The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner

A mystery book review

The Tudor Secret revives a device that hasn't seen much use this century: the orphan with a distinctive birthmark and mysterious ancestry. Brendan Prescott has been raised with the bullying sons of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland. Grown now, he travels to London to become Robert Dudley's squire as rumors swirl over the boy-king Edward VI's health. Northumberland heads the powerful Regency Council and is in a position to influence the succession. With no male heir, Edward's Catholic eldest half-sister Mary, and then his Protestant half-sister Elizabeth, would be next in line to the throne, if their father's marital adventures did not cast shadows of illegitimacy over each, depending on which mother is deemed to have been properly married.

Young Brendan rides into a stew of intrigue the day Princess Elizabeth arrives in London. "The first thing I noticed was that she was not beautiful. . . . Then I met her stare. Her eyes were fathomless, overwide pupils limning her gold irises, like twin suns in eclipse. . . . She had the eyes of a lion." Like most of London, Brendan is drawn to her royal aura, though Northumberland's schemes lead elsewhere. Then a summons arrives from another schemer, Elizabeth's champion William Cecil, who makes Brendan a compelling offer. Without completely understanding his mission, Brendan becomes a spy, unsure on precisely whose behalf he is working, though his pledges his loyalty to Elizabeth. Then he falls in love with one of her serving women.

The plot is intricate, and characters often catch the meaning of veiled hints that could leave readers still guessing. But it's easy to enjoy the story without necessarily following every single twist, turn and doublecross. Brendan balances on a knife-edge of peril as he comes tantalizingly closer to discovering the secret of his birth. Though Brendan is entirely fictional, The Tudor Secret serves up a dark, plausible theory about Edward's death and Jane Grey's nine days as queen. (2011; 327 pages, including an Author's Note separating fact from fiction)