SusannaG - Confessions of a Crazy Cat Lady
Just another GR refugee. Other than that, I had a stroke in 2004, and read almost anything I can get my hands on, though I have a particular weakness for history, mystery, and historical fiction.
Currently reading
The Poisoned Chalice
The Poisoned Chalice is an early (I believe second) novel in Bernard Knight's "Crowner John" medieval mystery series.
It's 1194, and John de Wolfe, the coroner for Cornwall under Richard I, is having a busy time of it. To begin with, Hubert Walter is coming to town. Walter is the most powerful man in England (Richard I is, as he mostly is, out of the country - currently he is in France, to the regret of the French), as he is both Archbishop of Canterbury and Justiciar (the head of law and justice). John and his brother-in-law, the local sheriff, are butting heads about who has jurisdiction in the various cases that come up, and hope Walter will settle matters.
Meanwhile, he has a case of wrecking to deal with, and then the rape of one young lady of good family, and the death of another. And their families want justice, and they want it now - and there isn't much evidence, and no real suspect in either case. But gossip supplies names, and more trouble for all involved.
The setting didn't really sing, but was adequately done, and the mystery was very twisty. (I might even say it was verging on convoluted.) I might read another one, but I doubt I'd go looking for it in particular. The list of period terms was useful, as were the two maps, one of 12th century Exeter, and the other of the surrounding region.
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