Lord of the Dragon

In her first stab at medieval romance, Robinson (Lord of Enchantment) pits a clever and angry heroine against a wounded and angry hero. One of Lady Juliana Welles's legs is shorter than the other. This ``devil's curse'' was supposedly the reason that her betrothed, Edward Strange, rejected her. Renouncing all men, the bad-tempered Juliana plans to take vows of chastity and devote herself to the healing arts that her mother taught her. (Each chapter begins with a description of such remedies as sweet violets and houseleek.) Besides a herbalist, she is the ``Stripping Bandit,'' the bane of her father's domain. Disguised as a boy, she takes her revenge against ``strutting rooster knights'' by making them take off their clothes. This is especially hard for Gray de Valence (who sounds like something you might find on a curtain rod). Silver-haired Gray has come to Wellesbrooke to revenge himself against Juliana's cousin, one of the knights who caused his exile from England and his subsequent enslavement. But he stays to joust it out with Juliana instead. When their battling gets tired (he keeps throwing her over his saddle), there is a poorly constructed murder mystery to solve. Robinson skillfully sets her sensual embraces in castle embrasures and mixes her spirited, if predictable, romance, with lively medieval scholarship. (Sept.)