Now To The Books

I'm fairly certain both these books are historical fiction, though their introductions attempt to cast them as based on fact. And maybe they are. I'm still confused on that point.

The Adventures of Alianore Audley, Brian Wainright - Set during the reign of Edward IV, up into the reign of whichever Tudor first ended up on the throne. Alianore is a young woman who claims to be uninterested in power or a life of adventure and shaping the world, yet has considerable skill when it comes to espionage. Sent to serve as a lady in service of another powerful lady in the northern extents of England, she learns that the lord of the manor is planning to throw in with a rival to Edward, sends warning to the King, and before you know it, she's been drafted into the Royal Intelligence Services, much to her dismay.

Perhaps because of the time she's raised in, Alianore's goal is to meet a nobleman who's well-off enough she can focus on running the house and having lots of kids. She does achieve those goals, after much time and effort spent trying to interfere with usurpers and settling disputes between rival houses. I'm a bit surprised she's so good at espionage, given her tendency to speak her mind and not observe the niceities expected when dealing with royalty (at one point, she flatly refuses Edward's request the she become one of his three regular mistresses, which seems like it could get you thrown in jail). It's not as though she doesn't know how, and she can fake it as necessary, but her natural inclination is to call it as she sees it. Then again, she makes it clear (as the story is presented as her relating it to various transcribers) that much of her work was to form a network of informants who would report to her, and receive pay based on their peformance, so she was as much administrator and advisor as field agent. She does nearly die in France, and later leads a group of Welshmen against allies of the Tudor wretch, but she's not strictly Jack Bauer.

It's a quick an easy read, livened up by Alianore's frequent biting remarks, which add humor to the proceedings. So even though there are poisonings, treasonous acts, murderous ambushes of despicable lawyers and more, the book isn't particularly grim. Even the more dire moments have that pulp serial feel of "how will our heroine escape this?" where there's suspense, but no doubt she will escape.

Death of a Musketeer, Sarah D'Almeida - The intro for this book described someone (I assume the author) receiving a package from her relatives in France, which appeared to be the diary of D'Artangan, with notes in the margins written in 3 different sets of handwriting, ostensibly the scribblings of Athos, Aramis, and Porthos.

The story itself begins with D'Artangan in his duel with Athos, with Aramis and Porthos awaiting their turns. Then some of the Cardinal's boys appear, D'Artangan stands with the Musketeer, they score a resounding victory. All of which, if you've read the book or seen the movies (I was introduced to the story through the movie with Charlie Sheen and Tim Curry), you know. Afterward, they visit taverns all across Paris, where other Musketeers are only too happy to buy them drinks for having routed the Cardinal's Guards. Leaving a tavern late at night, they see another Musketeer, who flees at the sight of them. They pursue, and catch up, only to find their quarry dead, her throat cut. Oh yes, and she's the spitting image of the Queen.

From there, our four heroes set about trying to piece this together, but quietly. Is it actually the Queen? If so, where was she going to (or coming from)? Why was she dressed as a Musketeer? What's the meaning of the encrypted letter in her pocket? Fortunately, all of the Musketeers have various contacts (usually romantic) that prove useful in their endeavors. Naturally, the whole thing has potentially global ramifications, and our heroes must scramble to prevent a major mess.

D'Almeida opts to have the quartet frequently split up, each pair having a different objective. She usually alternates chapters between the pairs, so it stays fresh in your mind what each group is up to, and makes certain that something happens in each chapter, even if it's just reaching a dead end. Also, she alternates the perspective the chapters are written from, between Musketeers. Over the course of a mission where Aramis and Athos visit an orphanage, one chapter would be written from Aramis' perspective, the next from Athos, with chapters detailing what Porthos and D'Artangan are up to interspersed. Because the pairings shift as the Musketeers convene to share their findings, then pursue new avenues, we are able to see how each character reacts to the others, how they perceive, or how they think those others perceive them, though D'Artangan doesn't waste much time on that, perhaps because he hasn't been around them long enough to consider how each Musketeer might view him differently.

I wasn't totally satisfied with the ending, but I don't want to say more because it would likely spoil things. I suppose it works given the past of one of the characters involved, but I think he needed to be overruled in this case. This was another quick, entertaining read, my disappointment with the conclusion notwithstanding. It's night loaded with very much sword-fighting, but it's interesting wathcing the Musketeers try to solve a problem with their wits, by trying to investigate the crime by talking to experts and chasing down leads. I know that all of them came from at least moderately noble families, so presumably they'd received an education, but I hadn't ever though of the Musketeers as being suited for sleuthing.