Face Down Under The Wych Elm

Her roguish husband now dead, Lady Appleton, travels with a new suitor to Maidstone. While there, she learns that two gentlewomen, Constance Crane and her elderly cousin Lucy, are being jailed for bewitching two men to death-and face execution if convicted. Although Constance happens to be a former mistress of Robert, Susanna puts the past to rest and vows to help.

Using her vast knowledge of herbs-and the talents of her gossiping housekeeper-Lady Appleton soon deduces that the deaths are the work of a mysterious poisoner. But can she root out the killer before Constance and Lucy face the gallows-and before Susanna's own life is threatened?

Emerson once again "makes the early stages of the reign of Elizabeth I come gloriously to life" (The Midwest Book Review) in the fifth installment of this sparkling series.

Kathy Lynn Emerson's series of Elizabethan mysteries featuring Susanna, Lady Appleton, just keeps getting better. In this, her fifth outing, the widowed Lady Appleton is enjoying the attentions of a new suitor when she learns that Constance Crane, her late husband's mistress, and Crane's elderly cousin, a former nun, have been jailed for the heinous crime of "bewitching" two men to death. Showing more nobility than good sense, perhaps, Susannah puts the ill- will of the past behind her and vows to help the two imprisoned gentlewomen, who will be executed if convicted.

It's soon clear to Susanna, herself an herbalist of some renown, that the victims died of poison, not witchcraft. With the help of her housekeeper, she solves the crime and names the villain. No big surprises are in store for the careful reader, but clues and solutions aren't the important thing about these clever, well-researched novels. Emerson has a deft hand with the details of the customs and costumes of the Elizabethan era, and brings history to life with a light touch. Lady Appleton gets more interesting as she gets older, and her autonomy and audacity will win the reader's heart. --Jane Adams