A LITTLE FIRE

A transposition of the story of Mary Stuart and Elizabeth Tudor to the early 19th century which invents the beauty, the charm, the calculated determination that was Mary's in Douce Albany, brought from France to Scotland where she is groomed to take over this branch of the family's wine business, is early indoctrinated in her distrust of Ann Albany, her English cousin. Spurred by Ann's warnings, Douce marries Aylmer Lennox, weak, dependent, and a spender who soon Learns to forge her name, and runs the business to ruin. Indulging in an affair with Hamish Hepburn, insolent, attractive, Douce plans with Hamish the murder of Aylmer which will assume the appearance of an accident, conceals the crime for several years until Ann revives the acaudal with new evidence and brings on her trial and conviction... Although some may question the validity of a transfer such as this, the story still retains its sympathy and suspense, provides popular, period reading.