MP30138 : Your Royal Hostage
Author
Antonia Fraser
Genre
Crime and Thriller
Length
8
Description
Here, the author’s in good form with a story about two powerful British passions – royalty and animals. TV interviewer-sleuth Jemima Shore (Oxford Blood, etc.) – who was fired from Megalith TV in the wake of a corporate shake-up – has accepted a US network assignment to cover the upcoming wedding of minor royal Princess Amy to even more minor but intriguingly raffish European Prince Ferdinand. The wedding also looms large in the meticulous plotting of Monkey, Chicken, Lamb, Pussy, Tom, and Beagle – code names for the slightly loony members of an underground offshoot of Innoright, a respectable animal-rights group. Their master plan is undeterred by the murder of Tom, now revealed as a police spy. Meanwhile, Ione Quentin, lady-in-waiting to Princess Amy, is the sister of near-certifiable Lydia, a.k.a. Lamb; and Beagle is Josh Tap-low, weirdo son of the couple who housekeep for the Prince. The cell manages a series of nasty, embarrassing but relatively harmless incidents that build menacingly to another killing and more – much more. All is not over when it’s over, however, and it’s Jemima, putting together all she’s seen and heard, who derails a Final tragedy. Telling her story at a leisurely pace, with lots of suspense, gentle barbs, gossipy chitchat and lively characters, Fraser seems to be having a jolly good time. The reader will too. (Kirkus Reviews)
Date Added
January 1, 1970