FACE DOWN BENEATH THE ELEANOR CROSS

Although her era’s ominous intrigues are everywhere evident, Elizabeth I appears only offstage in Lady Susanna Appleton’s fourth adventure (Face Down Among the Winchester Geese, 1999, etc.), which begins in 1565 as Elizabeth’s favorite, Robin Dudley, fingers herbalist Susanna as the culprit who poisoned her late husband. The unlamented Robert Appleton turns out to be more mischievous than any self-respecting corpse, posthumously summoning Susanna to meet him in Winchester via coded message'its code based, in Emerson’s sly joke, on John Knox’s misogynist Monstrous Regiment of Women. Indeed, as copies of the book keep popping up, more women, mostly Robert’s former mistresses, become likely suspects in his murder. Could one of them have turned deadly, or are Robert’s political connections more likely? Vulnerable as Elizabeth’s heir, Lady Mary Grey has cause to hate him. Annabel MacReynolds, a spy for French regent Catherine de' Medici, has tricked Robert with her body and knows the Knox code. Then Susanna’s ally Sir Walter Pendennis, his loyalty already compromised by his new inamorata Eleanor Lowell, is distracted by his rivalry with lawyer Matthew Grimshaw for Susanna’s friendship. Usually confident and competent, Susanna is a less dynamic figure under threat of trial and murder herself; but she has mentored both her superstitious housekeeper, Jennet, and Robert’s surprising sister, Catherine, well in previous adventures. Faithful friends track the past until Susanna, in a final cozy gathering, unmasks the obvious villain. Despite a mystery that eventually turns messy and some cumbersome period detail, Emerson gets a star for high drama and the graceful planting of background information.