Poison Priestess (Lady Slayers)

Book 2 in the Lady Slayers series, about French murderess and fortune teller Catherine Monvoisin In 17th-century Paris, 19-year-old Catherine Monvoisin is a well-heeled jeweler’s wife with a peculiar taste for the arcane. She lives a comfortable life, far removed from a childhood of abject destitution—until her kind spendthrift of a husband lands them both in debt. Hell-bent on avoiding a return to poverty, Catherine must rely on her prophetic visions and the grimoire gifted to her by a talented diviner to reinvent herself as a sorceress. With the help of the grifter Marie Bosse, Catherine divines fortunes in the IIle de la Citee—home to sorcerers and scoundrels. There she encounters the Marquise de Montespan, a stunning noblewoman. When the Marquise becomes Louis XIV’s royal mistress with Catherine’s help, her ascension catapults Catherine to notoriety. Catherine takes easily to her glittering new life as the Sorceress La Voisin, pitting the depraved noblesse against one other to her advantage. The stakes soar ever higher when her path crosses with that of a young magician. A charged rivalry between sorceress and magician leads to Black Masses, tangled deceptions, and grisly murder—and sets Catherine on a collision course that threatens her own life.

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Nineteen-year-old Catherine Monvoisin has always had a gift for seeing the future and an interest in the arcane. When debt collectors come calling after her gambling-addicted husband, Catherine fears that she'll lose the security she's so desperately craved and be thrown back into the poverty of her childhood, or worse. She turns to her best friend/sort-of-lover Marie Bosse, a grifter who works in the mystical arts. Through her growing skills as a divineress, Catherine meets the Marquise de Montespan and helps her become head mistress to the king, and the Marquise is determined to keep her close to ensure her position. Life as La Voisin, head sorceress to the King's mistress, seems grand, but it comes at a cost and as Catherine delves further into darkness it might be too hard to climb out. How far will she have to go to ensure her security and position in 17th century Paris, where a woman's place is anything but secure? Fans of Blood Countess will enjoy Popović's latest installment in her "Lady Killers" series—a world and story so enchanting that one can forgive the occasionally stilted and overwrought language. All characters are cued as white except for Marie, who is described as having brown skin and hair "dark as chestnut shells." VERDICT Give to fans of morally gray heroines who like their history served with a side of magic.—India Winslow, formerly at Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

Shelf Awareness

"Popovic augments Catherine's story with queer romance and evocative language. . .resulting in a vivid and lurid novel."

a world and story so enchanting."

“Lady Killers” series

About the Author

Lana Popović is the author of Blood Countess, Wicked Like a Wildfire, and Fierce Like a Firestorm. Born in Serbia, she lived in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania before moving to the United States, where she studied psychology and literature at Yale University, law at Boston University, and publishing and writing at Emerson College.

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