The Fyre Mirror: An Elizabeth I Mystery [NOOK Book]

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Overview


Smitten with spring fever, Elizabeth Tudor escapes London for fantastical Nonsuch Palace in the sweet Surrey countryside. There she hopes to relax and pose for the official royal portrait for which she is holding a competition. But one of her artists is burned to death, and portraits of the queen are going up in flames. When she hears that her rival, the dangerous Mary, Queen of Scots, has been peering in mirrors and announcing, "I see the next queen of England!" Elizabeth summons her Privy Plot Council. Has the arsonist been sent by foreign foes or is it someone in her own court? Or is the "running boy" apparition really a ghost out to avenge a terrible past tragedy caused by the ...
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Overview


Smitten with spring fever, Elizabeth Tudor escapes London for fantastical Nonsuch Palace in the sweet Surrey countryside. There she hopes to relax and pose for the official royal portrait for which she is holding a competition. But one of her artists is burned to death, and portraits of the queen are going up in flames. When she hears that her rival, the dangerous Mary, Queen of Scots, has been peering in mirrors and announcing, "I see the next queen of England!" Elizabeth summons her Privy Plot Council. Has the arsonist been sent by foreign foes or is it someone in her own court? Or is the "running boy" apparition really a ghost out to avenge a terrible past tragedy caused by the Tudors? Time is running out, because the enemy who stalks the queen means to destroy not only her portraits and artists, but her very life.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
Now in her early thirties, Elizabeth I wants to approve an "official" portrait for distribution in the realm. Three portrait contenders accompany Elizabeth and the court to the mythical Nonsuch Palace, where an arsonist's fire consumes an artist's tent and its two occupants. Elizabeth leaps into action, has the corpses and tents examined, prods her "privy plot council" into motion, and confronts further acts of the pyromaniac. A truly vibrant protagonist, thoroughly satisfying characterization, attention to detail, and credible plotting mark this as an outstanding historical. Harper, the author of six other Elizabeth I mysteries, lives in Columbus, OH, and Naples, FL. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
As she asserts absolute control over her image and most parts of English government, Queen Elizabeth I decrees a competition for a royal portrait. Political, yes, competitive, certainly, but it also proves unexpectedly dangerous. Moving her court from London to Nonesuch Palace, her father's whimsical architectural masterpiece in the country-where she can keep a close eye on her elderly companion, Lady Katherine Ashley, who's being cared for by nursemaid Floris Minton-the queen sits for portraits by three painters: Lavinia Teerlinc, Will Kendale, and Henry Heatherly. Much to the artists' displeasure, Elizabeth's protege, young painter Gilbert Sharp, joins the competition upon returning from an Italian apprenticeship. When Kendale's tent in the encampment outside Nonesuch goes up in flames, killing the painter and his boy-toy, Elizabeth commands the skills of scientist John Dee, who notices an unusual burn pattern and a trussed-up exit, clues that point to arson and murder courtesy of an exotic incendiary device. Elizabeth, haunted by memories of a fire in her youth, resumes her unlikely and anachronistic role as detective, worrying as signs point in turn to Gil, to Dee's pretty second wife, and even back to injustices perpetrated by her father, Henry VIII. Elizabeth (The Queene's Christmas, 2003, etc.) makes an appealingly courageous detective if you can swallow Harper's anachronistic portrait of the monarch as action hero.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781429992275
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Publication date: 2/7/2006
  • Sold by: ST MARTINS / MPS
  • Format: eBook
  • Edition description: First Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 170,460
  • Series: Elizabeth I Mysteries Series
  • File size: 331 KB

Meet the Author

Karen Harper
Karen Harper

KAREN HARPER is the author of six previous Elizabeth I mysteries: The Poyson Garden, The Tidal Poole, The Twylight Tower, The Queene's Cure, The Thorne Maze, and The Queene's Christmas. She also writes contemporary suspense novels, including the bestselling The Falls. Karen Harper lives in Columbus, Ohio, and Naples, Florida.

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Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review

  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    Fabulous historical mystery

    On a whim, Queen Elizabeth I decides to leave her London residence and stay at Nonsuch Palace for a while. Beside the courtiers and the rest of the retinue who make up Elizabeth¿s inner circle, she takes along artists, who are painting a state picture of her and she will pick the one that is the best and send it all over Europe. Gil Sharpe, who was sent to Italy to learn with the masters goes to Nonsuch and decides to enter the competition to paint his Queen¿s portrait..................... Since Nonsuch is small, many of the people who traveled with Elizabeth are staying in the courtyard in tents. One of the artist¿s tents catches fire, killing him and his assistant. It is determined that the fire was deliberately set using a mirror and the sun to start the flames. A second artist¿s tent is also burned in the same manner. Elizabeth convinces her Privy Plot council to help her smoke out the killer but the perpetrator is very cunning. Elizabeth finds her own life is put in danger by a person without mercy.............................. This is the seventh Elizabeth I mystery by fabulous historical mystery writer Karen Harper and it is a thrilling reading experience because there are so many suspects with too few motives. Readers see the intelligence of the queen as she maneuvers Mary, Queen of Scots into a marriage of her choosing and plans to use her as a public relations tool to prove she is a queen in total command of the kingdom she rules. Fans of the Ursula Blanches series by Fiona Buckley will definitely love this glimpse into a bygone era....................... Harriet Klausner

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