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theavidreaderandbibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
The Alchemist’s Daughter by Mary Lawrence is the first book in the Bianca Goddard Mysteries. It is March 1543 in London. Jolyn makes a living by scavenging items and selling them. One day she found a lovely ring and Jolyn thinks it brings her good luck. She refuses to sell the ring and wears it around her neck on a ribbon. Jolyn got lucky one day when Mrs. Jane Beldam offered her a job at Barke House as an errand girl. Jolyn does not get pay but she gets a place to live and food to eat. Now Jolyn has a man friend (probably her lover) who buys her nice gifts (gloves, a cloak). Jolyn’s best friend is Bianca Goddard. Bianca is an herbalist. Bianca’s mother used herbs for healing and her father was an alchemists. Bianca combined the two to help people. Bianca has her own place which frequently smells from the various concoctions she is brewing. Jolyn stops by for something for her upset stomach. It has been bothering her for a few days. Jolyn thinks it is the rich foods she has been eating thanks to her gentleman friend. Bianca brews her up something to help settle her stomach, but then Jolyn starts having convulsions. Bianca tries to save Jolyn, but Jolyn dies in Bianca’s arms.
Bianca fetches her friend (and the man that wants to marry her) John. John has her call the local constable (who then calls the coroner). The coroner says Jolyn was poisoned. Of course, they start blaming poor Bianca (just because of her herbs and concoctions). Constable Patch believes that since Bianca was with Jolyn when she died, then Bianca must have killed her (can you imagine all the innocent people in jail). Bianca knows she will have to find out who hurt her friend to save herself from the gallows. The first thing Bianca notices and starts investigating is the missing ring. Jolyn always wore the ring on a string around her neck and it is missing. Where is the ring?
Bianca will have to investigate while trying to avoid Constable Patch (he keeps trying to put her in jail). Bianca will look into Jolyn’s gentleman friend, Robert Wynders as well as Pandy. Pandy lived in Barke House. Pandy was very jealous of Jolyn for her looks and for Mr. Wynders. Mrs. Beldam also seems to be up to something. Who wanted Jolyn dead and why? I give The Alchemist’s Daughter 3 out of 5 stars. The idea is interesting, but the book just seemed to drag on forever. Since the novel is set during the time of Henry VIII, some of the words and phrases will be different than what we use now. The mystery was easy to solve but it is complex with a lot of different components. I hope the next book in the series will be better (they usually do get better as the series progresses).
I received a complimentary copy of The Alchemist’s Daughter from NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are strictly my own.
Bianca fetches her friend (and the man that wants to marry her) John. John has her call the local constable (who then calls the coroner). The coroner says Jolyn was poisoned. Of course, they start blaming poor Bianca (just because of her herbs and concoctions). Constable Patch believes that since Bianca was with Jolyn when she died, then Bianca must have killed her (can you imagine all the innocent people in jail). Bianca knows she will have to find out who hurt her friend to save herself from the gallows. The first thing Bianca notices and starts investigating is the missing ring. Jolyn always wore the ring on a string around her neck and it is missing. Where is the ring?
Bianca will have to investigate while trying to avoid Constable Patch (he keeps trying to put her in jail). Bianca will look into Jolyn’s gentleman friend, Robert Wynders as well as Pandy. Pandy lived in Barke House. Pandy was very jealous of Jolyn for her looks and for Mr. Wynders. Mrs. Beldam also seems to be up to something. Who wanted Jolyn dead and why? I give The Alchemist’s Daughter 3 out of 5 stars. The idea is interesting, but the book just seemed to drag on forever. Since the novel is set during the time of Henry VIII, some of the words and phrases will be different than what we use now. The mystery was easy to solve but it is complex with a lot of different components. I hope the next book in the series will be better (they usually do get better as the series progresses).
I received a complimentary copy of The Alchemist’s Daughter from NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are strictly my own.
jbarr5's review against another edition
4.0
The Alchemist's Daughter by Mary Lawrence
Wanted to read this book to find out exactly what her career is all about. Starts out near the city of London 1549's and Bianca is a person who mixes herbs and spices and creates concuctions to help cure people and to rid others of pests-rats. Loved hearing how and why she mixed things, She learned a lot from her parents when it came to the mixing.
Her best friend shows up one day as she's mixing things and is complaining about pains in her stomach. Their friend John is also there-he's a journeyman to become a silversmith. Jocylyn ends up dying but not before she tells of her suitor.
At the service they are able to figoue out who she was referring to. Probleem is she died at Bianca's and the cops think she is to blame. She avoids being arrested but is tailing another as the clues pile up pointing in the direction of a high power person.
She also is running low on time to figure out what posions killed her friend-she tries some on herself and lucky John and Meddlyt is there to help her. Devastation as she is dragged to jail and with her friends they are able to continue her clues and find new leads.
Rats feasting on piles of bodies sent shivers through me but I really enjoyed the story, plot and characters. Seems this is a series of Bianca's days but this read as a stand alone book. Look forward to reading more.
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review
Wanted to read this book to find out exactly what her career is all about. Starts out near the city of London 1549's and Bianca is a person who mixes herbs and spices and creates concuctions to help cure people and to rid others of pests-rats. Loved hearing how and why she mixed things, She learned a lot from her parents when it came to the mixing.
Her best friend shows up one day as she's mixing things and is complaining about pains in her stomach. Their friend John is also there-he's a journeyman to become a silversmith. Jocylyn ends up dying but not before she tells of her suitor.
At the service they are able to figoue out who she was referring to. Probleem is she died at Bianca's and the cops think she is to blame. She avoids being arrested but is tailing another as the clues pile up pointing in the direction of a high power person.
She also is running low on time to figure out what posions killed her friend-she tries some on herself and lucky John and Meddlyt is there to help her. Devastation as she is dragged to jail and with her friends they are able to continue her clues and find new leads.
Rats feasting on piles of bodies sent shivers through me but I really enjoyed the story, plot and characters. Seems this is a series of Bianca's days but this read as a stand alone book. Look forward to reading more.
I received this book from The Kennsington Books in exchange for my honest review
tonyriver's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting because novel, set deep in a commoners milieu late in Henry VIII the reign. Bianca is a likeable character, good natured and fiercely independent in an era where that does not sit well with some. Some parts of the story are too convenient, but overall an enjoyable historical mystery who submit.
sheriatthelibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Excerpt from review originally published at www.SherisHerbs.com
Now, The Alchemist's Daughter isn't your typical cozy mystery though it has elements of the cozy genre. It's set in the 16th century, across the bridge from London in a slum town known as Southwark. Bianca Goddard is a not your typical amateur sleuth either. She is a smart independent young woman trying to take care of herself at a time and place when that was pretty unheard of. Her passion is herbal medicine, and she's good at it. She's curious and constantly experimenting and researching, a trait she inherited from her father, a well known and mistrusted alchemist. But she has no desire to be associated with her father or alchemy. She want's to do something important, and help people.
When her friend, Jolyn, suddenly falls ill and dies, Bianca blames herself for not being able to save her, and the local constable blames her too, accusing her of murder. It appears to be a poisoning and she had just given Jolyn an herbal remedy. She has to outwit the constable, and prove her innocence by using her knowledge of herbs and healing . A cast of colorful characters turn up to help, and sometimes hinder her along the way. I can't wait until the next installment in the Bianca Goddard Mysteries. I hope to see further development of Bianca's character, more about her past and how she breaks away from her Alchemist father to become an independent herbalist.
Now, The Alchemist's Daughter isn't your typical cozy mystery though it has elements of the cozy genre. It's set in the 16th century, across the bridge from London in a slum town known as Southwark. Bianca Goddard is a not your typical amateur sleuth either. She is a smart independent young woman trying to take care of herself at a time and place when that was pretty unheard of. Her passion is herbal medicine, and she's good at it. She's curious and constantly experimenting and researching, a trait she inherited from her father, a well known and mistrusted alchemist. But she has no desire to be associated with her father or alchemy. She want's to do something important, and help people.
When her friend, Jolyn, suddenly falls ill and dies, Bianca blames herself for not being able to save her, and the local constable blames her too, accusing her of murder. It appears to be a poisoning and she had just given Jolyn an herbal remedy. She has to outwit the constable, and prove her innocence by using her knowledge of herbs and healing . A cast of colorful characters turn up to help, and sometimes hinder her along the way. I can't wait until the next installment in the Bianca Goddard Mysteries. I hope to see further development of Bianca's character, more about her past and how she breaks away from her Alchemist father to become an independent herbalist.
rebeccatc's review
2.0
Mediocre. The first half of the book is excruciatingly boring. I got the feeling I was supposed to be snickering about the alchemical experiments in the light of modern scientific knowledge, but I left most of mine in high school. The main character's voice as narrator always seemed dazed and distanced and gave me the uncomfortable feeling of trying to see without my glasses on. The ending felt rushed and incomplete. I'd skip this.
catyalice's review against another edition
4.0
Enthralling mystery but there are still some unanswered questions in the end.
jmatkinson1's review against another edition
3.0
London in the 1540s and Henry VIII is on the throne. The King has just dispatched his fifth wife and is courting his sixth. In the slums of Southwark people are scraping a living in the only ways they can. A merchant ship, The Cristofur, tries to dock but when the customs officials find dead bodies in the hold and the ship overrun with rats they place it in quarantine. Meanwhile a former muckraker Jolyn visits her friend Bianca in order to find relief from her pains. Bianca makes physics and rat poison so when Jolyn dies she becomes the prime suspect for murder. How is the death of Jolyn related to the Christofur, to the plague of rats currently growing in London and to the mysterious occupants of a former bawdy house?
The rats are a central motif in this story and the descriptions are very realistic and unpleasant. Beyond that though there is nothing to distinguish this book from the glut of mediocre historical mysteries. Bianca Goddard is a quirky enough protagonist and the characters are quite well described but the story didn't really engage. I was left asking to many questions about the holes in the plot. Having said that Lawrence has researched well and her sense of time and place is pretty good.
The rats are a central motif in this story and the descriptions are very realistic and unpleasant. Beyond that though there is nothing to distinguish this book from the glut of mediocre historical mysteries. Bianca Goddard is a quirky enough protagonist and the characters are quite well described but the story didn't really engage. I was left asking to many questions about the holes in the plot. Having said that Lawrence has researched well and her sense of time and place is pretty good.
kbrogden's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book sent in 18th century England. The narrator and main character provides a rich back drop and it has a few twists at the end that kept me engaged.