The story of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine is legendary. The queen of France decided to divorce her first husband and marry the young upstart Henry Plantagenet. But things turned disastrous for the couple when Eleanor sided with their sons in a revolt against Henry later in life. At this time, Henry took a mistress named Rosamund Clifford, but when Rosamund was found dead in her tower, it is believed that Eleanor exacted her revenge on the poor woman. It is now up to Adelia Aguilar to solve the case before another civil war breaks out. This is the premise of book two in the Mistress of the Art of Death series by Ariana Franklin, which is entitled “The Serpent’s Tale.”

This is one of those books that caught my eye when I was used book shopping. I have never read books by this author, so I didn’t know that this was the second book in a series. I saw that it was a murder mystery featuring Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom I enjoy reading about, so I decided to give it a chance.

We begin with a murder and see Rosamund Clifford being poisoned by an unknown assailant. Who killed Rosamund, the mistress of the king? The only person whom Henry II trusts to solve this case is Adelia Aguilar, a woman known as the mistress of the art of death from Sicily, who is currently helping a woman give birth. She reluctantly agrees to figure out what happened to the royal mistress, so she and her crew, including her young daughter and her daughter’s father, Rowley Picot, the Bishop of St. Albans, venture to Rosamund’s tower. There, she finds the mistress dead, but things get a bit complicated when Eleanor of Aquitaine shows up.

Eleanor decides to take Adelia and her small party to the nunnery at Godstow, but they are trapped due to the weather. One by one, bodies begin to pile up, but not due to the weather. Adelia must find the murderer before they turn their sights on her and her family.

I think the concept of this novel was decent, but what was throwing me was Adelia’s almost modern understanding of the human body instead of the humoral theory, which would have been prevalent during this time. There were also times when it felt like the plot was a bit muddled, and it was a bit hard for me to follow. Overall, it was an okay read, but I don’t know if I would read the rest of the series. If you have read the first book in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, you might enjoy “The Serpent’s Tale” by Ariana Franklin.