Face Down Among the Winchester Geese

For the third entry in her sparkling series featuring Elizabethan gentlewoman Susanna, Lady Appleton, Emerson (Face Down Upon an Herbal, etc.) spins a tale of serial murder complicated by political intrigue. In April 1563, Susanna and her husband, Sir Robert Appleton, courtier and occasional spy for Queen Elizabeth, are residing in London at Sir Robert's insistence, though Susanna would be much happier at Leigh Abbey, her ancestral home in Kent. A mysterious young Frenchwoman comes calling to see Robert. The next day she is found murdered near a brothel, a goose feather lying close to her body. Intrigued by the slaying of a woman she suspects was mistress to her husband, and determined to understand what her husband is keeping from her, Susanna investigates, with the help of her loyal housekeeper, Jennet, and an intelligent brothel-owner named Petronella. Susanna discovers that the murder is only the last in a years-old series, and that her husband is a suspect, along with several other courtiers. Meanwhile, as Susanna noses around, Robert is anxiously working to put into place a scheme of his own, one that his wife's meddling could easily upset. Emerson neatly ties together the two major plotlines, generating credible characters and a convincingly detailed background, and making this a solid bet for historical mystery fans. (June)