The Dance of Death

With the health of England's Edward IV in decline, potential successors jockey for position in Sedley's absorbing 18th Roger the Chapman mystery (after 2008's The Green Man ). If allegations about the monarch's suspect parentage can be substantiated, then the duke of Gloucester would be the rightful heir. Timothy Plummer, the king's spymaster general, dispatches the reluctant Roger to France to find what evidence still exists on the matter. The preparations for the trip as well as the trip itself are marked by several murders, which may be the work of forces inimical to Gloucester's ambitions. Sedley does a fine job of making 15th-century England live and breathe as well as blending action and detection. Though most readers won't be surprised by the killer's identity and some may be dismayed by the abrupt ending, Sedley shows she can more than hold her own in comparison to better known medieval historical authors. (May)