The Games of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett

First published in 1961, this enormous historical novel - volume 1 in a whole enormous series - is set in the late 1540s and concerns the roguish but charismatic Francis Crawford of Lymond, the younger son of landed Scottish family who may also be a cad, murderer and English spy. Or perhaps he is none of these things and is, in fact, a hero.

Among the friends he makes, and potentially compromises, his the blind girl Christian Stewart. But many of the characters here are real figures from history, and part of the fun is that we know much of what is coming, such as the plot to marry off Mary of Guise's young daughter - i.e. the later Mary Queen of Scots.

It is a long, long book and takes a while to kick into gear, much of the early part involving long, long scenes with characters going about their business with little - I felt - at stake. Yet as we get to know the characters and their world, we pick on up interconnections, misconceptions, that things are not quite as straightforward as presented. 

There are some thrilling moments - late on, Dunnett abruptly kills off one leading character, which completely took me by surprise. This is swiftly followed by Lymond being blamed for the death, when we know he is innocent, and making a break for it to pursue a spy. He ends up leading a single-handed assault on an English castle. Things get especially thrilling when, in the midst of the ensuing chaos, Lymond trains his last arrow on where the spy is hiding, while someone else lines up a shot at Lymond. It is incredibly tense and exciting. But that only serves to underline how slow the book is in other places.

The ending involves a long, long trial. We have, by this time, made our own minds up about Lymond, so have to hang around waiting for characters to catch up. The vital piece of evidence is somewhere tantalisingly just out of reach, which adds some suspense. It's all good, just a bit too long, long.

The audiobook is ably narrated by David Montieth - not, as I thought when I downloaded it without having my glasses on, my mate David Monteath. It's been very good company on some long drives recently. And this was a favourite book of Terrance Dicks - he even wrote Dorothy Dunnett a fan letter. I shall have more to say on how he first discovered this book and Dunnett, and what he saw in her writing.