I read this without reading the 1st one. There were a lot of references to Catherine's back story. I assume I would have understood what they were talking about if I had read the first book.

The author uses a lot of archaic terms.

A good mystery which really does a good job of capturing the time it was set. ( )

Enjoyable book, but the author needs to cut back on the use of obscure words. At some points, I was stopping every couple of pages to Google some word I had never heard of. I ended up having to look up 34 words, several of which took half an hour searching on-line to find a website that gave a definition. If she finds it necessary to use words that are this obscure, at least there should be a glossary of words at the beginning or the end of the book, as is done by some other authors such as Melvin Starr in his Hugh De Singleton series. ( )

A library patron recommended this book to me, and I am finding it to be a fun, quick read. Susanna, Lady Appleton is a strong female character who has written a book about herbal decoctions. Susanna is summoned by Queen Elizabeth to Madderly Castle to assist a noblewoman there who is working on a book about herbal remedies. When Susanna arrives at the castle, she finds that a murder has been committed and she is soon pulled into finding out who the killer is. This is mostly a "cozy" mystery - not too many gory details. What I like most about this book is the plethora of period detail about everyday life.

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12414987