THE POISON BED BY ELIZABETH FREMANTLE
Michael Joseph • 416 pages • June 2018
The
year is 1615 and celebrated couple Robert and Frances Carr have been arrested
for murder. She is young, beautiful, and a member of the notorious Howard
family. He is one of the most powerful men in the kingdom, risen from nothing
yet has the King’s ear by his side. Both of them are suspected but the crime is
not as black and white as it seems. Is Frances an innocent or is she the witch
so many believe her to be? Is Robert telling the truth when he says he knows
nothing of the murder? In between all these questions is King James I, for it
is his secret that is at stake. One of them is a killer, but who has committed
the murder in question?
There
aren’t many historical thrillers out there - not a lot that I’ve come across
anyway - that are set in the seventeenth century. Once the Tudor line died out,
the reign of the first Stuart monarch is one that you rarely come across in
fiction and I think this is what drew me to this story in the first place. This
little snippet of the early 1600’s that is so often forgotten about helped to
keep the mystery of the story alive, much more so than had it been set in a
more popular period. It gave it a fresh feel but I’ll be honest, the premise of
the plot was enough to spark my interest. A historical crime thriller set in
the seventeenth century? Yes, please. And besides, just look at that COVER.
I’m a
big fan of dual narrators, especially if they’re well executed and The Poison Bed was flawless in its narrative structure. The chapters
alternate between Frances and Robert as they each tell their parts of the story
leading up to the murder, each chapter fittingly titled either ‘Her’ or ‘Him’,
which I found helped with the ambiguity of the plot. Very little is revealed
and around half way through you begin to feel a little too comfortable which,
like any good mystery novel, is the perfect time to shake things up. You get
the know the characters as the story progresses but the mystery is a tough one
to figure out. No spoilers of course but this is a book that will keep you on
your toes.
One
thing I enjoy about historical novels is the authors ability to write a story
based on real events and real people. Like I said, had this been a novel set in
a more well-known time in history then the mystery of the story might have been
lost, but prior to opening this book I had never heard of Frances or Robert
Carr. Reading Fremantle’s fictional representations of them made me interested
to know about the real people and if you're anything like me you'll want to do
the same - just don’t do so until after you’ve finished the book unless you
want spoilers!
The
Poison Bed is a sharp, well-constructed
mystery thriller that offers a fresh take on the historical novel. If you’re a
fan of historical fiction then I would definitely recommend you check this out
when it becomes available in June because I loved the time I spent with this
story and the characters. I’ll be sure to check out Fremantle’s other works in
the future so many thanks to the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Overall rating: 4
stars
If you'd like to check out my other reviews you can find
them here.
Until next time: happy reading, fellow booklovers.
My arc copy of The Poison Bed was
sent to me by The Bookbag and
my review originally appeared on their website.
