Patricia Finney knows how to drag readers right into the midst of life in Elizabethan London with all its sights, sounds, and smells. Yes, the murders are vicious (shades of the much later Jack the Ripper), but Finney is a pro-- leavening the action with laugh-out-loud humor in just the right places. From Shakespeare's chicken-raising landlady to people's reactions to James or his sister Portia, we laugh and we can also learn, as when one indignant woman exclaims that no decent woman wears underpants. (How times have changed!) It's also a time in which no decent woman can go out alone without an escort, and this causes James's reclusive sister the occasional problem.

The story moves along at a fine pace, and I was keeping a close eye on two particular suspects. I was half right, and the resolution was a surprise, which is always a plus. I look forward to Finney's next James Enys adventure with a great deal of anticipation. Her deft ways with all the major ingredients of storytelling-- plot, pacing, setting, characters, and humor-- make her books an absolute pleasure to read. A minor quibble with this Kindle edition of Do We Not Bleed? was its numerous instances of bad formatting, but I'm sure those will be corrected when next I see Mr. Enys... and Peter the Hedgehog. I have a feeling that that little boy is bound to cause trouble the next time I see him! ( )