Grave Goods

I have found a new historical fiction series! This book is actually the third in a series by Ariana Franklin (who is really Diana Norman). I liked it so much that I picked up books one and two at the library yesterday.

Set in 12th century England under King Henry II, these books tell of the adventures of Dr. Ariana Aguilar. Trained in Salerno, Ariana is one of the very few female doctors of the time, and she is also one of the few trained in the "art of death" - she's the Quincy of her time. The research that went into the story is awesome, but it never feels cumbersome. And I like that the author uses relatively modern language (I imagine the language of 12th century England would have been like Greek to the modern English-language reader).

But aside from that, these are great characters with great adventures. In addition to Ariana we have her companions Mansur (an Arab eunuch, who pretends to be the doctor to avoid accusations of witchcraft), Gyltha (her servant/friend/nanny), and Allie (her daughter). In this book Ariana and Mansur are asked to identify two very old corpses at Glastonberry Abbey, to determine if they are the remains of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. Henry II REALLY wants them to be, but Ariana is all about finding the truth. Along the way to finding the truth she has all sorts of interesting adventures.

I highly recommend the book, but I would have started with the first one (Mistress of the Art of Death) if I had known it was a series. But I'm already about 100 pages into that, so I'll be posting again soon.