Queens' Play

Lymond Chronicles Series, Book 2

Plot

For the first time Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles are available in the United States in quality paperback editions. Second in the legendary Lymond Chronicles, Queen's Play follows Frances Crawford of Lymond who has been abruptly called into the service of Mary Queen of Scots. Though she is only a little girl, the Queen is already the object of malicious intrigues that extend from her native country to the court of France. It is to France that Lymond must travel, exercising his sword hand and his agile wit while also undertaking the most unlikely of masquerades, all to make sure that his charge's royal person stays intact. The six novels in the series are as follows: The Game of Kings (1961) Queens' Play (1964) The Disorderly Knights (1966) Pawn in Frankincense (1969) The Ringed Castle (1971) Checkmate (1975) Queens' Play (1964) Having cleared his name in Scotland, Lymond takes on an unlikely alias in order to infiltrate the French Court and protect the young Mary, Queen of Scots from her would-be assassins, but in the whirl and rush of Europe's most decadent and reckless Court, he finds it increasingly difficult to remember where play-acting ends and self-destructive excess begins. Main fictional characters Francis Crawford of Lymond, Master of Culter Sybilla Crawford, Dowager Baroness Culter Richard Crawford, Third Baron Culter Phelim O'Liam Roe, Irish leader Oonagh O'Dwyer, Mistress of Cormac O'Connor Archie Abernethy, Elephant Keeper Main historical characters Mary de Guise, Queen Dowager of Scotland Margaret Erskine Jenny Fleming, Mistress of the King of France George Douglas, exiled Scot, living in France Cormac O'Connor, claimant to the Irish throne Main locations Paris, France Blois, France London, England Falkland Palace, Scotland