Court of Shadows

In her first novel Morgan provides a zesty pk version of Elizabethan Europe that serves as the backdrop to a disappointingly cliched plot. When Nicholas Langdon is engaged as a spy for the crown, his sister Kat isn't about to stay behind and mind the manor. So she dons male attire and follows Nicholas to the inn where he's stalking his quarry: Justin Lisle, a baron suspected of supporting Mary Queen of Scots, who has been Elizabeth's prisoner for two years. The siblings' amateur efforts at intrigue are more enthusiastic than effective, so they plan a second attempt, this one at Justin's Hampshire estate. Discovered while eavesdropping, Kat is seized by Justin; Nicholas escapes only to thump his head on a tree and lose his memory. Meanwhile Kat won't explain who she is or why she was climbing the outside of the house, so Justin cannot risk leaving her in England when he travels on business to Spain and France; he has her drugged and brought along with the baggage--the chilly beginning of a relationship that, of course, heats up over time. (Mar.)