Midsummer's Knight

Phillips (Silent Night) is a new star on the historical romance horizon: she's literate, witty and tells a good story. As the title suggests, her inspiration's clearly Shakespearean, with a fast-paced plot that involves multiple exchanges of identity, disguises and a lively war between the sexes. Wealthy widow Lady Katherine Fitzhugh changes identities with her shy cousin Miranda, in order to better investigate Sir Brandon Cavendish, the mystery man King Henry VIII has chosen for her husband. Unbeknownst to Kat, however, handsome Sir Brandon, worried that his betrothed is an elderly witch who's already dispatched two husbands, has exchanged identities with his best friend, John Stafford, known at Henry's court as Jack of Hearts. Complicating what is already tangled is Kat's nephew and heir, a nasty piece of work who's determined to stop this wedding at all costs. Kat's really the focus here: a sanguine, determined survivor of two unfortunate marriages, she may occasionally be exasperated but isn't easily discouraged. The dialogue is fully and funnily Shakespearean, and while it may take a few pages to assimilate, it's a hoot. To tell more would spoil this wonderfully written comedy. (June)