February 5th, 2009
A PLAY OF TREACHERY -- IT'S AWAY! Some good news: The long wait is nearly over. I've at last finished the latest Joliffe book -- A Play of Treachery
-- and sent it off to my editor. In it, Joliffe is summoned away from
his company of players and sent to France to begin his training as a
spy for the powerful Bishop Beaufort. France, in the throes of the
Hundred Years War, is an especially dangerous place to be, with the
tangle of warfare and politics thrown out of balance by the recent
defection of the duke of Burgundy (England's long-time ally) and the
even more recent death of the duke of Bedford (England's governor
there). Joliffe, on the other hand, thinks himself quite safe in
the walled city of Rouen, the center of the English government in
France. And even safer -- and comfortable -- in the rich household of
Bedford's widowed duchess, a very young and very lovely woman with a
mind of her own. But the city walls that serve to keep enemies
out give no safety against enemies from within, and all the wealth of a
widow's household is no defense against murder. - Margaret | 
