The Masked Man [Signed]

In his latest historical mystery, Doherty ( The Fate of Princes ) tackles the story of the Man in the Iron Mask, a prisoner of such political consequence that Louis XIV of France ordered him locked away, forbidden to speak to anyone and condemned forever to wear a mask to hide his identity. (Dumas pere turned this actual historical incident into the famous novel.) Here, both Louis and the mysterious prisoner are dead when Ralph Croft, master forger, is plucked from the Bastille and enlisted by the French regent to determine the masked man's identity. Working with murderous musketeer D'Estrivet and royal archivist Maurepas, he uncovers a web of intrigue that involves plots against the crown, the Knights Templar and a fallen finance minister. There are even occasional winking references to those other famous Dumas characters, the Three Musketeers. Doherty's exposition of the historical record is often clumsy, and he cannot resist letting Croft somewhat anachronistically ponder the fate of the ancien regime. Still, it's all good fun--even if the author's tongue is planted firmly in his cheek.

Popular historian Doherty adds another inveterate rogue to his roster--English forger Ralph Croft, who scampers across the Channel and soon finds himself incarcerated in the Bastille, where his release is contingent upon his working with the Regent's men, archivist Maurepas and Captain D'Estivet, to discover the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask. False clues lead them to deduce that ``the mask'' was Eustace D'Auger, whose father was a musketeer and whose mother served the Queen. Further investigation by Croft, however, is hampered by threats from the secret order of the Templars; a code in the royal letters of Anne of Austria; and the fact that all of the jailers of ``the mask'' are long dead. The name on the death certificate (``Marciel''), combined with the closeness of Anne and a church cardinal, convinces Croft of the real identity--but a harrowing session with the Templars (and more incarceration) commands his silence. Less lively than other Doherty outings, but more factually compelling and the ending twist is a beauty. Like Tey's The Daughter of Time, this may become a history-class staple. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.