The Fyre Mirror (Elizabeth I Mysteries, Book 7) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Karen Harper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 13, 1957

Elizabethan England comes alive as its young queen struggles to stop a serial killer who uses fire as a weapon. From commoner to courtier, from the delights of rural England to the streets of teeming London, the queen and her coterie turn detectors in Karen Harper's acclaimed mystery series.

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. Elizabeth is both delighted and dismayed when her young court artist, Gil Sharpe, returns early from schooling in Italy, where he has also been spying for the crown.

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.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Harper's enjoyable seventh historical (after 2003's The Queene's Christmas), set in the spring of 1565, one of Elizabeth's protégés, the portrait artist Gil Sharpe, returns to London from studying in Italy two years early. Within days of Gil joining the rest of the court at Nonsuch Castle in Surrey, a fellow artist and his serving boy die in a mysterious fire. When another artist's work shows signs of scorching, Gil becomes a suspect in the crimes, and his evasiveness about his early return from Italy undermines Elizabeth's confidence in him. An ingenious plot is afoot that preys on the queen's fear of fire, a plot that may involve one of her dearest and most trusted friends and advisers. But which one? Even members of the queen's privy council aren't above suspicion. Is the plot promoted by her Roman Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots? In her attempts to unmask the conspirators, the young Elizabeth reveals a lighter, less formal side of her character; she's not afraid to hitch up her skirts and run when someone she cares about seems threatened. Such actual historical figures as the dour Sir William Cecil, the queen's secretary, and alchemist Dr. John Dee add color to this well-researched mystery
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Elizabeth I's "Privy Plot Council" serves her secretly, and the queen herself is often at the center of solving the mysteries the council uncovers. As this latest installment in the series begins, the queen is having her official portrait painted by several artists, including a young man just back from studying in Italy. When one of the artists is burned in his tent with his apprentice, and the portrait of another is slashed, Elizabeth calls in Dr. Dee, a polymath who shows her how fires can be started using mirrors to concentrate light. The Italian painter has a different use for mirrors, the camera obscura, which he is sworn to keep hidden. Elizabeth's father Henry VIII's wanton destruction of an entire town and his building of a fabulous castle in its place also figure mightily in the plot, which stretches credulity only in its climactic rooftop battle between the queen and the murderer. Harper, as usual, makes full use of historical minutiae and does so imaginatively. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 289 pages
• Publisher: St Martin's Minotaur (August 13, 1957)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312341512
• ISBN-13: 978-0312341510
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,764,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A different side of Elizabeth I, November 2, 2007

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Bookphile (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fyre Mirror (The Queen Elizabeth I Mystery Series #7) (Mass Market Paperback)

Karen Harper's Queen Elizabeth series are a rich feast for the senses. Harper has an excellent grasp of the times and her writing is rich in period detail--everything from Elizabethean fashion to the cuisine of the day comes alive under the influence of her pen. Historical fiction doesn't get much more pleasurable than this.

The seventh book in the series finds Elizabeth attempting to hunt down a murdered whose weapon of choice is the mirror. It's an intriguing and innovative premise but that is characteristic of this series. Harper deftly weaves together history and fiction to create an antagonist who has a very interesting motive for murder. The twists and turns that the queen must take to finally determine the identity of the murderer are interesting and the final confrontation is spectacular. The very imagery of it leaps off the page.

Though Elizabeth I is a spectacular and fascinating subject in her own right, in Harper's hands she truly comes alive. Harper's queen is passionate and mercurial but also mindful of those who serve her well. It is this characterization of one of the most dynamic figures in history that is the real strength of Harper's writing. My only complaint about this book--and the only thing that kept me from giving it five stars--is that Elizabeth is a bit too prone to portentious speeches, which must end every chapter or chapter segment. This rang too falsely at times for me and took me out of the story a bit.

Along with the main mystery is an engrossing subplot about Gil Sharpe, a recurring character in the novels. His travels in Italy and his discoveries of Italian painting techniques make for a fascinating read. He is also a wonderful character, displaying yet again the aptitude that Harper has for creating believeable and interesting characters. Harper could probably get by solely by focusing on Elizabeth but she does her readers a great service by surrounding the queen with a cast of vibrant characters.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous historical mystery, December 3, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fyre Mirror (Elizabeth I Mysteries, Book 7) (Hardcover)

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

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fyre Mirror, January 3, 2007

By 

Patricia A. Culton (Queenstown, Md United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Fyre Mirror (Elizabeth I Mysteries, Book 7) (Hardcover)

As usual, the book was superb. When I read one of the mysteries, I cannot put the book down until its finished. I always look forward to the next one