When her favorite lutenist falls to his death from a parapet outside the window, the Queen is occupied lavishing her attentions on married Robert Dudley and assumes the young man's fall was caused by excessive drink. Her close servants, including herbalist Meg and player Ned, who have helped the queen solve murders on two previous occasions, are certain that it is foul play, but are unable to convince Her Grace of it until a second death occurs. When Robert's young wife Amy is killed, Elizabeth begins to think that someone is committing these acts to cast aspersions on her rule. A young lutenist with secrets of his own makes the queen realize she must reconsider those closest to her and whom she can trust.

The Twylight Tower is a novel rich in the historical detail of sixteenth century England. The details are not forced, making the time period as familiar as the present. While not much detail is provided about the life of a commoner, there is much insight into life in the castle. Elizabeth spends much of her time protesting that she can be as good a ruler as a man, yet much of her time is spent being a simpering fool around Robert. The queen tries to be fair when meting out punishments, even to exiling her best friend and her husband, something that may come back to haunt her.

The investigation takes awhile to get off the ground while the cadre of sleuths convinces Bess (as they call the queen during investigations) that murder was involved. The pace saunters along until the very end, by which time most readers will have figured out who is so interested in the queen's demise.

The Twylight Tower , an historically rich novel that is based firmly in real events and real characters, will appear to fans of historical mysteries, but may take awhile to draw readers in with less interest in this time period.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry