Lady Grace Mysteries

The Lady Grace Mysteries is a detective fiction series about the escapades of Lady Grace Cavendish, a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I. The books are written in the style of a diary. Each book sees her trying to solve a mystery of the court. The stories are set in 1569 and 1570, and there are nine books so far; "Assassin"; "Betrayal"; "Conspiracy"; "Deception"; "Exile"; "Feud"; "Gold"; "Haunted" and "Intrigue" . The tenth book; "Jinx" has not yet been released. The first book, "Assassin", was published in 2004.

Authors

The first four books, "Assassin", "Betrayal" and "Conspiracy", and the later "Feud", were written by Patricia Finney, and the later ones are written by Sara Volger and Jan Burchett, though on the covers it says the author is "Grace Cavendish".

eries

* "Assassin" by Patricia Finney
* "Betrayal" by Patricia Finney
* "Conspiracy" by Patricia Finney
* "Deception" by Sara Vogler & Jan Burchett
* "Exile" by Sara Vogler & Jan Burchett
* "Feud" by Patricia Finney
* "Gold!" by Sara Vogler & Jan Burchett
* "Haunted" by Sara Vogler & Jan Burchett
* "Intrigue" by Sara Vogler & Jan Burchett
* "Jinx"
* "Keys" (January 2009)

Characters

There are a number of recurring characters who appear in all the books.

Lady Grace Cavendish

Lady Grace Cavendish is the youngest Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth I. She is an orphan: her mother drank poison intended for the Queen and her father died when her mother was pregnant, fighting a war in France. She is sharp and clever. Her carefully concealed best friends are Ellie and Masou, who are of lower status than that of herself. Grace and the other Maids of Honour are looked after by the impatient mistress, Mrs Champernowne. Even though Grace is a fictional character, her mother is based on a real person called Lady Margaret Cavendish.

Queen Elizabeth

Daughter of Henry the VIII and Anne Boleyn. She never got married but had many suitors.

Ellie Bunting

Ellie is a laundrymaid of Queen Elizabeth's court who later in the series becomes Lady Grace's tiring woman. she is very good friends with Grace and Masou and she often assists them in solving mysteries. Like Grace she is an orphan as her parents died of the plague. She sneaks out occasionally to meet Grace and Masou.The deptuy laundress Mrs Fadget treats Ellie badly, and tries to suck up to Grace.

Masou

Masou is a skilled tumbler in Queen Elizabeth's court. like Ellie later in the series he becomes one of the Queens very own Fools after performing an act of bravery. He is good friends with Grace and Ellie and helps them solve mysteries. He is cheeky, fun and boastful about his skills. Masou is from Africa and never knew his mother, who died at his birth. His father died of consumption after arriving in England.He is especially good at juggling with fire.

Lady Sarah Bartelmy

Lady Sarah only cares for her looks. She flirts a lot and fights with Lady Jane. Not much is known about Lady Sarah's childhood or family except that she is an heiress and her family owns a large estate called Bartemly house.Lady Sarah is very pretty with pretty copper coloured locks and a large bosom. She fusses over her clothes which drives Mary Shelton and Lady Grace, who share a bedchamber with her, mad. Her rival at court is Lady Jane, who is in competition with her for the attention of young gentlemen present.

Lady Jane

Lady Jane despises Lady Sarah, and fights with her almost constantly. She is always searching for ways to beat Lady Sarah in getting the attention of the young gentlemen. She has a tall elegant figure and blond hair 'foaming down her back' as one of the court gentlemen wrote in a poem to her.

Mary Shelton

Mary Shelton is the chubby but kind friend of Lady Grace. She is clueless about Grace's detective work, but she is very useful to Grace when it comes to information about the people around her.

Reviews

* http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/27/190315.php