Review of The Maiden's Tale by Margaret Frazer

It seems the more Dame Frevisse tries to shun action and trouble, the more they find her.  Throughout Margaret Frazer’s excellent series featuring nun-sleuth Dame Frevisse, the good sisters wants nothing more than to live out her days in the comfort of her daily office and prayers and the structure of St. Frideswide’s routine.  However, this comfort and security has been disrupted ever since Domina Edith passed away and, through a series of unusual events, Dame Alys was elected prioress.

The readers knew, even if Frevisse didn’t want to know, is that being Prioress would go straight to Alys’ head.  And it does.  The events of the Prioress’ Tale, the previous novel in the series, bleed over into the Maiden’s Tale.  Dame Aly has led St. Frideswide into financial ruin with half-finished unusable structures on site.  The convent has been assigned a new prioress and Frevisse is one of the two nuns chose to travel to London to meet her and help her with the transition. 

She finds out that her cousin Alice, Lady of Suffolk, has engineered her involvement in the process with Bishop Beaufort.  Frevisse is puzzled then furious when she finds out the reason for it, her cousin is mixed up in bringing the Duke of Orleans to London for a clandestine meeting with King Henry VI, unbeknownst to the king’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester.  A young man in Alice’s household, was part of Lady Alice’s scheme to pass messages back and forth, died under mysterious circumstances.  Alice needs someone discreet and above suspicion to replace him.

Frevisse is reluctant to undertake the role of spy but her cousin convinces her it’s the best possibility for peace.

The Maiden’s Tale and its predecessor, The Prioress’ Tale are both cozy mysteries with more historical details then murder and mayhem.  But as I’ve mentioned in earlier reviews of this genre, you can always learn something new.  Reading Frazer and her peers is more fun that reading history or non-fiction sometimes.  Here we can see the excitement of London as Parliament is gathering but also the fears of the populace if the Lord of Gloucester can convince the young king to declare war on France.

The rich backdrop of a tense event in England’s hardly-ever-boring royal family lifts this novel, making it an enjoyable read.