Henry Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine were fascinating figures of their own time, the twelfth century, and they continue to be the subject of countless histories, biographies, and historical novels. The Serpent's Tail is a forensic thriller about an Italian woman who has been trained as a coroner by her adoptive father. She was called to England by King Henry in a previous story, and now has been summoned to solve the poisoning of Henry's mistress, fair Rosamund. It is obvious that Rosamund died from poisonous mushrooms, but who was the mysterious crone who provided them? Was she sent by a jealous Eleanor? It will be the job of the coroner Adelia to find the killer. In this novel, we also explore Adelia's relationship to her daughter, and to the father of the baby, who is now a Bishop. There is a lot of sword-fighting, rebellion, courtly love, and treachery. Franklin's medieval people are lively and authentic, and her humor and psychological depth are appealing. The feminist perspective that she brings to Adelia's story is not anachronistic: her characters move within the constraints of their time. A pleasure for this old medievalist, and hopefully for fans of Kay and Temperance and all those other ladies who cut up corpses.