Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Wales, was an ordinary young woman who was picked to be the future queen. Her wedding was a worldwide sensation. But she was deceived and betrayed before the honeymoon was over. Five months after a fairy tale wedding, she threw herself down a flight of stairs when she was pregnant with a future heir to the throne. Suicide attempts, illicit affairs, and paranoia that there were plots by the Royals to kill her became the norm as the fairy tale turned into a horror story. After suffering degradation and humiliation at the hands of her husband, the heir to the British throne, she shot him with one of his own antique pistols.Paranoid that her own attorneys would deceive her, the princess reaches across the Atlantic to hire someone she knows for certain has no ties to the Crown. Marlowe James is an American trial lawyer. Running away from an abusive home, she supported herself by working as a waitress, rising to become a famous trial lawyer. Marlowe James has been dubbed the "burning bed lawyer" by the news media because of her successful defense of women who killed their abusive husbands. And to top that, she was the accused in her first murder trial. Now she not only has to do battle in the Old Bailey with barristers loyal to the Crown, she has to come to grips with her own feelings about a woman who has been handed everything any woman would desire---and throws it all away. The explosive tale that will be exposed in the courtroom is one of jealous rage and unfulfilled desires, of sexual deceit by one of the most powerful men on earth---and the bloody revenge enacted by a woman scorned.
This is a work of fiction based on real facts about the Princess of Wales and her turbulent marriage to the heir of the British throne. Its a tale of what if the princess murdered the prince in an act of provocation and revenge. Quite an interesting narrative, although the end is a bit fast and an expected conclusion that does not really pull the whole story together.
"Blood Royal" is surprisingly good, but not flawless
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
The latest Robbins book I read was "Descent from Xanadu" (1984), which was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. "Blood Royal" is Robbins' sixth, or so, posthumous novel and my guess it that co-writer Podrug deserves most of the credit. The main story is about the American lawyer who's hired to defend the princess of "ales who has killed her husband, the prince. There are a number of subplots, a mystery about frozen bodies turning up in Westminster Abbey, and the flashback story of Marlowe's life. True to Robbins's style, there's also lots of gratuitous sex "You must be a knight, you have a long lance"). While some of the subplots - especially the mystery - are not fully developed, they kept my interest. When there were about 20 pages left, I was wondering how the book would be able to tie tie it all together so quickly, but the ending was a nice surprise. The book does have its flaws. Some dialoge should have been polished and some obvious mistakes should have been discovered by the editor, most notably one chapter where the narrative suddenly switches from first person to third person, and back to first person again. But the flaws aren't big enough to destroy the book, and I found "Blood Royal" to be a surprisingly enjoyable read.
Read it if you can
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
Following the life of Marlowe Jamees, she was a very strong willed teenager that became a strong and accomplished woman in the legal world. Becoming a lawyer and to be called upon to defend the Princess of Wales, that would be the ultimate. She was what many a woman would like to become. If you get the chance read this book. Rachel Whitfield
AN ADULT FAIRY-TALE
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
Not to many fairy-tales are written for adults these days. Blood Royal is one that I highly recommend. I found this book very entertaining and it held my attention to the very end. I myself am looking forward to the next Robbins/Podrug book. This book is a very good read.
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