Tuesday, January 1, 2013

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate (Susanna Calkins)

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate is Susanna Calkins's absorbing debut novel.  Just a warning that time WILL easily slip away as you become engrossed in this historical fiction mystery.  I was pleasantly surprised that this is deemed Book 1 of the Lucy Campion Mysteries; if there's a Book 1, there has to be a Book 2, right?  So I look forward to reading Calkins's future tales.

It's set in the mid-1600s right around the beginning of the plague's entrance into London.  Lucy is a young servant girl living in the kind magistrate's household.  A series of murders, including of someone very close to Lucy, soon makes the area a dangerous place to be.  Calkins expertly combines not only a "whodunit" but also great suspense as the plague creeps ever closer.

With this novel, Susanna Calkins proves herself to be a literary talent and her protagonist is interesting enough to star in future books. Calkins is off to a rip-roaring start with A Murder at Rosamund's Gate.

MY RATING - 4

NOTE:  This book will be released on April 23, 2013.