The Midsummer Crown

When I read Kate Sedley's first Roger the Chapman series, I hadn't yet become interested in Plantagent and Tudor England so the fact that Roger set out to improve Richard III's image faded into the background with the second book and the move away from political intrigue. Around book 14, Richard of Gloucester again needed Roger's help and the series has alternated between political and personal crimes since then. The Midsummer Crown is one of the political installments, but court machinations stayed with me less than the apparently unconnected male/female conflict among the families of the courtiers. The "twist" ending was well done, both sufficiently surprising and well-supported, and the whispers about the missing princes felt like ordinary rumors that would go around the court rather than the lurid stories we've grown accustom to. At the end of the novel, Roger attends Richard III's coronation feast and then goes home to Bristol. There are two more books in the series and while the final one will probably end at Bosworth, I hope the next one focuses on Bristol or Roger's commercial travels.