Helpful Score: 1
I was SO excited to discover that one of my favorite authors writes about one of my favorite eras. The book was a tad bit hard to believe but still very good.
Helpful Score: 1
The first in a series about Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth. She must track down someone who poisoned her aunt and who is trying to poison herself. As the story ends, she finds out that her half-sister has died, so she becomes queen. This story is an incredible read, and left me looking for the others in the series.
Helpful Score: 1
Enjoyable enough but Queen Elizabeth as Nancy Drew is a bit much.
The autumn of 1558 finds the future Elizabeth I languishing at Hatfield House under the watchful eyes of Sir Thomas Pope and his wife, Beatrice. Boredom fills her days until one afternoon when a faithful groom slips her a note -- a note that will lead Elizabeth into grave danger.
Elizabeth's aunt, Mary Boleyn, lies ill at nearby Wivenhoe and begs Elizabeth to come quickly and secretly. Mary's son, Henry Carey, wounded in a vicious ambush on his way to visit his mother, has important news for his cousin. Feigning one of her famous "sick head aches" (migraine), Elizabeth slips away from her warders. Discovering that Henry's man died from poisoned arrows in the ambush and that his mother is also being poisoned, Elizabeth plunges headlong into a maelstrom of deadly herbs, treachery, and lingering death.
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The first in the Elizabeth I mystery series. Very well done! The plot was intriguing, well thought out and with some twists and turns you didn't expect. You cannot but help liking young Elizabeth and her impromptu privy council. A page turner.
Elizabeth's aunt, Mary Boleyn, lies ill at nearby Wivenhoe and begs Elizabeth to come quickly and secretly. Mary's son, Henry Carey, wounded in a vicious ambush on his way to visit his mother, has important news for his cousin. Feigning one of her famous "sick head aches" (migraine), Elizabeth slips away from her warders. Discovering that Henry's man died from poisoned arrows in the ambush and that his mother is also being poisoned, Elizabeth plunges headlong into a maelstrom of deadly herbs, treachery, and lingering death.
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The first in the Elizabeth I mystery series. Very well done! The plot was intriguing, well thought out and with some twists and turns you didn't expect. You cannot but help liking young Elizabeth and her impromptu privy council. A page turner.
Fun romp, great combination of historical fact and energetic fiction, with Elizabeth I solving mysteries before someone can do her in! Can't wait to read the next in the series.
Heather A. (imabookfanatic) reviewed The Poyson Garden (Elizabeth I, Bk 1) on + 48 more book reviews
Very enjoyable mystery--1st in the series. I enjoyed all the history and historical details. They added an extra dimension to an interesting mystery story. I'm looking forward to readinf the next in the series
"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"
An interesting story with a bit of history thrown in.
In this intriguing historical mystery, Harper has taken the future Queen Elizabeth and puts her smack dab in the middle of a plot to poison the entire Boleyn clan. During the time of Queen Marys reign, Elizabeth has had to deal with always looking over her shoulder. Now with this new threat inching closer, Elizabeth must find out whom is behind it and she is hoping that her sister is not the one pulling the strings. After receiving a letter from her Aunt Mary who she thought was dead; Elizabeth begins her journey under close scrutiny of her guardian, Sir Thomas. Lucky for Elizabeth, her Aunt Mary conveniently had a medicine woman who bears a striking resemblance to Elizabeth and can be used as a decoy.
I loved the easy flow of the plot line in The Poyson Garden. Harper keeps you guessing till the end on who is behind the evil scheme. Even though this is HEAVY on fiction I loved that Harper retained Elizabeths proud and temperamental characteristics and many familiar faces of Elizabeths inner circle are included. The friends she gathers during her sleuthing are interesting and an intricate part to the mystery. Fun and witty, this mystery is an easy read for a nice relaxing afternoon.
I loved the easy flow of the plot line in The Poyson Garden. Harper keeps you guessing till the end on who is behind the evil scheme. Even though this is HEAVY on fiction I loved that Harper retained Elizabeths proud and temperamental characteristics and many familiar faces of Elizabeths inner circle are included. The friends she gathers during her sleuthing are interesting and an intricate part to the mystery. Fun and witty, this mystery is an easy read for a nice relaxing afternoon.
Banished by her half sister, to Hatfield House, 25 year old Pricess 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.
