The Spymaster's Daughter

July 23, 2012
Westin offers a fresh take on Tudor-era intrigue in her well-paced newest (after Making Do). Lady Frances Sidney is the unhappily married daughter of Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. All she wants in life is to become a spy, but her father refuses to give her the opportunity. However, Frances is headstrong and determined to see her dreams fulfilled. When Frances becomes a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, Walsingham appoints one of his best spies, Robert Pauley, to be her protector, and Frances soon persuades him to help her become a code-breaker. Meanwhile, she attracts the unwanted attention of the aggressive Earl of Essex, and finds herself falling for coconspirator Pauley. Nevertheless, Frances enjoys her new secret position, but everything changes when she begins uncovering secret messages from Queen Mary, Elizabeth's sister, describing a conspiracy to depose Elizabeth. Pauley and Frances go on a mission to trap the would-be usurpers and save Elizabeth, but they may lose everything in the process. Though Westin manages only a lackluster ending, Frances is a strong protagonist, and readers will enjoy the chemistry between her and Pauley, who proves more than a good match for her tenacity and charisma.