I had a good time reading this book. and, I think it gave our bookgroup a lot to talk about because all readers did not agree with my opinion or I theirs. I liked the authors writing style, thought her storyline was different and creative and fun to read. I have since read her next book and enjoyed it too. I recommend Adriana Franklin as an author to watch for on the book shelves.

A very interesting mystery, it might start slow for some but picks up. you learn a lot about women in medieval times and what they were and were not allowed to do. If you like history you'll like this book, the second in the series is even better...

The best historical fiction, to my mind, teaches you something about a time period, a people, or a culture while telling a really good story. This book does that in spades, giving such information about the Church at that time, medicine, and more. Yet there's no time for an information dump, because the story reads fast, at first because there is a lot of dialog and short paragraphs and, as the story progresses, an ever-faster pace as we draw closer to the conclusion. I have to say, the identity of the murderer was not all that surprising to me (one of a few people I had on my own suspects list), but exactly how it happened and how everything was resolved was indeed unexpected. In this sort of book, you're always on the lookout for glaring anachronisms. Adelia herself is the biggest anachronism of all - not so much because she's a woman doctor, which is handled believably, but because of her modern ideas and practices. The others are dealt with well in the author's note. The descriptions of the dead and what had been done to them was a bit much for the squeamish side of me. Granted, I was reading so fast much of this washed over me and I only noticed looking back.