NPR

Court Life Is Murder In 'The Poison Bed'

Elizabeth Fremantle's twisty, deceptive new novel is based on the real-life story of the Earl and Countess of Somerset, who were convicted in the murder of a friend-turned-enemy in 1616.
Source: Pegasus Books

When the press release for The Poison Bed by Elizabeth Fremantle called it "Gone Girl meets The Miniaturist," I took notice — because while I enjoyed Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, I flat-out loved Jessie Burton's 2014 debut The Miniaturist, which brought readers to a 16th-century Amsterdam as sugar-trade boomtown, a place few of us had ever considered.

You'll immediately get the Burton connection with Fremantle's fifth book, which is based on a 16th-century true crime, the case of Frances

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