I like all of this book except one bit of the ending. It is the third book in Barringer's Neustrian cycle. It is set thirteen years after the the original two stories, which occur virtually simultaneously. Although the hero of the first book, Count Raoul of Ger, is a respected statesman in the background, the heroine of this novel is Yolande, heiress to the duchy of Baraine in Barringer's Neustria, a fictional doublet of late medieval France. She eventually finds herself unwillingly nominally married to Balthasar, a really nasty young noble,an who throws her kitten to his dogs. He is also involved in a plot to revive the cause of the rebels who were defeated in the end of the original two novels. Spoiler warning: after various adventures and intrigues, Yolande and her two faithful squires (both of whom have become her lovers) manage to trap and kill Balthasar --she says "you should not have killed my kitten" just before she puts a crossbow bolt in his back.. All this is very satisfying,but then both the squires die in a final battle --leaving a bittersweet taste rather typical of Barringer's later fiction (notably Know Ye Not Agincourt, which reads like an indictment of Henry V for war crimes). The ethos of Shy Leopardess is strikingly "modern" for its period , with its strong, sexually liberated heroine, who is frankly of the opinion that God is on the side of her horrible husband. ( )

My favourite in the trilogy.
It is considerably longer than the first two, the style is less artificially antique and the ending was a surprise. The setting is unmistakably French, even if the names are invented, but everything else is called by its proper name. The action moves away from Nordanay/Normandy and people no longer have names derived from Frankish or Norman invaders.
At the beginning I thought it was targeted at teenagers, since the main characters are then aged thirteen, but there's premarital sex towards the end, so, considering the original publication date, this is definitely meant for adults. Raoul of Ger from the previous novels crops up again, and there's some very nasty behaviour from the heroine's husband. A tale of medieval political intrigue and chicanery, some surprising thoughts about God and the afterlife, and the author has an amazing ability to evoke landscape and scenery. I only stumbled across one anachronism: pineapples were unknown in Europe until Columbus.
Great storytelling. ( )

The conclusion to Barringer's Nesturian cycle, read these books.