Christina Dodd and Connie Brockway are an awesome team of writers who took this great idea of writing about an historic bed and wove tales around it that have delighted me with their characters, the intertwining of the 4 stories that make up this book and the humor and drama within. That I’m getting 4 romance novels for the price of one is icing on the cake.

These awesome ladies each take two periods each from the Medieval, Elizabethan, Regency and modern times and create these four tales that are centralized around the Masterson Bed. The bed is a huge piece of furniture originally built and carved by the medieval Knight and first Masterson, Nicholas who was given the manor of Trecombe as reward for serving Richard in the Holy Wars.

Titled “The Bed is Made“, the story of Nicholas and Jocelyn begins with a tourney between Nicholas and Guy Moore who seeks not only Nicholas’ land, but his lady as well. Married by proxy to Trecombe’s mistress, Jocelyn, Nicholas must now win the heart of his bride and do battle to keep the lands he’s already won.

“The Bed Unmade” is set in 1583 and sees Lady Helwin, a poor relation of the current Earl of Smythwick who is used by her conniving cousin to thwart the unwanted attentions of Rion, the current Masterson Lord who has fallen on bad times and seeks a wealthy bride to shore up his finances. Helwin has long held a secret attraction for Rion, but he has been unaware of her until Berthilda’s machinations bring Helwin to his castle as Rion attempts to force a wedding between himself and Berthilda to secure his fortune. He falls in love with Helwin and they must find another way to secure the fortunes of the Mastersons.

In “The Lady Makes Her Bed“, Phillipa and Ned Masterson have an undeniable desire for each other, but will it turn into a love that will transcend them? You’ll have to read how.

“The Bed Wins All” brings us to contemporary times and our heorine is the American museum director Laurel Whitney who is currently responsible for caring for the Masterson Manor’s antiquities and leading the tours through the home. Her reincarnation of Lord Masterson is the illegitemate son of the last lord. Despite being born on the wrong side of the blanket and in humble circumstances, Max Ashton has reversed his fortunes and purchased the Manor back from it’s current owners. Laurel is unaware of this because there’s also someone stealing the Masterson antiquities and selling them on the black market and Laurel is a suspect!

I hope you’ll be as charmed by this novel as I was! I laughed and cried with it’s characters and delighted in their banter with each other. All four sets of heroines and heroes quickly won their way into my heart although the “bad guys” didn’t always earn my total contempt even when they threatened the hero or heroine’s life.

Once Upon A Pillow by Christina Dodd and Connie Brockway
Published by Pocket Books a division ofSimon & Schuster, Inc., Inc. 2002
ISBN 0-7434-946-6

Sleeping Beauty

The reader is lured into this novel by skillful weaving of the initial plot. You are at first frightened by the unknown killer who is interrupted in his spree by his prey escaping after her father sets her free of the killer’s bonds. We’re tricked into thinking the killer is the suave novelist-teacher, Joshua Maxwell but all too soon we find out differently.

There is a sub-plot of mystery surrounding the parentage and birth of Ashley Spencer. All her life she’s thought she was the only daughter of Norman and Terri Spencer, but after first her father and then her mother are killed, and Ashley escapes to Europe, we find that her natural mother is the woman she thought of as the dean of her school. Casey Van Meter lies in a coma after Joshua Maxfield knocked her into a beam in the boathouse where Ashley’s adoptive mother, Terri is killed. Police are under the impression that Joshua is behind the murders at Ashley’s home and that of her adoptive mother later in the boat house on the campus of the school Ashley is attending.

The approach of this novel is very different from any other murder mystery I’ve ever read. It’s a narrative by the author of the book “Sleeping Beauty”, Miles Van Meter. It perhaps wasn’t the most well-thought out way to present the story, but the places it departs from straight narrative aren’t too apparent.

Phillip Margolin takes us through the many plot twists and sub plots of this book skillfully. His characters are fleshed out well and are believable. The events that occur in the book are realistic. This book was a very good read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys this type of fiction.

Sleeping Beauty was published in 2004 by Harper Collins Publishing and was a New York Times best seller.