Customer Reviews

Face Down Beneath the Eleanor Cross

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For a look at the cover of this book and other news about the series, visit my website. I have my own domain name, so I'm easy to find. I also have a newsletter, Face Down Update, for those interested in knowing more about Lady Appleton. P.S. I couldn't submit this without rating the book. I do think it's the best in the series to date, but I hate the idea of rating anything. Much too subjective!

Officially, he died from drowning. Though eighteen months have passed since that declaration, the deceased's spouse Susanna Appleton rejects the finding. She knows that she has been married to Robert for too many years for her to be so easily rid of him. Her belief is proven accurate when Roberts sends her a note demanding she bring a large amount of gold to him. Though she no longer loves her husband, Susanna feels bound to honor her marital vows. She leaves Leigh Abbey to travel to London for her rendezvous with Robert.

When Susanna arrives at their appointed locale, the innkeeper mistakes her for another woman who was kissing Robert while sitting on his lap. Susanna learns that Robert has already left the sleazy Black Jack Inn. She leaves to find lodging in a better neighborhood. While looking at the nearby Eleanor Cross, Susanna sees a man fall to his death. Based on what she observed, the noted herbalist feels someone poisoned the victim. The innkeeper testifies that Susanna was the last person seen with the dead person. The police arrest her, placing her in Newgate while awaiting trial for murder. Her good friends in high places obtain her temporary release, but Susanna plans to uncover the truth before she is burned at the stake.

Kathy Lynn Emerson has written another exciting Elizabethan mystery that stars a memorable and likable heroine. FACE DOWN BENEATH THE ELEANOR CROSS has been so meticulously researched it feels as if Ms. Emerson was there to document the tale. Reminiscent of the best of Gellis and Penman, this novel deserves awards while encouraging readers to find the previous three tales in a rewarding series.

Harriet Klausner

This time Susanna, Lady Appleton is suspected of the murder of her husband, and, as the author makes clear, this is hardly the best century in which to be a murder suspect. Susanna fights against time to find the real murderer and escape a gruesome death. A riveting mystery with authentic and fascinating period details, well drawn characters, and always a plucky heroine. Fans of Anne Perry should check out this series!

If you read the "Face Down" series purely for the Whodunit, than this one is as strong as the others - in fact, harder for me to figure out than some of the others have been. I have to admit - I'm a bit disappointed in how Emerson resolved some relationship issues in this one. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I felt that some things were a bit rushed and seemed out of character for two of the players - but all in all, I love how Emerson continues to grow the the characters of the supporting crew to Susanna - another fun mystery.

Lady Susan Appleton is arrested for the murder of her husband, Robert in Kathy Lynn Emerson's FACE DOWN BENEATH THE ELEANOR CROSS.
To prove her innocence she embarks on a trip across England in the dead of winter to interview a long list of women that were mistresses of her late husband. With the help of her faithful retainers she collects four women who journey back to London with her.
But Lady Appleton has pitted her wits against a dangerous killer who will stop at nothing to send her to the stake.
Rich in the Elizabethan era customs, it is a fine mystery of suspense and the power of hate.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

This book is a murder mystery set in 1565, and it is meticulously researched. (In fact, historical tidbits not necessary to understand what's going on are frequently strewn throughout the story, occassonally decreasing the tension of a scene.)

Solving the murder mystery doesn't seem to be the primary focus of the novel since most of the book is spent with Susanna playing with her stepdaughter or with the other characters falling in love with each other. This is just as well since I was able to correctly identify the murder immediately after our introduction to that character and none of the red herrings shook that conviction.

I suspect this book isn't a good one to be introduced to the heroine, Susanna Appleton. She is placed in a position were she should have emotions: concern, worry, dread, saddness, etc. Except for brief flashes of emotion, Susanna seems remarkably unbothered by anything, from the loss of her husband to the threat to her life to the stress of confronting her husbands mistresses. To me, she came across as bland and unrealisticaly unemotional.

I also had a hard time thinking very highly of Susanna. She only asks her suspects some brief, obvious questions and trustingly accepts their answers. She never tries to dig deeper to find the truth and doesn't look beyond "the obvious suspects" until she's about to be sentenced to death. This wouldn't be a problem for me except that all the characters think her so astonishingly clever at solving murder mysteries.

The secondary point-of-view characters are engaging even if sometimes I didn't understand why they acted the way they did.

Lady Appleton is on trial, now, and must discover the real murderer if she is to survive the accusations. There are times I have to ask myself if Emerson was actually alive during this time period and froze herself to be brough back during our time period to write so well. (Of course not, I'm just being silly!)