Kathy Lynn Emerson, Face Down Besides St. Anne’s Well

Face Down Besides St. Anne's Well

Kathy Lynn Emerson

Perseverance Press, Apr 2006, $13.95, 240 pp.

ISBN: 1880284820

Three young ladies sneak out of Bawkenstanes Manor at night to go skinny dipping in a building that contains thermal baths. Madame Louise Poitier, a working gentlewoman to Lady Bridget of Bawkenstanes, discovers them. Instead of escorting them home, she tells them to leave before she meets with an intelligence gatherer concerning a plot to free Mary Queen of Scots from imprisonment. The next day Louise is found dead FACE DOWN BESIDES ST. ANNE'S WELL.

The coroner rules the death was an accident, but one of the girls Rosamond Appleton, heir of Lady Susanna Appleton, thinks otherwise. Susanna learns of Rosamond's suspicion that murder occurred, so she travels to Bawkenstanes to see if there is any truth to her foster daughter's belief. She finds ample evidence that Louise was indeed murdered, and is surprised to see Annabel Mac Reynolds there, as she knew her when he was an intelligence gatherer for Catherine De Medici. These women accompanied by Rosamond's biological mother Eleanor team up to try to find a killer and find out how it relates to the imprisoned queen.

A Lady Appleton mystery is a very special treat, and the latest book in the series is no exception. Elizabethan England comes alive due to the vivid descriptions and historical tidbits interwoven into the plot. Readers can picture the manor houses and upper class lifestyle. Kathy Lynn Emerson encourages the audience to try to solve the who-done-it, because the puzzle is fascinating with plenty of suspects containing viable motives. Historical mystery is at its best with Lady Appleton's superb caper.