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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic reading experience, October 1, 2003
Six years have passed since Elizabeth was crowned but she and her Secretary of State William Cecil still worry that her enemies will try to take the throne away from her. She makes her childhood friend Robert Dudley the Earl of Leicester and offers him as a husband to her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots. By doing this, she hopes to make Lord Henry Stewart so appealing that Mary will want this weakling and defuse the threat she poses to Elizabeth. Elizabeth declares that the twelve days of Christmas in 1564 will be a joyous celebration but the Queen's mood turns ugly when one of her cook's is murdered and dressed up in death as a peacock. Elizabeth thinks this killing was aimed at The Earl of Leicester, who many call a peacock because he wears bright colors and therefore indirectly at her. She consults with her trusted Privy Plot Council on this matter. Malicious pranks played on the Queen during the holiday make her suspect everyone except Cecil. When a second murder occurs Elizabeth goes on the offensive and almost gets killed. THE QUEENE'S CHRISTMAS is a very enlightening historical mystery as the readers sees how Elizabeth feels about her deceased parents and dead sister. The author, using the third person narrative, shows how Elizabeth makes it plain that though she may love, she will not marry because she doesn't trust any man to let her rule in her own right. There are many viable viable who would like Elizabeth dead, which means that readers are treated to a rare cerebral puzzle. Karen Harper is one of the few authors who educates while she entertains. Harriet Klausner
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Elizabethan feast, April 29, 2004
As in the previous five Elizabeth I mysteries, Harper's latest relies on the details, customs, food and dress of the court to provide at least as much pleasure as the plot, which illuminates the factions and threats endangering Elizabeth's singular rule. The novel opens in 1564 with the Queen's decision to celebrate an old-style Twelve Day Christmas to please her aged, declining nurse. The Puritans rage, the populace rejoices, and Christmas Eve begins badly, with the murder of the Dresser of the Queen's Privy Kitchen (there are three kitchens - one for the Queen and invited guests, a second for courtiers, and a third for the hordes of minions who do all the work). The man responsible for the elaborate design of the finished dishes, poor Hodge had been hung and garnished with the plumage of the peacock he was preparing. With the jokester preparing another nasty surprise for each of the 12 days, the Queen gathers her usual Privy Council, but soon finds reason to suspect even them. Courtiers are jealous, greedy, scheming people and even the best are ambitious. The plot is nicely paced (though the Privy Council red herrings are fairly obvious), but the chief spectacle here is Christmas. A Christmas recipe prefaces each chapter and is featured within during the festivities. The feasts and pageants and costumes are entrancingly described, as is much of the work involved in getting it all done. Excellent in concept and execution.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wassail! Christmas in Merry Olde England Makes Good Reading, December 7, 2003
Karen Harper's historical mystery series has two things to recommend it, for me, at least. First is the setting: I have always been fascinated by Elizabeth I, a woman who not only survived as a single woman in a man's world where such a state was considered a sign of witchcraft but who built the foundations of an empire that survived her by two centuries. The second is Ms. Harper's talent, which brings both the woman and the time to vivid life, and adds in a mystery that makes the best use of both. This book doesn't disappoint. All the favorite characters are there: Meg and Ned and Jenks, caught in a love triangle the resolution of which Ms. Harper is drawing out with tantalizing slowness. Harry Carew and William Cecil complete the historical elements of Her Majesty's Privy Plot Council. Dear Kat Ashley, who has been Elizabeth's support for most of her life, is failing, and it is a credit to Ms. Harper's skill with characters that we share in the queen's sadness at the impending loss of her beloved companion. As for the mystery, it is once again wrapped in the inevitable politics that were as much a part of Elizabeth's life as breathing, and if the outcome and final resolution seem somewhat anticlimactic, that in no way detracts from the reader's enjoyment. THE QUEENE'S CHRISTMAS, like all the Elizabethan Mysteries, is as much to be read for its ability to draw one into an earlier time and place, and for the true history lover that's almost more than enough.
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