A Fall of Shadows — Nancy Herriman

Perfect for fans of Charles Todd and Susanna Calkins, comes Nancy Herriman's second bewitching tale of herbalist Bess Ellyott who uncovers the sinister underbelly of Elizabethan England.

The dark shadows of Elizabethan England envelop a bucolic village when a brutal murder reveals a viper's nest of resentment, fear -- and the haunting specter of black magic.

Autumn has fallen on Wiltshire, but as the air grows crisp and the trees turn a resplendent gold, a sinister presence arrives in the form of a horrifying murder. Bartholomew Reade, a player in a traveling troupe, has been found stabbed, sprawled on a low mound outside the village, a reed pen jabbed into his throat.

On the night of the murder, a bleeding woman collapses at the doorstep of herbalist Bess Ellyott desperately seeking help. Could she have a connection to the dead man? As Bess seeks answers, Constable Kit Harwoode is busy assembling his own lengthy list of suspects. Reade had many enemies, including the leader of the troupe, who resented his ambitions as a playwright, and his fellow players, who bristled at his arrogance -- just to name a few.

As if the case weren't thorny enough, the hill where the dead man was found is reputed to have once been the site of a Druid temple. And recent reports of diseased sheep and sick children, supposedly the work of a witch, have the townspeople terrified. As the shadows lengthen, Bess races to discover the truth before darkness descends in A Fall of Shadows.