Grave Mistress

Sometimes the best books are the ones we stumble upon. Yesterday I stumbled upon Ariana Franklin's Grave Goods in a bookstore. I enjoy historical murder mysteries and this one, like the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters, is set in Medieval England. What really caught my interest was that it was set in Glastonbury, long thought to be Avalon of the King Arthur legend and site of his burial. I carried the book with me into a restaurant and while waiting to be served, opened it up and read the first chapter. "This is a good one," I told my husband.

Later that evening, I sat at my computer watching the Twitter feed roll by, but kept getting pulled back into A.D. 1176 England and the story of Adelia, a young woman trained as a doctor in Salermo, Italy. I finally immersed myself in the story, and didn't stop reading until I turned the last page at 2 a.m.

This being the third book of the series, I had missed much of the setup that had led to Amelia living in England and occasionally being called into service as a coroner by King Henry II, he who made a martyr and saint of Thomas Becket, but also brought common law to England. Enough of the prior history was woven into the story that I had no trouble getting up to speed. It's a fascinating period of history, but the author manages to include the history in the story without the history becoming the story.

In this story, Adelia, who is fleeing her home of four years to avoid being tried for witchcraft, is sent to investigate the unearthing of a casket in Glastonbury, which may or may not contain the remains of King Arthur and Guinevere. In the course of her investigation, she uncovers a twenty-year-old murder, searches for lost friends, and possibly discovers many truths about King Arthur.

I found Adelia to be very likable, more knowledgeable about science and anatomy than Cadfael, who would have loved her, and less rigid than Sister Fidelma, whom I also love, but is a lawyer, and therefore pontificates a lot. Adelia has to be careful, since most would view her medical activities as heretical, but she's feisty, independent and determined, and King Henry II, whom she would prefer to avoid, has learned that she is also a valuable agent, who can be counted on to unravel any mystery and tell him the truth of it, even if it's a truth, he'd rather not hear.

I couldn't put this one down, so I'll be going back to read the first two books in the series: Mistress of the Art of Death and The Serpent's Tale, and look forward to the next one A Murderous Procession, which just went on sale April 1.

Click on the title to this post to visit the author's website.

Favorite Authors: Ellis Peters

Edith Pargeter, writing as Ellis Peters, penned a beautifully written series of "medieval whoddunits" featuring Brother Cadfael, the herbalist at Shrewsbury Abbey. A man of the cloth during the Civil War between King Stephen and Empress Maud in 12th Century England, Cadfael was not always so committed to the causes of peace. He had been a soldier in his youth who fought in the Crusades and hung around the Middle East for a large part of his life, even fathering a child, although he did not know this until much later. He returned to England and sought the peace and sanctuary of the cloister.

In his retirement, Cadfael is much in demand by the community round about for his knowledge of medicines, but his ability to sort out the mystery of One Corpse Too Many leads to an ongoing partnership with the local Undersheriff, Hugh Beringar. Cadfael frequently needs Hugh's help since Prior Robert and Brother Jerome, those stern upholders of the Vow of Obedience, often serve as obstacles to progress, and Hugh seeks his guidance to help him sort out the guilty from the innocent. Cadfael's knowledge of the human heart comes in as handy as his keen observation and knowledge of local plants and paths. The author's knowledge of these and the history of the times provide a wonderful journey into the past.

Count on Cadfael to bring the guilty to justice, to free those ensnared by unjust circumstances, and occasionally to look the other way or even assist in the escape of those he deems to have acted in the cause of justice. Cadfael has compiled a wealth of wisdom on his journey through life, and while his commitment to God is complete, his application of God's law occasionally takes a Cadfaelian twist.

Ellis Peters died in 1995 at the age of 82, so I'm sorry to say there won't be any more Cadfael novels. I was happy that she was able to bring the story to a close in the final novel, Brother Cadfael's Penance, in which his relationship with his son Olivier was finally brought out into the light.

PBS produced a series of 13 episodes from the books, which are available on DVD. These were well-done, expensively filmed and starred Derek Jakobi as Brother Cadfael. You can view photos from the films here: http://www.linsdomain.com/Derek/mainpages/jacobi-cadfael.htm and I have included a couple of photos of him in the graphic above. The top right shows him with the author, Ellis Peters, and the bottom right a scene from my favorite novel: The Virgin in the Ice.

The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael
1. A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977)
2. One Corpse Too Many (1979)
3. Monk's-Hood (1980)
4. St. Peter's Fair (1981)
5. The Leper of Saint Giles (1981)
6. The Virgin in the Ice (1982)
7. The Sanctuary Sparrow (1983)
8. The Devil's Novice (1983)
9. Dead Man's Ransom (1984)
10. The Pilgrim of Hate(1984)
11. An Excellent Mystery (1985)
12. The Raven in the Foregate (1986)
13. The Rose Rent (1986)
14. The Hermit of Eyton Forest (1987)
15. The Confession of Brother Haluin (1988)
A Rare Benedictine (1988)
16. The Heretic's Apprentice (1989)
17. The Potter's Field (1989)
18. The Summer of the Danes (1991)
19. The Holy Thief (1992)
20. Brother Cadfael's Penance (1994)

There are several good links to websites where you can learn more about the Cadfael novels:
http://www.wellscs.com/ann/reading/cadfael.htm
http://user.chollian.net/~beringar/e-cad.htm

Here you can find a complete bibliography of all the writings of Edith Pargeter: http://user.chollian.net/~beringar/e-book.htm

The Cup of Ghosts

The Cup of Ghosts is the first Paul Doherty novel I have read. I thoroughly enjoyed this first story of Mathilde of Westminster and how she comes to be part of the household of Princess Isabella in 1322. I love reading well-written, historically-accurate murder mysteries set in medieval England. I'm a big fan of Ellis Peters and the Brother Cadfael series.

This story starts out in Paris and ends in London when Princess Isabella marries King Edward II of England. The characters were well drawn, although the problem with historically-accurate stories about political intrigue is there tend to be a lot of them to keep straight. The story revolves around the devious princess and the development of her friendship with Mathilde and how they come to rely on each other to survive. They show that men may rule the world, but women can and have influenced the men who rule the world. There are hints of a future romance or at least deep love between the passionate Mathilde and the unattainable Templar Knight, Demontaigu. I was kept guessing till the very end when Mathilde finally revealed the assassin's identity and brought him to justice.