Night Lace

A plague in California leads intern Beth Balfour to the Scottish Highlands in pursuit of legends about a similar 12th- century plague cured by a mysterious warlock armed with the elusive herb nightlace. Through a portrait, Beth is transported back to the 12th century and her warlock lover, Lawren. A promising time-travel premise is undermined by spotty pacing (after an overstuffed setup, the story drags) and flat characters (Lawren is a kind of Stepford husband). Small things stand out that might not in a better book: Lawren (not knowing that she is a time-traveler) notes that Beth's medieval incarnation speaks 12th-century Gaelic ""without an accent""-meaning exactly what? And Beth's description of the plague, "" `The people aren't sick in the conventional sense of the word. Their first symptoms are acute tiredness, followed by fever and delirium. After a severe rash covers their body, they lapse into unconsciousness' "" begs the question of what is ""conventional."" (Feb.)