Review: "The Alchemist's Daughter," Mary Lawrence

By Paul Carrier

Bianca Goddard, an independent-minded herbalist and healer in 16th-century London, had hoped her troubles were behind her once her father was cleared of charges that he intended to poison King Henry VIII.

But when Bianca’s friend Jolyn promptly dies while consulting Bianca about severe stomach pains, the young mender stands accused of murder and launches a desperate search for the real killer, all while juggling a developing romantic relationship with a silversmith's apprentice.

Published in 2015, The Alchemist’s Daughter is the first of five novels to date in Mary Lawrence’s Bianca Goddard Mystery series.