“The Serpent’s Tale” by Ariana Franklin, read by Kate Reading; 10 CDs, unabridged, $39.95 (Penguin Audio).

An engrossing story about intrigue and courtly machination in England during the reign of the Lion in Winter himself, Henry II, and his formidable wife/enemy, Eleanor of Aquitane. A very well-written, solidly satisfying historical novel, this is a sort of sequel to Franklin’s best-seller, “Mistress of the Art of Death.”

The characters are terrific and varied. First, there’s the “mistress of the art of death” herself, Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, a forensic scientist/coroner who was trained at the medical school at Salerno, Italy (which really existed and really did have women students). Adelia is accompanied on her journeys and job by not only her baby (the result of a romantic liaison with a knight warrior in the first book) but also by Mansur, an exotic eunuch who acts as Adelia’s adviser, protector and her “front.” (In 12th-century England, it seems, all medical advice must at least appear to be given by a man to be taken seriously.)

Lots of intrigue, a killer labyrinth, bits of fascinating if anachronistic history, and some horrifyingly grisly murder and mayhem … science and romance and forensics, medieval-style. The book is so good — a three-course meal — that I may find out if my library system has “Mistress of the Art of Death,” on either CD or paper, in which case I’ll read/listen to it, too!