Dorothy Dunnett

Dorothy Dunnett is one of the best known and best loved authors of historical novels. She is best known for two series, the Lymond Chronicles and the House of Niccolo.

The Lymond Chronicles tell the story of a Scottish nobleman, Francis Crawford of Lymond, a scholar and mercenary of the time of Mary, Queen of Scots. Lymond is witty, skilled, and utterly maddening. He is content to be misunderstood, and as he refuses to explain himself, usually is. Dunnett does not give us an omniscient narrator: we see what happens, and we hear what is said, but we have no more insight into Lymond's thought processes than the other characters do.

Lymond, his family, and his close friends (and enemies) are fictional, but the world in which he lives and moves is not, and Dunnett brings it richly to life.

The Lymond books are currently in print in the United States in trade paperback; get them while they are available.

The House of Niccolo concerns a Flemish dyeshop apprentice, Nicholas van der Poele, with a head for numbers, a devious mind, and a taste for extremely subtle and thorough revenge. I've not yet finished the series, but it's better than the Lymond Chronicles, if that's possible.

All of the House of Niccolo books are currently in print here in the U.S., including the final one, Gemini, which is currently available in hardback. I'm waiting for the softcover, but I'm told that in addition to wrapping up the series it also provides a link between the Niccolo books and the historically later Lymond books. I don't know what the link is (and please don't tell me, if you know), but I'm been wondering for some time if that awful old man in Paris at the end of the Lymond chronicles is actually a St. Pol.

The Lymond Chronicles

• The Game of Kings

Reviews: 1 June 1997, 1 December 2001

• Queens' Play

Reviews: 1 June 1997, 1 January 2002

• The Disorderly Knights

Reviews: 1 August 1997, 1 February 2002

• Pawn in Frankincense

Reviews: 1 August 1997, 1 April 2002

• The Ringed Castle

Reviews: 1 November 1997, 1 May 2002, 1 June 2002

• Checkmate

Reviews: 1 November 1997, 1 July 2002, 1 August 2002, 1 September 2002

The House of Niccolo

• Niccolo Rising

Reviews: 1 May 1998, 1 November 2001

• The Spring of the Ram

Reviews: 1 May 1998, 1 November 2001

• Race of Scorpions

Reviews: 1 June 1998, 1 November 2001

• Scales of Gold

Reviews: 1 October 1998, 1 November 2001

• The Unicorn Hunt

Reviews: 1 October 1999, 1 November 2001

• To Lie With Lions

Reviews: 1 October 1999, 1 October 2002

• Caprice and Rondo

Reviews: 1 October 2002

• Gemini

Reviews: 1 October 2002

Other Novels

• King Hereafter

Reviews: 1 May 2001