Susanna, Lady Appleton was a gentlewoman, a herbalist (author of A Cautionary Herbal, being a compendium of plants harmful to the health) – and an expert crime-solver during the reigns of Mary I and Elizabeth I, Queens of England during the turbulent 16th century. It was a time when religious differences were fought with the sword and the torture chamber, and an ardent Protestant could be burned at the stake for heresy under the rule Mary and an fervent Catholic could be executed for treason under the rule of Elizabeth.
In these eleven stories (five of which are previously unpublished), Susanna investigates a body found in a dovecote, death by Devil’s Turnips, the woman whose babies always died by being "overlaid," the use of a Neck Verse to save a condemned prisoner’s life, the mysterious tavern sign of a woolsack, and other cases full of the color and danger of the 16th century.
New introduction and historical notes to each story by the author, and a checklist of Kathy Lynn Emerson’s novels and stories. Cover painting by Linda Weatherly S. Cover design by Deborah Miller.