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.

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.

The Novice's Tale by Margaret Frazer

Margaret Frazer has a long and successful series of medieval mysteries featuring nun sleuth Dame Frevisse and it all started with The Novice’s Tale. Set in 1431, the ninth year of Henry VI disastrous reign, Frazer’s novel portrays a vivid picture of the simple lives of nuns during that era.

The novice of the title is Thomasine, the young frail girl who is two weeks shy of her final vows when her great-aunt Lady Ermentrude bursts into St. Frideswide unannounced. The lady is no lady. Loud, boozing and bossy, Ermentrude is impressed however when she meets Dame Frevisse’s uncle, Thomas Chaucer, untitled but very well connected. Even she won’t dare snub him.

Soon after Ermentrude departs on a sudden unplanned trip to Thomasine’s sister’s estate, and then returns, just as surprising, to St. Frideswide, the next day. Shortly after she returns, a woman who was formerly in Ermentrude’s employ dies under mysterious circumstances. Then the lady, the stuck-up crab herself meets her demise.

Dame Claire the infirmian declares that the cause of death in both cases was poison. The crowner quickly decides that Thomasine is the vicious killer and Frevisse’s problems are confounded by Ermentrude’s son, who is a chip off the old block. She is forced to take the novice into sanctuary to keep her from being nabbed by the crowner and his men at the angry command of the son.

The prioress of St. Frideswide, Domina Edith, aged but shrewd and intelligent, charges Frevisse to clear Thomasine’s name and find the real culprit.

Frazer’s eye for detail and her ability to portray the political nuances of life at court and elsewhere give the reader a sense of realism for life without the modern conveniences and nuisances. It was simple but not necessarily miserable.

Earlier, I criticized Ms. Frazer’s work A Play of Dux Moraud for its lack of suspense and action but The Novice’s Tale has no shortage of intrigue and mystery. I’m glad to start reading Dame Frevisse’s adventures from the beginning, since Ms. Frazer is a wonderful and talented writer and Dame Frevisse is an exciting sleuth on a par with Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael.

Thirteenth Night by Alan Gordon

Alan Gordon's novel Thirteenth Night is a speculative fiction based on the characters of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In December of 1200, some fifteen years after the events in the Bard's play, Feste learns that Duke Orsino of Illyria has died, unexpectedly and under mysterious circumstances.

He returns to Illyria in the disguise of a German merchant to find out what happened to the former duke and what will happen to the dukedom since the new duke is too young and a regent will have to be named.

Another member of the Guild, to which Feste belongs, shows up to help him discover the truth. I found Gordon's depiction of the Guild to be most interesting. According to the author, it was a group of fools trained in the arts of entertaining such as juggling, singing, telling stories, but they also acted behind the scenes spying and manipulating events as they felt necessary much like Frank Herbert's Bene Gesserit in his Dune series.

Feste realizes that much has changed since he left Illyria a decade and a half ago, especially the people any of which could be his chief suspect and old foe, Malvolio.

I am not familiar with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night enough to make connections between the play and the book, and that seemed to be a slight detriment to my enjoying this novel more. But even if one is no so well-versed on the Bard, this is still a very entertaining mystery with twists, turns and an ending to satisfy all fans of whodunits.

Gordon does a meticulous and excellent job of describing medieval Italian customers, settings and the political climates of the times. He incorporates the international events and governmental environments during that era that give the reader a brief history lesson in very early fourteenth century Italy.

Thirteenth Night is a great read, and although slow starting, soon becomes an exciting page turner to the last.

Queen's Ransom by Fiona Buckley

The third appearance of Ursula Blanchard, Lady of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I, reads more as an action/suspense novel than a mystery/whodunit. Mistress Blanchard desperately wants to get away from the intrigue and dangers of court for a while. Queen Elizabeth, wanting to help her escape, sends her on a mission into France, a country on the verge of civil war. She gives Ursula a message to deliver to Queen Caroline, offering assistance and arbitration if war breaks out.

Ursula is accompanied by her former father-in-law, who is traveling to France to pick up his ward. Ursula has never gotten along with the father of her first husband Gerald and he has yet to forgive his son for marrying her.

The path they take through the country is meandering and takes time with back-tracking to cater to the young ward's whims. She is Helene, a sixteen-year old shrew, who claims she aspires only to be a nun. Ursula is not convinced, but she uses the girl's demands as a cover to contact her estranged second husband, Matthew de la Roche, a wanted man in England but living nearby in France. They manage to spend a few passionate hours together before the inn is set on fire. She helps Matthew escape and soon finds out that the men in her own traveling party were responsible for the arson. They were using her as bait to flush de la Roche out.

Seething with fury, she presses forward to Paris and delivers Elizabeth's message to Catherine. Before she can turn towards home, her own maid-servant is arrested and accused of plotting to poison Queen Caroline. To free Dale from the French prison and certain execution, Ursula races to Antwerp to find a treasure hidden two years earlier by her first husband. It is a large enough treasure to ransom a queen.

A merchantman with murderous Turks on his trail joined the group while on its way to Paris and now accompanies Ursula to Antwerp. With her intelligence and wit and his connections and worldliness, they outwit Turkish assassins and French mercenaries loyal to Catherine, bent on getting the treasure for themselves.

Back in the French Court, a meeting with an Englishman also carrying a message from Elizabeth to Catherine reveals just how deeply she has been betrayed by her own queen, making her decision about staying with her husband crystal clear.

In "Queen's Ransom", Ursula is not called upon to solve mysterious murders by person or persons unknown, rather to pierce the veils of secrecy, conspiracy and treachery to prevent her servant from being burned at the stake and to protect her husband from the queen's court from arresting him and taking him back to England. She finds herself surrounded by betrayal from all directions.

Fortunately, this novel is kept moving as Ursula travels to Paris, Antwerp and back to Paris, facing numerous and exciting adventures along the way. The story does not get bogged down while the reader waits for Ursula to interview suspects and search for clues. Her adventures keep up a fast pace and the result is an exciting page turner. Ursula Blanchard is the Elizabethan Renaissance equivalent of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan.

(previously published on ezinearticles.com)

A Play of Dux Moraud by Margaret Frazer

The second series following Joliffe Ripon and the band of performers is a bit of a let-down, which disappointed me since Margaret Frazer is one of my favorite authors. Set in fifteenth-century England, Joliffe’s Lord Lovell sends his performers to one of his feofees, whose daughter is soon to be married as a wedding gift. The daughter Mariena was betrothed earlier but her fiancé, hearty and hale, took ill and died suddenly. Lord Lovell has reason to believe that all may not be well at Sir Edmund Deneby’s household. Joliffe is instructed to find out what he can.

The rest of the book is a slow moving story with Joliffe asking many questions but getting few answers. There was little suspense in any of Joliffe’s experiences. Even the “accidents” Mariena and her younger brother add little to the sense of mystery. Unfortunately, these few events were all there was for any intrigue, and did not entertain. Joliffe spends most of his time pondering the same questions over and over, that we heard from Lord Lovell at the beginning of the story.

The final solution is revealed, but it is rather unsatisfying, since we are already given a strong sense of what may come through Joliffe’s musings. There are very few surprises at all through out the book.

Although the book was disappointing, Frazer still tells a great story, bringing fifteenth century England to life, with historical facts as the backbone of the novel, embellished with Frazer’s own brilliant imagination.

Her Dame Frevisse is far better than what we’ve seen of Joliffe so far. As she develops this character and his friends, perhaps this off-shoot of Frevisse will improve.

(previously published on ezinearticles.com)