Face Down upon an Herbal
is the second book in the Face Down mystery series featuring Susanna, Lady Appleton as the amateur detective. She's a gentlewoman who just happens to be an expert on poisonous herbs. She even wrote a book to warn people about them, although it had to be published anonymously because her husband, Sir Robert Appleton, doesn't approve of women authors. Unbeknownst to Susanna, he's taken credit for it himself. In this adventure, set in 1561, he's sent to Scotland on a mission for Queen Elizabeth. While he's gone, the queen gives Susanna a task as well. She's asked to assist a noblewoman, Lady Madderly, with the herbal she's writing. Accompanied by her young kinswoman, Catherine, Susanna travels to Madderly Castle, where the Yuletide season is just getting under way. When a Scots lord is found dead, face down upon a copy of the cautionary herbal Susanna wrote two years earlier, she feels a personal obligation to solve the crime.
Booklist
said this novel is "highly recommended for readers who appreciate suspenseful historical mysteries."
Long out of print in hardcover and mass market paperback editions, this trade paperback edition has been newly edited by the author.