Scenes from Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis

The lovely Kathy Lynn Emerson, author of the Face Down series featuring sleuth Lady Susanna Appleton.

The very sweet and gracious Dr. Camille Minichino, author of the Periodic Table murder series featuring Dr. Gloria Lamerino.

Greg Herren, author of the Chanse MacLeod series set in New Orleans.

Neil Plakcy, author of the Kimo Kanapa'aka series set in Hawai'i

Dashing Anthony Bidulka, author of the Russell Quant mysteries set in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Mark Richard Zubro, author of the Tom and Scott mysteries.

Ellen Hart, author of the Jane Lawless mysteries.

Sharan Newman, author of the Catherine LeVendeur mysteries set in twelfth century France.

John Maddox Roberts, author of the SPQR mysteries featuring Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus set in ancient Rome.

Alan Gordon, author of mystery series featuring Feste from "Twelfth Night" set in thirteenth century Italy.

The lovely Heather Graham, prolific paranormal author.

Face Down Among the Winchester Geese by Kathy Lynn Emerson

Having met the lovely Ms. Emerson at Bouchercon 2008 in Baltimore, I deem it doubtful that she has first-hand knowledge of brothels in London during the reign of Elizabeth I. But after reading Face Down Among the Winchester Geese, I began to wonder. Kathy Lynn has brought the Elizabethan era alive in her previous novels featuring sleuth Lady Susanna Appleton with beautiful imagery and vivid descriptions. However, she outdoes herself in the third novel of the series. She describes the areas surrounding the brothels, their workings and their décor so vibrantly one would suspect she was there. Fortunately, this is obviously not the case.

‘Winchester geese’ is, according to Ms. Emerson, a reference to a prostitute or a woman who is considered to be one. When Susanna’s husband, Lord Robert is implicated in a murder of such a person, she begins to investigate. Not necessarily to clear her husband’s name but to find the truth so justice may be done. Her sleuthing takes her to the seedy side of the city where brothels reside. To her dismay, she finds out that a woman has been killed every St. Mark’s Day for several years and her husband and his friends haven’t been far from the body. Another disturbing fact that she discovers is that all the women had similar features.

Susanna grills her husband and his friends. Lord Robert gives her the identity of the assassin but Susanna is not convinced, finding his revelation too convenient for her satisfaction.

She forms an unlikely alliance with the madam of the brothel where the latest victim was found. The dead woman visited Susanna shortly before her death looking for Lord Robert. The madam is also a young woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to the previous victims, making Susanna wonder if she was the intended target.

As Lady Appleton digs further into the mystery, she begins to mistrust her husband more and grows suspicious of his reason for being in London. She discovers that he has papist tendencies and is trying to restore the Old Faith, the one supported by Queen Mary. She is horrified to find out just how far he will go, including kidnapping Lady Mary Grey, sister to the ill-fated Lady Jane.

Kathy Lynn Emerson churns out an exciting page turner in this third novel. As Susanna slowly uncovers Robert’s perfidy, Emerson pours on the intrigue and thrills, while Susanna and Sir Walter Pendennis chase down Lord Appleton and his hostage. She shows a knack for writing suspense, which is unfortunately absent in the first two novels; however those works are not lacking by any means. It seems that Emerson is developing a taste for excitement and bringing her readers along.

The subterfuge and intrigue in Elizabeth’s court in the first years of her reign gives Emerson plenty of fodder for the complex plot and characters, savory and unsavory, for Winchester Geese. It’s surprising that her Lord Appleton is one of the more treasonous of these vermin. It’s also interesting that Susanna appears to be wooed by one of her husband’s friends. Motherhood, an affection companion and wifely duties have rarely concerned her, but her servant Jennet’s happy domestic existence begins to tug at Susanna’s consciousness.

There hasn’t been this much development in Emerson’s characters since their introduction into the first novel, Face Down in Marrow Bone Pie. It makes one can’t wait to read the fourth novel.

Bouchercon 2008 - Charmed to Death (and loved it!)

Driving though some seedy areas adjacent to downtown Baltimore, I wondered if this mystery writers’ conference would be worth it. After all, these were published authors with books out in the market place. Some (most) of them had more than one! I had a short story published in an anthology and not even a book I could call my own. As I entered the Sheraton, the host hotel of the conference, I did not have to ask where Bouchercon was because of the cacophony of fifteen hundred writers, publishers, agents and fans all talking at once. Bouchercom seemed to be more of a homecoming than business conference.

I soon found it to be a warm and inviting community instead of a cliquish fraternity. After an overwhelming and exhausting first day, my luck changed the second when I bumped into Scott Sherman, author of First You Fall. He introduced me to other writers and publishers including Richard Stevenson, author of the Donald Strachey mystery series.

Author Scott Sherman and me

I also met some of my favorite historical mystery writers such as Alan Gordon, Kathy Lynn Emerson, John Maddox Roberts and Priscilla Royal as I got their autographs. Everyone was so approachable and easy-going, I was amazed. All of them sat on at least one discussion panel, so I got to hear them talk about heir works and why they are interested in the time periods of which they write.

Kathy Lynn Emerson, author of the Face Down series featuring Lady Susanna Appleton

I heard discussions on religion in mysteries, animals and doing research. I realized I had more in common with these authors than I originally thought during the second panel on the first day: Does Sex Sell More Books? Lori Armstrong, David Corbett, Mary Burton and the hilarious Meg Chittenden kept the discussion lively under the moderation of a just-as-funny Ted Hertel. (Just FYI, the conclusion was ‘Yes’ and it was reached during Hertel’s opening remarks).

In the supernatural panel, Heather Graham surprised me by stating that no one can tell you what a vampire can or cannot do. One of the reasons I tended to eschew vampires was because of all the rules that surrounded them, such as they couldn’t enter your house without first being invited in by the head of the household, etc. I doubt I’ll start including creatures of the night in my writing but it’s nice to know that I don’t have to stick to the rules.

Graham, Wendy Roberts, Elena Santangelo and Alex Sokoloff pen wonderful mysteries involving the supernatural and the paranormal. I fell lucky that I got to hear them since the paranormal is my favorite field of fiction. They also gave some great advice on where to research haunted history and take ghost tours.

Bouchercon offered many great discussions and there were some that I didn’t get to attend since the schedule was full. It also provided a great opportunity for networking. But overall it was a fantastic experience. As Mark Billingham stated during the opening ceremonies Thursday night, reading crime fiction is better than sex.*


*This is according to a survey of British housewives that found out they enjoy reading crime fiction more than shopping, eating or sex.

Face Down Upon an Herbal by Kathy Lynn Emerson

As is happily usual, the second novel in a series surpasses the first. Kathy Lynn Emerson's second work Face Down Upon an Herbal, featuring herbalist/sleuth Lady Susanna Appleton upholds this trend. Two years after the first book, Face Down in Marrow-Bone Pie, Susanna's work on herbs has been published but with only her initials, giving the great many purchasers of her book no indication that the author is a woman.

While her husband is sent to Scotland on an errand for the queen, Susanna receives an order from Elizabeth to assist Lady Madderly, who is writing her own herbal. It does not take Susanna long after her arrival at the castle to realize she's been manipulated by the wily queen. A month prior to her appearance, a Scottish lord was murdered and found lying upon a copy of Susanna's published herbal. Shortly afterward, the Lady of the castle is struck down. The list of those who might want to do in the Scottish lord extends to nearly everyone in the castle who had opportunity, but no clear, discernable motive can be determined. The lengthy roster of suspects includes the master of the house, his ugly and bitter sister, and his handsome gentleman servant.

Lady Appleton and her husband's half-sister Catherine Denholm continue their work on the herbal and investigate the murders and their possible connection to counterfeiters working in the area. Thus the reason for Queen Elizabeth's sending Sir Robert Appleton to Scotland and his wife to Madderly Castle becomes apparent. Although the monarch doesn't appear in the novel, Emerson illustrates Good Queen Bess's shrewdness and her apparent disregard for her subjects' feelings in getting her way.

There is more interaction between Lady Appleton and her husband, in this second work than in the first, and more animosity which confused me. In the first novel, Emerson makes it clear that there is no love lost between the couple, who are married by arrangement. But they had a congenial relationship. In this story, there is open hostility before they manage to forge a working relationship to solve the mystery that the Queen has embroiled them in. At the end of Face Down in Marrow-Bone Pie, Susanna manages to get a legal document that releases her from any control by her husband. Now she blatantly dislikes him and makes it clear she does not want him at Madderly Castle with her. His arrival for the holidays gives them ample time to call a truce and conspire.

Emerson adds more intrigue and suspense to her second work using the backdrop of the conflict between Elizabeth and her cousin Mary to the north as the basis for conspiracy, counterfeiting and murder. It was unclear as to what the nature of the counterfeiting was. The only specific incident of forgery noted in the novel was a fake genealogy used to gain a higher station in life. The implications of falsified documents to Elizabeth's grip on the throne were vague at best, and it seemed as though the queen sent several agents to investigate the counterfeiting for her own amusement rather than her safety.

What Emerson does specify clearly are Lady Appleton's recipes for physics, poultices, salves and unguents for binding battle wounds, curing body aches and ills. During one scene, Susanna rattles off ingredients for several potions in the span of two pages in a data dump, where specific information is concentrated into one area and is mainly for educating the reader instead of entertaining them. It doesn't come off well in dialogue but in this novel, it wasn't too awkward.

Again, this second outing was better than the first and Emerson took the opportunity to deepen all the characters, enhance the rift between Susanna and Robert, and marry off Catherine Denholm. She also crafted a complex and masterful plot that keeps the readers' interest. I found myself looking forward to picking it up again whenever I could make time to read. It's sure to delight all mystery fans.

Face Down in the Marrow Bone Pie by Kathy Lynn Emerson

The Elizabethan era is one of the most intriguing and fascinating times of England’s colorful history. This may be the reason why so many authors, such as Fiona Buckley, Karen Harper, Edward Marston and Kathy Lynn Emerson, choose that time period as the backdrop for their mysteries. The glamour of court life, wars against Spain and France, and the strife at home give the authors plenty of events as a basis of their stories.

Emerson’s first mystery with Lady Susanna Appleton is set in the first year of Elizabeth’s reign. The Lady’s husband Sir Robert is sent to France by good Queen Bess on a reconnaissance mission loosely disguised as a gift giving gesture to the new French king.

During his absence, Susanna travels to her husband’s ancestral home Appleton Manor where the steward died under circumstances she finds odd. Although she and her retinue arrive several weeks after the death and there is no evidence that the man’s passing was anything other than natural, Susanna continues to probe, snoop and ask questions surrounding the deaths of the steward and her father-in-law’s two years prior.

Her investigation is thwarted by the local villagers’ mistrust of the newcomers to the manor, the strange family of the neighboring manor and the general opinion that Sir Robert’s boyhood home is haunted by a vengeful ghost.

Slowly but persevering, Lady Appleton finds out more about her husband’s family and their history than he ever told her.

Emerson’s Susanna is a very strong-will and stubborn woman who doesn’t exactly bully her husband but forces her wishes and does what she wants. Sir Robert appears almost cuckolded. His trip to France in intermingled in the novel but adds nothing to the mystery and becomes more a distraction rather than a sub-plot. It was as if Emerson only used it to show her knowledge of the French monarchy during Elizabeth’s early reign and get Sir Robert out of the way to allow Susanna her freedom to investigate the steward’s death without interruption. The only cross-connect between the two stories is a brief but very important event at the climax of the mystery.

It seems that Susanna is based loosely on Queen Elizabeth I, whose intelligence, wit and eccentricities are portrayed accurately although the monarch makes a very brief appearance. But Lady Appleton becomes almost too over-bearing for the reader because she is always right with few flaws.

Even with all that, Face Down in the Marrow-Bone Pie is a fun read and does whet the readers’ appetite for more. I definitely plan to continue reading Emerson’s Face Down series.