think the author must have had other reviews like mine of the previous book saying that we were too far ahead of the sleuths! This was a very complex mystery of tangled family relationships and sex or the lack of it.
finishedA new series to me, Very interesting characters and an interesting plot, Very good representation of medieval thinking, I shall look for other books in this series, Cadfael meets Crowner John! Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas stop at a manor on their way home because of awful weather which has caused a young novice traveling with them to fall ill.
The lord of the manor has a young wife who's been fooling around with one of the grooms.
The groom is found with his throat cut soon after their arrival, Other deaths ensue, as usual, I prefer the stories which take place at the priory because of the number of familiar characters, but if all the books took place there, pretty soon everyone would leave because of the huge number of murders.
Thoroughly enjoyable. A righteous stroll through a houseful packed with enough deceit, lust both open and concealed to kindle into the flames of a hellish crime.
Thank goodness this one was good again after the last weak one, Quick read always fun and mysterious Priscell Royal has a great group of central characters and they are gettting more and more complex.
In Chambers of Death, the main characters, the Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas have to stop in a small fortress due to a storm and the illness of one of their novices, a young woman Mariota who is rning up with fever.
Henry de Lacy, the Earl of Lincoln has offered them a place to stay but the village and fortress is steeped in mysteries, hate and mistrust.
What a surprise in a Mystery Series,
The ongoing series is also spurred on by Prioress Eleanor and her uncomfortable attraction to Brother Thomas and also his trying to hide his past attraction to a male friend.
The family of the Earl are a complex group who range from religious to an extreme, with a holier than thou additude and those who are more secular.
There is also unexpected kindness and caring from members of the family,
A fine addition and I look forward to the next book in the series, Love every book in this series, Priscilla Royal never disappoints me, When one of her company falls ill on a return journey to Tyndal, Prioress Eleanor accepts lodging at a nearby manor.
The hospitality may be warm but the underlying passions among the steward's family are scorching, Master Stevyn's wife is having an affair with the groom while a local widow acts more like the lady of the manor than the lady herself.
Stevyn's eldest son and spouse are obsessed with sin and heaven, while his youngest son, bound for the Church, unexpectedly returns with more interest in lute playing than the priesthood.
It is no surprise when someone's throat is cut, But the sheriff does all he can to avoid offending the family rather than seek the real killer.
When he arrests a servant, she herself is stabbed before she can either prove innocence or be taken off for hanging.
As strangers in this place, Eleanor and Thomas know nothing about motives or past history, yet God's justice demands that they do what they can before another convenient innocent
is condemned.
Will they discover the dark secrets that have led to this string of killings before the murderer strikes again This was weaker than other books of the seriesthe characters were more stock and the mystery was not so mysterious.
I was a little disappointed, I find this series interesting for it's seemingly accurate portrayal of medieval views on women, sexuality, illness, and the belief that evil stalked the earth in several very real forms the Devil, Prince of Darkness, Satan, imps, incubi, succubi, etc.
I also enjoy the interchanges between Prioress Eleanor and "her" monk Thomas she struggles with the lust she feels for him, and he struggles with melancholy over his homosexual urges.
It's interesting but also a bit depressing, when you realize the Catholic Church hasn't progressed a great deal in some of their views and I say this as a cradle, albeit lazy, Catholic! Accuracy aside, I still find the characters rather onedimensional compared to those in the Dame Frevisse books Margaret Frazer and the Brother Cadfael series Ellis Peters often the characters come off as cardboard cutouts of saintly goodness, ignorance, brutish ambition, etc.
, as opposed to real, multidimensional people, I bought the first two books in the series, but have checked the others out of the library and will probably continue to do so.
Murder, of course, can be expected, The problem is that I didn't much care for this sixth book in the series, Any series can vary in quality, but I'm not sure if that was the reason I didn't like it as much or if I'm growing a bit tired of the tension between Eleanor and her favorite monk.
Purchased. Poisoned Pen Press
Medieval Mystery,,. Print length:pages. Priscilla has a degree in world literature from San Francisco State University, where she discovered the beauty of medieval literature.
She is a theater fan as well as reader of history, mysteries, and fiction of lesser violence.
She lives in Northern California and belongs to the California Writers Club and Sisters in Crime, .
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Priscilla Royal