Ann Swinfen (1937–2018)

The best of the series so far. Kit is working her way back from the death of her father and the destitute circumstances that resulted. New challenges and opportunities await. The title tells it all as she launches into her work as a physician in a new charity hospital. Poor, hungry and desperate children are everywhere, abandoned, savaged and exploited. A plot to kill the queen and the kidnapping of a spunky 5-year-old add some mysteries to solve and add some spice to the plot.

This series continues to please. First, with its vivid descriptions about life during these frightful but interesting times and the labor intensity of most daily activities. This book takes place during harvest which was an all-hands activity often threatened by bad weather conditions. Secondly, the interesting characters and their relationships continue to develop robustly and appropriately. The gross inequities of wealth and social difference often supported by coercive laws enacted and show more enforced surprisingly; developed few rebellions by the laboring classes. It was not a good time to be poor and the state of medicine even worse to be a woman, rich or poor. The murders and the mysteries add a soupcon of spice to this good history book. show less

A dark but compelling story about ugly times in England. Comfort and happiness were sparse in this medieval period and generally limited to the well-to-do. Pestilence was prevalent and landlords were forcing tenants from their mall holdings. Henry had destroyed one of the mainstays of the poor and homeless by looting and closing monasteries and churches so London became a veritable cesspool of foment and discontent.
The playhouses were a rare and sparse glimmer of something other than the show more ugliness of life in the city. Shakespeare and Marlowe were recognizably two of the most renowned playwrights and Swinfen aptly crafts her version of the demise of the latter. Kit is mostly an intelligent observer and chronicler through her interplay with the theater group. show less

A light enjoyable Medieval mystery. The mystery so predictable at the beginning proved to be a bit less predictable at the end. The book does a nice job of weaving details of medieval life in Oxford England into the story. I will read another.