Face Down in the Marrow-Bone Pie: An Elizabethan Mystery

Going by the title and cover illustration, I expected a mildly funny story. It was more a treatise on the times which is fine if that's what you want. Also, I didn't care for the primary characters. I'm sure many will like it a lot but I didn't.

The cover art and the title did not seem promising but I was pleasantly surprised by this well-written Medieval mystery. The characters, especially Lady Appleton, seemed very real. Like another reviewer noticed, the author spilled the beans too early (Chapter 4) but it was still an exciting ending even though I knew who the perp was.

Emerson's wonderfully complex character lives in a time of intrigues, secrets, and simmering unrest between Catholic France and Protestant England, and between England's secret "papists" and followers of the "New Religion." Restless Lady Susanna is anything but the socially acceptable compliant wife when she, over her husband Sir Robert's objections, travels from her home in Kent to the cold North to investigate the murder of the caretaker of the family's neglected estates. Well educated and wealthy, Susanna, an expert herbalist, is completing a compendium on the subject. Her knowledge of herbs plus her dogged persistence leads her to uncover unresolved troubles from the past, and the cause of the murder. The story's description of English village and manor life is augmented by details of ambitious Sir Robert's travels to France as special courtier to Queen Elizabeth. Portraits of Queen Elizabeth, young Mary Stewart, and Queen Catherine de Medici, and hints of the looming Huguenot rebellions provide rich historical information for this era that the Scots clergyman John Knox labeled the "monstrous regiment of women."

Fun romp through another time period. Lady Appleton, married to a womanizing prigg, spends her time solving murder cases. She's an only child, which was the cause for her unusal education (for a girl that is). i. e. She was the son her father never had. She not overly attractive either, which is a break from the norm. Luckly, she's got brains out the wazo and her husband is often away from home (being a spy and all) so it's up to Lady Appleton to save the day. I know this all sounds common place, but the author pulls it off with outstanding wit and dry humor. She also does a wonderful job of bring the Elizabethian time period true to life. You won't be disappointed.

What a wonderful surprise! It's refreshing to find an author who really knows her history. The main character, Susanna, is a very unusual woman, in that her father pampered her by allowing his daughter the education that would normally only be appropriate for a boy. Poor Sir Robert, to have to put up with a wife who can run the family business better than him, take care of the household, and research and write a book on deadly herbs on the side. ;-) I've read the entire series up to date and have discovered they just keep getting better! I hope Emerson has plans for more.

One of the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth's courtiers, Sir Robert Appleton, is renowned for spiriting those Protestants loyal to Elizabeth out of the country when Mary ruled. He is pressed into political missions overseas as a reward for his loyalty. This pleases him because he believes that if he serves his sovereign with honor, she will eventually reward him with a peerage. Robert's spouse, herbalist Susanna, is elated with the arrangement because she is free to do what she wants when he is out of the country. ..... Before Robert departs on his mission to France, he receives word that his steward at Appleton Manor was found dead, laying face down in the bone marrow pie. A second missive arrives after he leaves the country. This time Susanna rushes up to Appleton to learn that the place has been abandoned since a ghost has appeared on the premise and frightened everyone away. When Susanna arrives at the manor, she realizes that the murder of the steward and the arrival of the ghost are an attempt to lure Sir Robert onto the premises for reasons most deadly. Sir Robert is tricked into meeting his wife at the manor. Susanna knows that she must work quickly to uncover the identity of the mastermind of the grand scheme before her spouse becomes the next victim. ..... The mystery world has gained a fantastic new historical cozy writer in Kathy Lynn Emerson as she makes the early stages of the reign of Elizabeth I come gloriously to life. The historical detail is so vivid and colorful that FACE DOWN IN THE BONE MARROW PIE could be easily turned into a mesmerizing movie. The female protagonist is a person ahead of her times. She uses her natural intelligence in a shrewd way that remains consistent with the era; yet this skill allows her to do things normally done by males only. There is a special magic to this Elizabethan cozy that makes it a must read that hopefully will be followed by more books starring Susanna. ......Harriet Klausner