After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England.(Brief Article)(Book Review)

After Elizabeth: The Rise of James of Scotland and the Struggle for the Throne of England LEANDA DE LISLE. Ballantine, $25.95 (368p) ISBN 0-345-45045-0

Queen Elizabeth famously refused to marry, causing a foreign-born king to ascend to the English 1603. In her first book, Lisle nimbly examines Elizabeth's waning months and the introduction of James VI of Scotland as James I of England, demonstrating that the transition was anything but smooth or preordained. The aging Elizabeth remained unwilling to name her successor for fear that courtiers would abandon her to curry favor with the next ruler. Indeed, prominent statesmen and courtiers had, years earlier, had opened …