Book Review: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Title: Mistress of the Art of Death
Author: Ariana Franklin
Published: New York: G. P. Puntam's Sons, 2007
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 384
Total Page Count: 47,514
Text Number: 137
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Children are being kidnapped in Cambridge, England, and one body has been found; local Jews are being blamed for their deaths. In order to identify the true murderer, a doctor specializing in autopsies comes to Cambridge from Salerno—but the doctor, Adelia, is female, and the year is 1171. A combination historical fiction and crime drama, Mistress of the Art of Death is a mediocre example of both: anachronisms litter the 12th Century setting, and the detective work is adequately plotted but unexceptional and forgettable. Hundreds of weaknesses dot the text, and as such I was neither pleased nor disappointed by this book: although readable, it's not good and it's far from memorable, and I don't recommend it.

( Long review. )

Review posted here at Amazon.com.