Category: Mystery/Suspense Publisher: Five Star
ISBN-10: 1432825364
Type: Fiction
Pages: 294
Copyright: 2011
ISBN-13: 9781432825362
When poison kills a man at the palace, Elizabeth Tudor fears two things: first, that her brother the king might have been the target, and second, that she'll be blamed. Who would she call on for help but her old friend, Simon Maldon?
(Availalbe soon for e-reader)
As England’s young king struggles with illness, one of his advisers is poisoned. Elizabeth Tudor, fearing her brother was the target, asks her old friend Simon Maldon to investigate the crime. Aided by his fiancee, Hannah, Simon, now an apothecary’s apprentice, braves the corridors of power to protect the king.
Power is all-important to the inhabitants of Whitehall Palace. Families band together to collect and keep it, from the well-known Dudley clan to lesser but no less determined members of the nobility. In the days after the first murder, a knight, a baron, and a serving girl also die in mysterious circumstances, but it is unclear how their deaths benefit any of the possible suspects.
Are the Beverleys, brother and sister of great ambition, committing murder to advance their cause? Is it the Fullers, a fussy mother and her charming son, who seek a brilliant marriage to end their genteel poverty? Or is it someone else, with reasons yet to be discovered?
In order to find out, Simon employs various (sometimes embarrassing) disguises, and Hannah uses her position as Elizabeth’s newest chambermaid. As the crimes multiply, the danger grows. In the end, Elizabeth herself is accused of the murders. To save the princess he admires, Simon faces a fight for his life against a wickedly clever adversary who will not be caught.
Excerpt
(Elizabeth) watched Simon’s face, waiting until he put it together, her nervousness betraying itself in the scuffing of one dainty boot-heel on the paving stone beneath the bench. “The king must be protected. If anything happens to Edward—” She left the thought unfinished, but he knew. Fond of her brother she might be, but his life meant much more to her than that. If Edward died, Elizabeth was a liability to the next in line, her sister Mary, who believed with all her heart that she was destined to return England to Catholicism. At the very least, Elizabeth would be held under house arrest, and the worst? His father’s term for yew poison, “the bastard killer,” came to mind. To Mary, Elizabeth was both a bastard and a threat. She might die a hundred ways, public or private, but there was no doubt her death would be a boon to the new queen.
Professional Reviews
Historical Novel Society Review
Historical Novel Society Review
Review Appeared in
HNR Issue 58 (November 2011)
Reviewed by
Anne Barnhill
In the second book of her Simon and Elizabeth series, Peg Herring pits Lady Elizabeth Tudor, sister of King Edward VI, and her devoted friend, Simon, against those who would harm both king and sister. In apothecary Simon Maldon, Herring has created a likeable sleuth who leads the reader through the labyrinthine facts surrounding a series of mysterious murders within the very walls of the castle. As the young king’s poor health continues to worry his sister, the mounting pile of bodies points to Elizabeth herself as the possible murderess. Introducing Simon’s feisty fiancée, Hannah, as detective, Herring injects humor and fun into the process.
Herring’s Tudor England is rich in description and filled with the intrigue and ambition rife at the court. She leads a merry chase as the reader follows Lady Elizabeth and Simon through the royal halls of intrigue
Once Upon A Romance's Review Of... Poison, Your Grace by Peg Herring
Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: Poison, Your Grace - 2nd in the Simon & Elizabeth series
Author: Peg Herring
Publisher: Gale/Cengage
ISBN-13: 978-1-4328-2536-2
Release Date: November 2011
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Mystery
Year/Setting: 1552/London
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: None/Subtle
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: Minimal/Moderate
Peg's Website: www.pegherring.com
Dear Readers:
For anyone who has already read the first Simon & Elizabeth mystery, you already know how truly funny and heartwarming these characters are. So, fans will absolutely love the fact that they are getting another one.
Simon is an apprentice/intern at the apothecary working for his well-known boss, Mr. Carthburt. Simon has a ‘inferior’ arm but he is a good man, and great at his job. Simon’s father is a doctor, who wanted him to follow in his footsteps - not live his life treating rotted teeth and soothing ‘high-class, snobby’ nerves. But Simon felt with his arm being the way it was that the apothecary route was best for him.
One day, he is outside and a carriage goes by holding the young Elizabeth Tudor. Now, she and Simon know each other from the first mystery, but on this day she snubs him, without even granting him a wave.
Later, Simon’s boss receives an urgent summons to get to the palace as soon as possible. Edward VI is a sickly, fifteen-year-old boy, so they believe that something has happened to the King. What they find when they arrive is something completely different. A man who had dined with the King the previous evening has been found dead - death by poison. Offering advice, reassurance, and a little magic in order to calm the King down, Simon and his boss leave Whitehall and head back to the shop.
However, the next day, a young woman is found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Seemingly she tripped and ended up breaking her neck, but poison is still a factor. With his boss getting so much older, Simon is put in charge of this particular case. The Princess Elizabeth calls back her ‘helper’ from the first mystery because she needs an honest man - and Simon is that man!
From the characters of Robert Dudley to the evil, jealous realm of the Tudors - characters come out of the stonework for the reader to really ‘sink their teeth into.’ Watching Elizabeth and Simon re-team up, using Simon’s beloved future bride, Hannah, as the go-between, the story is a fast-paced ride wrapped in money, power, poison, revenge - just about everything that you could possibly find in the Tudor world.
A truly entertaining book that is just as much fun as the first one!
Until next time,
Amy
Reviews-Publishers Weekely
Reviews: HER HIGHNESS’ FIRST MURDER
*Filled with colorful and believable characters from all classes of society, the story moves swiftly to its dramatic conclusion. Fans of historical mysteries will look forward eagerly to the next in the series. Publishers Weekly
