When Sir Walter Pendennis asks her help to stop a treasonous uprising, how can Lady Appleton refuse? Pretending to be someone else, she infiltrates the rebel camp and puts her own life at risk, but it isn’t always easy to tell the villains from the heroes and the two feisty countesses leading the Rebellion of 1569 are forces to be reckoned with. 6th of the Face Down historical mystery series by Kathy Lynn Emerson; originally published by St. Martin’s
In Book Nine of the Face Down series, sixteenth-century gentlewoman, herbalist, and sleuth Susanna, Lady Appleton, travels north to the old Roman baths at Buxton to help her foster daughter, Rosamond, discover the truth about the sudden death of Madame Louise Poitier, French teacher at Bawkenstanes Manor. Does this murder relate to Mary Queen of Scots’ wish to visit the baths—or is the motive closer to home? Historical Mystery by Kathy Lynn Emerson [9th of the Face Down series]; originally published by Perseverance Press
Anxious to prove England's claim on the New World, Queen Elizabeth has charged Sir Walter Pendennis, seasoned spy and diplomat, with the top-secret mission. Walter gathers a team of scholars at his Cornwall estate, and calls upon his dear friend Susanna, Lady Appleton, to assist. Susanna is an expert herbalist with a quick mind and wise ways-and Walter has long carried a flame for her. When Walter's wife appears uninvited at Priory House, she sets about extinguishing that flame. Meanwhile, Susanna and Walter find that troubling discrepancies have surfaced among sailors' accounts of the land beyond the Western Sea. Their research becomes intrigue when an eyewitness account turns up missing and a scholar is found dead in his study. Is the murder the work of an academic rival? A jealous lover? A Spanish spy? Scholarly trickery and New World scandal come to light as Susanna's sleuthing skills are put to the test. Face Down Across the Western Sea is a potent concoction, brimming with the qualities that have made the Susanna, Lady Appleton, series a favorite among mystery lovers: rich period detail, first-rate suspense, and at the center of it all, Susanna-a headstrong and beguiling heroine.
The core of the book is Emerson's personal take on writing and selling historical mysteries, but it also includes contributions from over forty other historical mystery writers practical advice, anecdotes, and suggestions for research and input from assorted editors, booksellers, and reviewers. For both historical mystery writers and readers.This book embodies its subtitle: The Art & Adventure of Sleuthing Through the Past. Veteran author Emerson published her first mystery twenty-three years ago, and this is her thirty-sixth published book. It draws on her experience in researching, writing, selling, and sustaining both her Lady Appleton series (Elizabethan England) and her Diana Spaulding series (1880s U.S.). This unique reference book also includes the contributions of more than forty other historical mystery writers. Their books backgrounds and settings are as diverse as Ancient Egypt and Rome, antebellum New Orleans, early Constantinople, Jazz Age England and Australia, Depression-era California, turn-of-the-century New York, Victorian England, and eighteenth-century Venice.
BLUTimes may change, but crime remains the same! Award-winning author Kathy Lynn Emerson has penned thirteen thrilling tales -- from medieval England to modern New England -- guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat! "A baker's dozen mysteries, delectable stories ranging from Elizabethan England to contemporary New England, every one intriguing, literate, and enriched by nicely observed details. For those who are Emerson's fans already, and for those who will be as soon as they finish this book." --Lillian Stewart Carl, author of the Jean Fairbairn/Alasdair Cameron series "Mix mischief with murder from medieval to modern times and you have Kathy Lynn Emerson’s marvelous new collection. A must-read for historical mystery lovers!" -- Barb Goffman, Agatha and Macavity award-winning author of Don't Get Mad, Get Even RB
Like other fictional characters, female sleuths may live in the past or the future. They may represent current times with some level of reality or shape their settings to suit an agenda. There are audiences for both realism and escapism in the mystery novel. It is interesting, however, to compare the fictional world of the mystery sleuth with the world in which readers live. Of course, mystery readers do not share one simplistic world. They live in urban, suburban, and rural areas, as do the female heroines in the books they read. They may choose a book because it has a familiar background or because it takes them to places they long to visit. Readers may be rich or poor; young or old; conservative or liberal. So are the heroines. What incredible choices there are today in mystery series! This three-volume encyclopedia of women characters in the mystery novel is like a gigantic menu. Like a menu, the descriptions of the items that are provided are subjective. Volume 3 of Mystery Women as currently updated adds an additional 42 sleuths to the 500 plus who were covered in the initial Volume 3. These are more recently discovered sleuths who were introduced during the period from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1999. This more than doubles the number of sleuths introduced in the 1980s (298 of whom were covered in Volume 2) and easily exceeded the 347 series (and some outstanding individuals) described in Volume 1, which covered a 130-year period from 1860-1979. It also includes updates on those individuals covered in the first edition; changes in status, short reviews of books published since the first edition through December 31, 2008.
The Chronicles of Susanna, Lady Appleton, of the Face Down mystery series. Susanna, 16th century gentlewoman, herbalist and sleuth, solves mysteries and puzzles that baffle her contemporaries. These eleven stories conclude the Face Down series. Historical mystery short stories by Kathy Lynn Emerson; originally published by Crippen and Landru
"Deeper understanding of history is enhanced by encasing it in art and interest. Crime fiction is one of the widest and most rapidly growing forms of literature. Historical crime fiction serves effectively the double purpose of entertaining while it teaches. The "truth" of the narrative account, the editors of this volume believe, is dependent on the understanding of human nature reflected in the author who writes the narrative. "Historical crime fiction," the editors of this volume write, "has an obligation and a golden opportunity. It must bring the past up to the present through the device of timeless crime and it must take the reader into the world about which is being written so that the characters are alive and the events interesting and challenging." Professional writers of fiction need to be more effective than mere authors of dates and assumed motivations. Therefore they can fill in human motivations and drives where no records exist and can aid the professional historians in what historian David Thelen calls the "challenge of history " which is "to recover the past and [interpret it for] the present." The essays in this volume accept the challenge and make major accomplishments for meeting it.
