Review: Face Down Upon an Herbal by Kathy Lynn Emerson

Title: Face Down Upon an Herbal
Author(s): Kathy Lynn Emerson
ISBN#: 9781575666204
Genre(s): Historical fiction murder mystery
Edition Reviewed: Paperback
Illustrations: N/A
Page Count: 254
Part of a Series: Yes, book 2 of Face Dodwn Upon series

by Chriss Cornish published: May 6, 2010 No Comments

F is for Face Down Upon an Herbal

This Book Is About

Susanna, Lady Appleton, is ordered by Queen Elizabeth to assist Eleanor Madderly with an herbal she is preparing. The queen’s emissary failed to mention that a man had been murdered at Madderly Castle–and that part of Susanna’s mission is to solve that crime. Traitorous forgery, hidden identities, and secret passages all make her task the more dangerous.

My Thoughts On This Book

Face Down Upon An Herbal is one of my favorite historical mystery books; I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve re-read it. I got this novel about the time I moved into my first apartment. I have great memories of sitting on the door step in the San Francisco sun and eating mashed potatoes with sun-dried tomato mayonnaise while reading it.

The Face Down series has a female detective, Lady Susanna Appleton. She’s an herbalist and a gentlewoman. Her husband, Lord Appleton, whom she was married off to, works with one of Queen Elizabeth’s spy masters.

The Queen sends Lady Appleton to the Gloucester home of the Madderlys to investigate her suspicions of foul play. As a cover, Lady Appleton, who is a noted herbalist, is going to help Eleanor Madderly assemble her herbal (a kind of botanical encyclopedia of herbs and medicine). Soon there’s murder afoot and Lady Appleton must both fulfill her mission from the Queen and keep a friend from being being wrongfully accused.

The author, Kathy Lynn Emerson, has a really great writing style. The pacing is nice, the characters realistic, and the descriptions just wonderful. It’s also clear that Emerson did her research well because the historical setting of Elizabethan England feels and reads real.