The Poyson Garden - (Elizabeth I Mystery) by Karen Harper (Paperback)

About the Book

The acclaimed debut of a series featuring Queen Elizabeth I as an amateur sleuth. Banished to the English countryside and marked for death by a master prisoner, Elizabeth must unravel the plot against her. Within the walls of her ancestral Hever Castle, the princess plunges into the secrets of a multiple murder and searches for a brilliant, well-connected killer before he finds her.

Book Synopsis

The letter came in secret, with a pearl eardrop from an aunt long thought dead, resurrecting the forbidden past. Banished by her spiteful half sister, Queen Mary, to Hatfield House in the English countryside, twenty-five-year-old Princess Elizabeth cannot refuse the summons. The Boleyns are in grave danger. And Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, is marked for death by a master poisoner whose reign of terror may have royal sanction.

With her few loyal retainers, Elizabeth escapes to Kent. Here, in her ancestral Hever Castle, now held by the Queen's loyalists, Elizabeth seeks to unravel the plot against her. And here, in the embrace of intrigue and betrayal, the princess must find a brilliant, powerfully connected killer--before the killer finds her....

Review Quotes

"An entertaining cross between a swashbuckling historical romance and a mystery novel. The heroine is spunky, the courtiers scheme and truckle, capes swirl, daggers flash and horses gallop."
--Portland Oregonian

"Poison, double-cross, betrayal, sibling rivalry and a mass murder plan are believably made the stuff of Elizabethan times. Harper delivers a detailed look at the era and the people."
--Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

"A walk side by side with one of history's most dynamic characters."
--Anne Perry, bestselling author of Brunswick Gardens

"Harper's lively and well-written story pits two clever adversaries in plots and counterplots encompassing disguises, herbal lore, castle breaking, moat jumping, crazed revenge and lots of poison."
--Portsmouth Herald

"A vivid, well-paced foray into Elizabethan England."
--The Columbus Dispatch

"Impressively researched."
--Los Angeles Times

"Captivating."
--Mostly Murder

About the Author

A former English teacher and the author of a number of contemporary suspense, historical, and historical romance novels, Karen Harper divides her time between Columbus, Ohio, and Naples, Florida. The second novel in her Elizabeth I mystery series, The Tidal Poole, is available in hardcover from Delacorte Press.