Juliet Dymoke (1919–2001)

I'm back into that phase where I will read anything to do with The Scarlet Pimpernel/the French Revolution, so when this popped up on Amazon, the price and the pretty cover convinced me to download a copy, even though I had never heard of the author. (I thought Juliet Dymoke was a new, self-published author, but she was actually an old school historical romance writer who died in 2001.)

The Queen's Diamond is an old-fashioned novel, like the author, but then I love Baroness Orczy's Pimpernel series, so that worked for me. Any F-Rev fiction readers who prefer the hero/heroine to be 100% red, white and blue cockade-wearing, Robespierre-quoting, guillotine-wielding republicans will not be amused, however, because the central characters are all royalist aristos. What bothered me more was the sudden launch into an almost constant stream of dialogue with little action, like I'd missed the first few chapters. Once I caught onto what was happening, and who was who, I grew more involved in the story, but lost interest again towards the end - when the Queen's Blue Diamond, a necklace stolen along with the crown jewels from the Royal Treasury in 1792, finally entered the story.

A dry novel in the style, though lacking the same drive or romance, of Baroness Orczy and Jean Plaidy.… (altro)