THE TYRANT: Vol. III of THE GOLDEN CHRONICLES

Third in Veryan's Golden Chronicles series (Practice to Deceive, 1985; Journey to Enchantment, 1986): another period pother with galloping adventure and toddling romance--again centered on the post-Culloden, 18th-century maneuvers of the hunted Jacobites to secure the treasure of defeated Bonnie Prince Charlie. Phoebe Ramsay, a beauty of London and Surrey, is almost sure shell marry handsome Brooks Lambert, but instead she finds herself affianced to that detestable ""tyrant,"" Meredith Carruthers. This has come about because of the complex nick-of-time rescue of a nice young man who is a courier for the Jacobites (and who throughout will be stuffed in trunks, hidden in caves, etc.). So off goes unhappy Phoebe with mother and brother (and the courier packed in a hamper) to the fantastic rains of the Carruthers estate, where the action takes place, and where the large cast includes: the tyrant's young, misunderstood brother and another nice chap, Brooks (both crazily related); a dashing bounty-hunter; two timid ladies and one elderly stalwart; a neighboring squire with a grudge (and a missing son); and military men who pop in and out at all hours. There's no end to crises: gunfire and hideouts, death threats, leaking wounds and escapes, an abduction, a duel--and then burgeoning romance on the run. Very, very Veryan-busy, lighthearted period-romantic adventure.