Ann Swinfen (1937–2018)

A variable series. Some are fairly gripping, others less so. For the first third of the story I thought this was one of the latter kind. Then the story picked up considerably.

The protagonist is transported to Russia, where she befriends and aids some abused children with variable success and rescues an abducted employee. Tudor medicine, if reliably described, is quite interesting.

Less believable in the whole of the later episodes in the series is where a women in her late teens and early show more twenties could still masquerade as a boy or man on the extended journey's she continues to make. show less

A good start to another interesting medieval mystery series. Good characters that are already evolving nicely coupled with a very interesting locale and time period, the 14th Century. Books and their making, illumination, and copying provide a fertile environment for this first and future efforts.

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