Mark of the Rose
Kate Pearce
Signet, Sep 6 2011, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451234520
In 1537 lady-in-waiting to Queen Jane, Widow Verity Llewellyn is at Richmond Palace, the court of Henry VIII. She fears her Queen is dying, but her brother Jasper the Druid vampire slayer ridiculed her feelings. With him away healing from injuries, she protects the monarchs from rogue vampires. She sends a note asking for help from her excommunicated cousin Rosalind for help; because of her grandfather’s shunning of her relative, she sends it through mutual acquaintance Rhys Williams a slayer healing from a vampire ambush at Rosalind’s home. Neither pregnant Rosalind nor her husband Christopher Elias (see Kiss of the Rose for their story) can go as he must keep their special six year old son safe while she is growing.
Meanwhile Vampire Council representative at the King’s court Christopher’s brother Elias affirms to Verity the queen is dying. Rhys arrives at court to forge an alliance neither desires but explains to the tyro slayer that it is him or no one. To save the queen and the child she carries, they must uncover who is serendipitously drinking her royal blood. While hoping to not make obvious their sleuthing, they fall in love.
The latest Tudor Vampire Chronicles historical romance is a fabulous investigative thriller as the lead couple follow clues while also falling in love. As in the previous entries (see Blood of the Rose), the alternate Pearce world seems real as the author deftly creates a King Henry VIII realm filled with Druid slayers and vampires. Readers will enjoy this complex political deadly saga as Kate Pearce provides a taut sixteenth century whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
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