The Twylight Tower

Rating:
Summary: a novel that captures the essence of the Elizabethan court
Review: "The Twylight Tower" is more a novel of political intrigue than it is a mystery, and of the three books in this series so far, I think that "The Twylight Tower" is definitely the best. Karen Harper has done a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the Elizabethan court life, with all its intrigues, politics, and jockeying for power behind the scenes. This novel however is not much of a mystery novel, the identity of the murderer is revealed halfway through the book, as is the murderer's motive. So if you are an avid mystery addict, be forewarned: this novel scores high on the political intrigue level -- murder-mystery-wise, this is a rather straight forward read with few surprises.

It's May 1560, and a very young and carefree Elizabeth I is conductiong a rather dangerous flirtation with the very married Lord Robert Dudley, much to the dismay of her friends and advisers. But Elizabeth refuses to pay any heed to those who warn her that this infatuation of hers could cause her her crown. Elizabeth's thoughts are firmly focused on Dudley, love, dancing, masques and summer; and she has no time for matters of state, much to the anger and chagrin of William Cecil, her chief adviser. She even shrugs off the feeling that she is being spied upon rather than allow her unease to interfere with her pleasures! And when her favourite lutenist falls to his death, instead of demanding that the accident be fully investigated, Elizabeth accepts that his death was an accidental one -- so loathe is she to fill her mind with anything but pleasurable thoughts of Robert Dudley!

Her loyal servants of the Privy Plot Council however do not accept that the musician's death was accidental, and covertly, they begin to investigate his death. But when an ambitious young courtier is seriously injured during a rehearsal for a masque, thus almost causing the Queen to fall to her death, Elizabeth finally realises that someone is out to get her. Will Elizabeth and her servants succeed in unmasking the culprit before he/she can strike again?

Karen Harper has done a marvelous job of sustaining the atmosphere of tension in this novel: will Elizabeth's risky infatuation with Dudley lead to a scandal that could rock the country and her hold on the throne? Who is the secret watcher that seems to be dogging the Queen's very footsteps? And will Elizabeth come to her senses in time to realise that someone is out for her blood, or will more 'accidents' take place? While most of the character is this novel are a bit paper-thin, Harper's portrayal of Elizabeth I is brilliant -- she has successfully captured the many facets of the Queen's personality: capricious, quick tempered, generous, intelligent, suspicious, and vulnerable. Karen Harper also does a wonderful job of portraying the murderer by showing how a life of thwarted dreams and ambitions can affect an uncertain and deranged mind. And even though I imagine that this may not have been the authour's intention, I came away feeling rather sorry for the murderer.

"The Twylight Tower" is quite a good novel of political intrigue, and reminded me quite a bit of the novels (of a similar genre) by Jean Plaidly. Indeed, Karen Harper even manages to shed an interesting light to the death of Amy Robsart, Robert Dudley's unfortunate and much neglected wife. A good and interesting read.

Rating:
Summary: Hustorical novel in the guise of a mystery
Review: A year and a half ago, Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England and has won the hearts of many of her subjects and also solved two homicide cases on the sly. In her mid-twenties, the youthful Elizabeth wants to delegate some of her responsibilities to trusted aids and release some of the anger and fear that engulfed much of her life. Childhood friend and Horsemaster Robert Dudley makes it obvious that he wants the monarch and though she denies it, she covets him too. She will not allow any man to be her consort and besides he is married.

Robert and the Queen flirt, which leads to rumors and scandal that provides ammo for Elizabeth's enemies to use against her. Ultimately a disguised serpent enters Elizabeth's Eden, spreading evil that Her Highness cannot see but at times senses. Tragedy occurs that changes the Queen's life forever and she embarks on her latest sleuthing quest to ferret out a devious enemy.

Karen Harper has written an exciting Elizabethan mystery that contains acceptable historical facts to enhance the feel that the Queen is conducting an investigation. Because of the meticulous research and its detail embodied in the plot, the era appears in full glamour and danger. The sleuthing is fun, but what makes THE TWLIGHT TOWER comparable to the fine works of Allison Weir is the strong writing of the author, interweaving historical tidbits into a powerful story line.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Good history, average mystery
Review: Elizabeth is newly Queen and England is rocked by intrigue. The French and Spanish conspire to push their candidates for Elizabeth's husband--or her replacement. In England itself, the powerful jockey for their place in Elizabeth's court. Yet England is lately recovered from the civil wars that showed that any man with power could seize the crown. Can Elizabeth stand against all?

In THE TWYLIGHT TOWER, Karen Harper presents Elizabeth with an additional problem--murder. While at first the deaths appear accidental, they soon resolve to a major threat to Elizabeth herself. Elizabeth's privy council wait for her orders to swing into action (this is the third of Harper's Elizabeth mysteries after all so they know how to sidekick), but Elizabeth is too busy being enamored of Lord Robert to have much time for crime solving.

That, in a nutshell is the problem with the book. The protagonist of a mystery is too busy to solve the mystery until the very end. Like most mystery readers, I prefer to see the protagonist struggle, seeking resolution in a number of ways. Waiting through two hundred pages for the protagonist to get around to it isn't what I want.

I enjoyed THE TWYLIGHT TOWER and I think the concept of Elizabeth as detective is delightful. As a mystery, I found it merely average, however.

Rating:
Summary: Twlight of a Series
Review: This is Karen Harper's third outing in her Elizabeth I mystery series. Verily forsooth, "The Twylight Tower" doesn't live up to its immediate predecessor, "The Tidal Poole." Despite concerns about some of Harper's historical inaccuracies, I think the main problem with the novel was a surfeit of history. Harper has reached an historical point where Elizabeth's life and activities are too well-documented to make her a credible amateur detective. In the previous novels, Elizabeth was still the despised and ignored half-sister. While the biographical outline of her early life is known, an author like Harper could exercise wide creative latitude as to how Princess Elizabeth spent her time.

This is not the case in "The Twylight Tower." As the series proceeds chronologically, Elizabeth is now Queen of England. Harper doesn't seem able to devise a plausible mystery within the confines of the better known historical details of Elizabeth's summer at Windsor in 1560. For instance, the significance of her romance with Robert Dudley is much studied, as are the circumstances of the death his wife, Amy Robsart; the machinations of the Spanish ambassador; and the political fortunes of Robert Cecil, the Lord Chancellor.

In addition, Harper seems to be losing interest in the minor characters who comprise the Privy Plot Council. This time around Meg is portrayed as a sniveling liar, Burleigh a drunk, and Ned is barely seen at all. Too bad. These characters helped make the previous books interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgivable Error, Ms. Harper!
Review: This series is becoming tiresome. Other reviewers have commented on the soap opera romance aspect of this novel, so I'd like to direct my criticism to Harper's knowledge of history, or lack thereof, and to her style.

First, her history. The first novel in the series was bad enough, with not the slightest mention that Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, was herself a Butler of Ormond! The princess's erstwhile murderer would, therefore, have been a cousin, and letting the reader in on their relationship would have deepened and enriched the story.

But that's a mere quibble. On page 238 of THE TWYLIGHT TOWER, Elizabeth says, in reference to the founding of the Order of the Garter, "I'll tell you one thing about King Edward III, who began this nearly six centuries ago. . ."

As a student of the Fourteenth Century, I gritted my teeth on reading so crass a mistake. The Garter's founding is sightly uncertain, but the Order was founded (indeed, by Edward III) some time between 1344 and 1348. Now, simple subtraction from 1560 gives us a difference of little more than 200 years, not 600. I thought the error might be a strange typo--perhaps originally "200" mistakenly typed as "600" and then editorially spelled out. But it is Harper's mistake. Two pages later Robert Dudley (perhaps addled by lust!) refers to the founding as occurring "hundreds of years ago."

At that point I felt like throwing an ink bottle at Karen Harper. No one so ignorant of history should be writing a novel purporting to be "historical."

As for style, Harper is too often guilty of indulging in the "forsooth school" of dialogue (Josephine Tey's term), yet is maddeningly inconsistent in her use of historically correct grammar. Since I believe that she is an English teacher, she is surprisingly ignorant of extant older grammatical forms. Here lapses are manifold, and include using the indicative rather than the subjunctive mode ("if it was" rather than "if it were") and "like" instead of "such as" in a phrase containing a verb.

Picky, perhaps, but such Americanisms are quite destructive of the novel's verisimiliatude. Are her characters Elizabethans--or modern Americans speaking U.S. English?

My recommendation is to avoid these novels...