The Merchant of Death (BEING THE THIRD OF THE CANTERBURY TALES OF KATHYN SWINBROOKE, LEECH AND PHYSICIAN)

This third novel featuring medieval physician and chemist Kathryn Swinbrooke opens just before Christmas in 1471. Snowstorms have blanketed the city of Canterbury. Kathryn and her cook Thomasina are busily preparing for the holiday, when terrible news arrives: The painter Richard Blunt has confessed to killing his young wife, along with two men who were dallying with her.
Kathryn is disturbed by Blunt's serene demeanor, but before she can articulate her suspicions, another death captures her attention. A tax collector, Sir Reginald Erpingham, has been found dead in his room at the Wicker Man tavern, and the King's monies have been stolen. Kathryn quickly determines that the collector was murdered, perhaps by poison, and begins questioning the guests at the tavern.
Meanwhile, there are patients to be cared for, a practice to build, and a household to maintain - but Kathryn must put aside these pleasant duties if she is to find the link between Richard Blunt and the strange events at the Wicker Man tavern.

YA?Kathryn Swinbrooke, medieval physician, chemist, and herbalist, is sleuthing again with Colum Murtagh, King Edward's soldier. During the Christmas of 1471, in the midst of a deep snow storm, they attempt to solve the murders of a young woman and her two lovers. Before she has time to investigate this crime, Kathryn and Colum must resolve the mysterious locked-room death of a notorious tax collector for the Crown. As King Edward's representative, Colum needs to account for all of the tax money missing from the murdered man's room. The twin devices of the locked-room puzzle and the dilemma of the unlikely murderer flow through a swiftly moving plot that relies on lively, feisty characters; accurate historical scenes; and an abundance of quotes from Chaucer. A welcome addition to the development of Kathryn Swinbrooke as a physician turned reluctant detective.?Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School Library, Upper Marlboro, MD
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A hated tax collector dies in a classic locked-room mystery and a straying wife and her two lovers are murdered in the latest puzzles probed by medieval physician Kathryn Swinbrooke and King's Commissioner Colum Murtagh, both encountered most recently in The Eye of God. Few grieve when royal tax collector Sir Reginald Erpingham is found dead in his room at Canterbury's Wicker Man inn, but the loss of the funds he has gathered will certainly upset King Edward IV, recently come to the throne after ruinous turmoil in the War of the Roses. Asked to investigate the death, which she determines was by poison, Kathryn must set aside her concern for talented painter Richard Blunt, admitted killer of his young second wife and her two lovers. Another death, and the collaboration between Kathryn and Colum, finally brings truth to the fore. Grace breathes vivid life into this atmospheric tale of turbulent life and death in 15th-century England.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Blackmail, treachery, and treason abound as Kathryn Swinbrooke, leech and physician, and Colum Murtagh, soldier and king's commissioner in Canterbury, team up to solve a string of murders in another evocative historical whodunit steeped in suspense, sexual tension, and authentic period detail. When Sir Reginald Erpingham an unscrupulous and venal tax collector, imbibes a fatal cup of poison during the height of a raging blizzard that has stranded a handful of disparate wayfarers in a comfortable tavern and hostelry, Kathryn and Colum must expose the perpetrator and, more importantly, recover a fortune in stolen royal taxes or risk suffering the unbridled wrath of King Edward. While feverishly investigating the transgression against the crown, they are sidetracked by both the inexplicable disappearance of Colum's faithful servitor and a local crime of passion that arouses Kathryn's suspicions. Kathryn must employ all of her considerable talents and skills as a healer and a herbalist to painstakingly piece together a patchwork of perplexing clues. Writing as C. L. Grace, P. C. Doherty provides another riveting installment in an outstanding series of medieval mysteries. Margaret Flanagan