QUEEN'S PLAY

?intricate as a mathematical puzzle, this historical novel traces plot and counterplot through the childhood at the French court of the future Mary, Queen of Scots. Its hero appears first as Thady Boy Ballagh, minstrel to an Irish Prince. But Thady Boy is in reality Francis Crawford of Lymond, a dashing Scarlet Pimpernel who foils numerous attempts against his enemies, wins races and battles, and carries the whole exciting book on his shoulders. It is written in a close, elegantly witty style, and the action and interplay of the tremendous cast of characters never flags and is wholly believable as well as engrossing. The decadent brutality of the French court, the schemes of Queens and noblemen around the eight-year-old Mary, horrific battles and murders, all swirl about the enigmatic Lymond who brings them to life and bests them as well. A book that could sell well and is certainly splendid of its kind. (The Game of Kings- 1961- introduced Lymond so that this is, in a sense, a sequel, although no dependently so.)