This book is centered around the suspicious death of Amy Robsart Dudley, wife of Elizabeth I's infamous favorite and suspected lover Robert Dudley. Skidmore traces the marriage and intersecting lives of Amy, Robert, and Elizabeth in the years leading up to 1560. Amy remains a shadowy figure - only a few pieces of evidence exist to illuminate her life. But her death is explored in detail, and many theories are explored, evidence examined, and I finished this book impressed with the author's historical skills (tracing the connections of several jurors was particularly interesting.) Overall, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the death of Amy Robsart as well as the relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. ( )

Nothing special. I likely would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't already read umpteen gazillion accounts of Elizabeth and her myriad marriage proposals. Less emphasis on Amy Robsart than one would have expected. ( )

The title is overly dramatic and rather misleading. (I guess you have to sell books.) But "Death and the Virgin Scandal" is fairly well-written, and I learned a lot. The author does discuss the death of Robert Dudley's wife, but it is really only one part of a much longer and complex story - the story of Queen Elizabeth I's relationship with Robert Dudley, both before and after her coronation. To his credit, Skidmore presents some relatively recently uncovered "evidence" in a convincing, helpful, and non-sensational matter.

What I found most helpful and interesting here was his detailed and convincing detailing of the authorship and sourcing of the so-called "Leicester's Commonwealth," the 1584 libelous pamphlet that first set forth publicly and scandalously the case that Dudley murdered his wife to make it possible to marry the Queen. ( )

Nothing special. I likely would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't already read umpteen gazillion accounts of Elizabeth and her myriad marriage proposals. Less emphasis on Amy Robsart than one would have expected. ( )

A detailed, well-researched, well-written account of the respective careers of Robert Dudley and Elizabeth and their relationship over the years. Given what an obscure character Amy Robsart was in life, it is hardly surprising that there is very little about her in the book. This is almost entirely about the implications of a marriage between Elizabeth and Dudley, before and after Amy's death.

Whether you like this book or not will depend on how much you've read about the subject before, as it rakes over a lot of very familiar ground. The author comes up with some new documentation at the end of the book, which is very interesting, but the claim that he "is able to put an end to centuries of speculation as to the true nature of Amy's death" is a bit much I think.

Overall, it's a very good account of that period of Elizabeth's life and the politics of the time, especially if you haven't been there before. ( )