Sunday 7 February 2016

THE WIDOWS' GUILD by Anna Castle

4 out of 5 stars

Elizabethan murder mystery


On Amazon UK HERE
On Goodreads HERE

I enjoyed reading this late Elizabethan whodunnit, in which a band of young men of Gray's Inn and the wayward Lady Alice Trumpington aim to uncover the murderer of a few well-to-do Catholics...  

This is the third in the series subtitled The Francis Bacon mysteries, but I have to say I found Francis Bacon himself to be the least appealing of all the characters, a humourless chap indeed.  I very much liked Lady Alice and her would-be lover, sea captain's son Tom Clarady, who were colourful, amusing, and more in the spirit of the novel, which is one of an entertaining historical romp rather than serious historical fiction - occasionally almost slapstick in its humour.

The descriptions made the backdrop of 16th century London come alive, the dialogue was sparky and convincing, and the plot interesting - I did learn a fair bit about the period from it.  As an added bonus, I hadn't got a clue about the culprit, and was most surprised when the truth was unveiled.

I will probably read another in this series at some point, and would recommend it to anyone who likes their historical fiction in the form of a good yarn :)

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