"Robert Gellis has an extraordinary talent!" -Affaire de Coeur
With more than 8 million books in print RT Book Reviews Lifetime Achievement Award-winning author Roberta Gellis is the master of the medieval romance.
Lissa never much liked her elderly husband, but she certainly hadn't suspected he was plotting treason. When she's suddenly left a widow, the sharp gaze of the king's head investigator turns straight to her. Sir Justin is honor-bound to treat Lissa as a suspect, but keeping his distance from the beautiful temptress requires every ounce of his legendary self-control.
As King John's court swirls with intrigue, tempers are high, passions are hot, and one wrong move could change the course of history.
"A rich tapestry...delightfully imagined." -Publisher's Weekly
"Only a consummate writer of Ms. Gellis's talents could bring the Middle Ages so brilliantly alive." -Rave Reviews
The author of Fires of Winter et al. pens an especially fine novel set in the early 13th century realm of King John of England. Gellis finds her protagonists in London's burgher classthe tradespeople who carry on the city's business and organize themselves into guilds. Lissa, the tale's heroine, is an apothecary, skilled in selecting and selling herbs and spices for culinary and medicinal uses. She meets her hero, Sir Justin, a merchant and the leader of the London watch, when he arrives to investigate the death of her husband of six weeks. Her spouse's murder is eventually revealed to be part of an elaborate plot, of which Lissa is wholly innocent, to sow further dissention between King John and his barons and to prevent the signing of what we know as the Magna Carta. The delightfully imagined love affair that quickly develops between Justin and Lissa counterpoints the increasingly violent and disruptive events connected to the traitors' conspiracy. Fans of historical romances will enjoy the work's rich tapestry of detail, well-drawn characters, suspenseful story line, deft meshing of factual and fictional incidents and fresh approach to the hackneyed medieval setting. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Roberta Gellis is the bestselling author of over 48 novels in many different genres. Publishers Weekly has deemed her a master of the medieval historical. Her many awards include the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur, several RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Awards, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romance Writers of America. She currently resides in Lafayette, Indiana.
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Roberta Gellis has a varied educational background--a master's degree in biochemistry and another in medieval literature--and working history--10 years as a research chemist, many years as a free-lance editor of scientific manuscripts, and more than 40 years as a writer. She is married--to the same man for over 60 years (no mean feat in these days) and lives in Lafayette, Indiana, with her husband Charles and a lively Scottish terrier called Zoe. She has one child, Mark, who teaches Rhetoric (a fancy name for expository writing) at Kettering University in Michigan. Mark is married to Sandra and they have a lovely daughter, Elizabeth.
Gellis has been a successful writer of historical fiction, publishing over 25 meticulously researched historical novels since 1964. The best known of these are The Roselynde Chronicles (ROSELYNDE, ALINOR, JOANNA, GILLIANE, RHIANNON, and SYBELLE). The series has been reprinted many times since its first appearance in 1979, most recently in 2006. Gellis has also been the recipient of many awards, including the Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for historical novels from West Coast Review of Books, the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur, The Romantic Times Award for Best Novel in the Medieval Period (more than once) and Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy, as well as Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Acheivement Award.
More recently Gellis has ventured into other genres, starting with mythological fantasy (DAZZLING BRIGHTNESS, SHIMMERING SPLENDOR, ENCHANTED FIRE, BULL GOD, and THRICE BOUND). Most recently she has written historical fantasy, with a series of book coauthored by Mercedes Lackey set in Elizabethan times (THIS SCEPTER'D ISLE, ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, BY SLANDEROUS TONGUES, and AND LESS THAN KIND). Before that she was writing historical mysteries, a four-book series set in London and Oxford in 1139 (A MORTAL BANE, A PERSONAL DEVIL, BONE OF CONTENTION and CHAINS OF FOLLY) and one set in the Italian Renaissance in Ferrara (LUCREZIA BORGIA and the MOTHER OF POISONS).
Since Gellis is one of the early addicts to electronic readers---she purchased a RocketeBook way back in 1999---it is no surprise that she was eager to get her own out of print historical romances into electronic format. Cerridwen Press (http://www.cerridwenpress.com) has published the Heiress Series (THE ENGLISH HEIRESS, THE CORNISH HEIRESS, THE KENT HEIRESS, FORTUNE'S BRIDE, and A WOMAN'S ESTATE) as well as the Royal Dynasty Series (don't ask me about that, there isn't a royal or a dynasty in any of the four books---it was a notion of a long-ago agent) SIREN SONG, WINTER SONG, FIRE SONG, and A SILVER MIRROR. Cerridwen offers a variety of formats, one of which can be read by the Kindle and for those too firmly addicted to paper, the books are also available in a very nice Trade edition (but those are rather expensive).
I'm sorry I don't have any amusing anecdotes to relate, as recommended by the Profile, but a writer's life is really very quiet. Sometimes my neighbors ask my husband what has happened to me because they haven't seen me in such a long time. Depending on his humor of the moment, sometimes Charles tells them that I can't come outside because he keeps me chained to my computer---but that isn't true. He lets me get up once in a while.
It is early in the 13th century and King John, the last of the sons of Elinor of Aquitaine, is on the throne of England. Normandy has been lost to France and now King Philip threatens Gascony. Meanwhile in London, an elderly goldsmith's abused body has been found by his sons and young second wife. The sons gather up all of their father's strong boxes of precious metals and jewels and most of their tools and flee leaving Madame Lissa to deal with the consequences of the goldsmith's death.
Sent for to investigate the murder is Sir Justin, captain of the London city guard, the force used to maintain order within the city walls. This is not a simple death. Peter de Flael was a wealthy merchant and one who had done work for King John himself. Sir Justin, more used to being feared than welcomed, finds himself distrusting Lissa's open admiration based on his behavior during the great fire in London a year before. Lissa herself had braved her miserly father's wrath to care for the stricken and observed Sir Justin's charitable behavior.
More a historical novel than a murder msytery, discovering the reason for Peter de Flael's death is only one of the narrative threads. There is also the development of the relationship between Lissa and Sir Justin against a backdrop of political struggle and Lissa's father's own machinations as he attempts to match wits against a powerful and amoral lord.
The characters are well drawn. Gellis does a very good job of portraying the contrast between the interests of the merchants of London and the great barons of England. Sir Justin and Lissa live in that nebulous area where wealthy merchants and the lesser gentry merge socially. While Sir Justin has his knighthood to offer Lissa, Lissa is also the heir to her father's substantial apothecary business.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a meaty historical novel with a strong romantic plot, engaging characters and a strong historical background.
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Lissa de Flael is in for the shock of her life when her husband Peter, an older London goldsmith, is found dead on her doorstep. His sons run away and Lissa is left dealing with the investigation into the murder by warden of the peace Sir Justin FizAilwin. Of course you know Justin is handsome and mightily attracted to the much younger widow - although he keeps his feelings at bay at first until he's satisfied Lissa had nothing to do with the murder. Or was it a murder? Why did Lissa's father who runs an apothecary's shop wed her off to a goldsmith where her great talents mixing herbs and potions would be of little use? What is the mysterious object everyone is breaking heads and houses apart to find? What does her father know about this object and to what ends will he go to obtain it?
Despite a pretty decent start and a nice relationship between the two (the misunderstandings were a lot less severe than you find in most of Gellis' books), the big mystery fell a bit flat at the end, as well as Lissa and Justin being worked into the events leading up to the Baron's rebellion and the signing of the Magna Carta and I found myself skimming quite a bit towards the end just to get it over with. I did enjoy reading about the merchants guilds and the inner workings of their businesses and society, it's rare these days to find something that's not wholly centered on the court and it's courtiers - and for that reason only would I recommend it. Otherwise, it's best left for die-hard Gellis fans only.
Oh, and don't let that cover fool you. Outside of a few sex scenes a tad bit on the purple prose side, it's pretty tame by today's comparison.
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I had read a review where someone thought the Masques of Gold was their favorite book so I checked it out. After I got into the book I thoroughly enjoyed it. It confused me at first with all the "Fitz's." After I was able to keep separate FitzWalter and FitzAilwyn, I could finally stay on track. I later found out that FITZ means the son of. It would of have helped if I had known that before. Great book--would recommend! It certainly shows how love is blind and how two people are really meant to be together. Another good phrase is....in the eye of the beholder!
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