Linda Root

IN THE SHADOW of the GALLOWS Linda Root

Join Daisy Kirkcaldy, posthumous daughter of the Knight of Grange, and Will Hepburn, son of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, as their adventures continue into the reign of James I of England. In the fourth book in the Legacy of the Queen of Scots series, it is early autumn, 1605. Marie Stuart's son James VI of Scotland has been James I of England for two and a half years (1603: The Queen's Revenge). The crowns of England and Scotland have been joined. The King has settled in London and rules Scotland 'with his pen.' Will and Daisy have built a cottage on the shores of the Firth at Kinghorn. Will travels to the Low Countries to order a new topsail for the mizzen on one of his merchant ships, when his expatriate friend Jamie Maitland, summons him to Brussels. Maitland has uncovered a new plot against the king, launched by a fanatic group of Catholic Midland aristocrats. Much to Maitland's consternation, Hepburn declines to become involved in what he considers an English problem. After their last adventure nearly ended in disaster, Will has promised Daisy to cease meddling in foreign intrigues and devote his attentions to his family, his ships and his sheep. They continue to lead a quiet life in Kinghorn until a band of intruders murders their master of the household and kidnaps Peter, their six-year-old wee lad. As Will and Daisy and a cadre of former Reivers pursue the abductors, they sense they are not dealing with run-of-the-mill kidnappers. Peter's abduction is a Blackmail. People in high places are determined to keep Hepburn from warning the king, and not all of them are hot-headed English dissidents. Some of them are Scots, and all of them are ruthless. With the entire Royal Family and the English peerage at risk, Will and Daisy and their reiver friends cross the Border to meet a greater challenge than the rescue of a single child.