I loved this book.
Set in the late Elizabethan era, this debut novel was as good as those by more experienced historical authors such as C J Sansom and Andrew Taylor.
The protagonists are a physician, Nicholas Shelby and an apothecary/tavern keeper, Bianca, who has to keep her medical skills secret as women were not allowed to have any medical learning or practice it at that time otherwise they might be accused of witchcraft.
Nicholas and Bianca endeavour to discover who is killing vulnerable people in London. The victims all bear the sign of an inverted cross on their bodies. This is a time when medicine, religion and astrology are all confused in addition to the politics and intrigue endemic in the Elizabethan times.
Although the story is fiction, many of the characters did exist.
I hope that this is just the first of many books featuring Nicholas and Bianca.
Set in the late Elizabethan era, this debut novel was as good as those by more experienced historical authors such as C J Sansom and Andrew Taylor.
The protagonists are a physician, Nicholas Shelby and an apothecary/tavern keeper, Bianca, who has to keep her medical skills secret as women were not allowed to have any medical learning or practice it at that time otherwise they might be accused of witchcraft.
Nicholas and Bianca endeavour to discover who is killing vulnerable people in London. The victims all bear the sign of an inverted cross on their bodies. This is a time when medicine, religion and astrology are all confused in addition to the politics and intrigue endemic in the Elizabethan times.
Although the story is fiction, many of the characters did exist.
I hope that this is just the first of many books featuring Nicholas and Bianca.