Ariana Franklin

Mistress of the Art of Death: A Novel

Ariana Franklin

• 2007 Historical Dagger winner
• Score: 10.57

In medieval Cambridge, England, four children have been murdered. The crimes are immediately blamed on the town’s Jewish community, taken as evidence that Jews sacrifice Christian children in blasphemous ceremonies. To save them from the rioting mob, the king places the Cambridge Jews under his protection and calls for the finest “master of the art of death,” an early version of the medical examiner. The Italian doctor chosen for the task is a young prodigy from the University of Salerno. But her name is Adelia—the king has been sent a mistress of the art of death.

Adelia and her companions—Simon, a Jew, and Mansur, a Moor—travel to England to unravel the mystery of the Cambridge murders, which turn out to be the work of a serial killer, most likely one who has been on Crusade with the king. As Adelia’s investigation takes her into Cambridge’s shadowy river paths and behind the closed doors of its churches and nunneries, the hunt intensifies and the killer prepares to strike again.

The Death Maze: A Novel

Ariana Franklin

• 2008 Historical Dagger shortlist
• Score: 6.58

When King Henry II’s mistress is found poisoned, suspicion falls on his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The king orders Adelia Aguilar, expert in the science of death, to investigate—and hopefully stave off civil war. A reluctant Adelia finds herself once again in the company of Rowley Picot, the new Bishop of St. Albans…and her baby’s father. Their discoveries into the crime are shocking—and omens of greater danger to come.

City of Shadows: A Novel of Suspense

Ariana Franklin

• 2007 Barry-Novel nominee
• Score: 6.57

This is 1922 Berlin.

One of the troubled city’s growing number of refugees, Esther Solomonova survives by working as secretary to the charming, unscrupulous cabaret owner “Prince” Nick, and she’s being drawn against her will into his scheme to pass a young asylum patient off as Anastasia, the last surviving heir to the murdered czar of all Russia. But their found “princess,” Anna Anderson, fears that she’s being hunted—and this may turn out to be more than paranoia when innocent people all around her begin to die.