A Fall of Shadows

Starred review from February 25, 2019
The stabbing murder of Bartholomew Reade, a handsome player in a traveling theatrical troupe, propels Herriman’s superior second Elizabethan mystery (after 2018’s Searcher of the Dead). Ellyn Merrick, a young woman from a prosperous family in the English village of Wiltshire, who collapses on herbalist Bess Ellyott’s doorstep, is one of several suspects, but Bess, certain that Ellyn is innocent, uses her intelligence and resourcefulness to attempt to unmask Reade’s true killer, sometimes in the company of the village constable, who struggles with his feelings for her, veering between attraction and disapproval. What deepens the story is dangerous superstition, since Reade’s body was discovered on a druids’ mound, and an old woman feared to be a malevolent witch lives nearby. Bess, an independent woman with healing powers, draws the villagers’ suspicion as well. In its skillful storytelling—planting clues, introducing multiple suspects, executing sharp twists, and generating a sense of true menace—this novel takes its place as a standout historical mystery. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary.

March 15, 2019
In the quaint English countryside in 1593, an aspiring playwright and milkmaid are killed. Was it murder or a coincidence? Journey with healer and widower Bess Ellyot and Constable Kit Harwoode as they strive to uncover the truth and prevent more citizens from being slain, if, in fact, there is a murderer in their midst. Set in a small town outside of London, the novel casts all outsiders as immediately suspicious, especially after the wealthy playwright is found dead on a creepy, druid hilltop. Can gossip in a small town create multiple killers? With richly detailed settings and quickly moving dialogue, Herriman smoothly invokes sixteenth-century Britain. The second in the Bess Ellyot series mixes suspected witchcraft, actors, intrigue, and gossip aplenty in an involving historical mystery that reads like a Shakespearean comedy of errors. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Peters and Amanda Quick.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)