The sights, sounds, and smells of sixteenth-century Europe come alive in The Inheritance. The novel begins with the shocking scene of sixty Spaniards being executed in an auto-da-fee in Madrid and continues through recreations of Spanish aristocratic life, Italian street scenes, medical school in Padua, a peasant village in Austria, and the burgher society of Basel, Switzerland.

Readers bask in the warmth of Spanish courtyards and shiver with Vrone and Miguel through a freezing December in Switzerland.

Von Canon makes each locale distinctly real through details that appeal to the senses. What is most striking is Von Canon's recreation of sound and smell. After Miguel returns home to Saragossa after the news of his father's death, for example, he awakens: "Miguel awoke at the ringing of the Vesper bells, conscious of a subtle fragrance he had breathed while asleep. A bowl filled with grapes and anise pastries was...