadvertently locked aboard, and when the ship puts out to sea, they are discovered and pretend to be stowaways. Undercover as a boy, Lady Grace learns to use the "jakes" (outside toilets), climbs the yards and ropes, and uses her archery skills to send flaming arrows over to a pirate ship. Both stories are great fun, and Finney does a magnificent job of weaving in details of life in Elizabethan England.-Cheri Dobbs, Detroit Country Day Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2004
Reviewed with Grace Cavendish's " Betrayal" .

Gr. 4-7. This new series, ostensibly the diaries (or daybooks) of Lady Grace Cavendish (the real author is British writer Patricia Finney), takes place in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, where Grace serves as a lady-in-waiting. With plenty of twenty-first-century spunk, she solves mysteries that are turning the court upside down. In " Assassin," one of Grace's suitors is murdered, and the 13-year-old's cool-headed calculations prove that the lord to whom she has given her hand is not the killer as everyone supposes. He is also not the man Grace believes him to be, so she gives him the boot. In " Betrayal," another young lady-in-waiting seems to have eloped with Sir Francis Drake, but Grace uses her prognosticating skill and masquerades as a boy to prove otherwise. The books, which occasionally use Old English words (there's a glossary) and handwritten notes, are filled with details of Elizabethan life. An author's note distinguishes fact from fiction. The stories move swiftly, and the mix of history and mystery will keep kids interested. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2005
Although highly improbable in plot and characters, these two books introduce the feisty and clever Lady Grace, "maid of honour" to Queen Elizabeth I. She not only uncovers a murder at court, she goes on to rescue a kidnapped damsel in distress on the high seas. The historical background is colorful and enlivening, Grace is delightfully rebellious and spunky, and the diary format is appealing.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)