Book
The Serpent’s Tale
First published 2008
England in the reign of Henry II. Rosamund Clifford, the king's celebrated mistress, has died in agony from poison, and suspicion immediately turns towards Henry's estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. With memories of rebellion still shaping royal politics, Henry fears that Rosamund's murder could be used to reopen the struggle between the king, queen and their supporters. He summons Adelia Aguilar to determine how Rosamund died and who had the means to reach her.
Adelia is drawn back into the orbit of Rowley Picot, now Bishop of St Albans and the father of her child, as the inquiry leads through an Oxfordshire maze, a brutal winter journey and the competing households of king and queen. The mystery is inseparable from the dangerous marriage of Henry II and Eleanor: a private poisoning can be interpreted as an act of dynastic war, and Adelia must distinguish evidence from political accusation before another death turns suspicion into open conflict.
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