Prince of Darkness FROM THE PUBLISHER
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Time and Chance, the much anticipated fourth novel in her acclaimed medieval mystery series.
Bowing to an urgent summons from his former lover, Justin de Quincy hastens to Paris only to find that the Lady Claudine was, in fact, acting on behalf of his nemesis Prince John. As the Queen's man, de Quincy has already encountered John's murderous side. But now John tells him of a document implicating him in a plot to kill his brother, King Richard. The document is a forgery, and, despite his hunger for the crown, John is innocent of the charge. Still, a brother who looked with amiable contempt at John's earlier intrigues would hardly risk regicide. John must find the forger and prove the document false before Richard hears of it, and he entreats Justin to help him.
It takes more than John's wily charms to persuade Justin: It is only when he realizes that the welfare of the woman he serves, Eleanor of Aquitaine, is also at risk that Justin concedes. It is a concession that will take him to a bloody chamber on Mont-Saint-Michel, to a stinking dungeon in Brittany, to a murderous encounter in a Paris cemetery, and, ultimately, to the unraveling of a conspiracy that might have changed the course of history.
Author Biography: Sharon Kay Penman is the author of six historical novels and three medieval mysteries: The Queen's Man, Cruel as the Grave, and Dragon's Lair.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Convincing 12th-century European intrigue lifts Penman's engrossing fourth medieval mystery (after 2003's Dragon's Lair). In 1193, King Richard the Lion-Hearted is still imprisoned, while his devious and unscrupulous brother, Prince John, schemes to position himself to claim the English throne. When an obscure conspiracy seeks to implicate the prince in a plot to kill the king, John turns to young Justin de Quincy, Eleanor of Aquitaine's devoted aide, for help in clearing himself of the treason charge. In his pursuit of clues pointing to a number of suspects, De Quincy stumbles across several murders. Penman deftly weaves actual historical events into the narrative with nary a false note. While the murderer's identity may not come as much of a surprise, the author's thorough familiarity with her chosen period more than compensates. Agent, Molly Friedrich at Aaron Priest. (Mar. 31) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
In his fourth adventure (Dragon's Lair, 2003 etc.), Justin De Quincy, unacknowledged bastard son of the Bishop of Chester, is once again plunged into the dangerous work of "the Queen's man."While Eleanor of Aquitaine is spending 1193 in Germany ransoming her eldest son Richard, and her youngest son John is plotting with the French King to keep Richard in captivity, De Quincey receives an urgent summons to Paris from Claudine, mother of his child. Prince John, it seems, needs him to help prove that a letter accusing John of planning to murder his brother is a forgery. John has been warned of the plot by his former mistress, Arzhela de Dinan of Brittany. Realizing that he will be serving the Queen's interests after all, Justin makes an uneasy peace with John's man Durand de Curzon, who had recently tried to kill him, in order to foil the plot. The ill-matched travelers arrive too late at Mont St. Michel to save Arzhela, who has been savagely stabbed, managing to utter only a single word before she dies. Justin and Durand, promptly thrown in a dungeon for Arzhela's murder, barely escape with their lives. The spy known as the Breton seems to hold the key to the mystery, but finding him, unmasking the murderer, and solving John's problem will lead down dangerous paths for all involved. A wonderfully evocative medieval mystery that weaves historical fact with characters intriguing enough and adventures exciting enough to lure even nonspecialists. Author tour
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