Book review - Death of a Musketeer by Sarah D'Almeida

The dust jacket of Death of a Musketeer boasts a quote from Margaret Frazer: “A fun read.”  I’m not sure I agree with s. Frazer, because although a good book, I did not find it to be a fun read.  I would describe more as ‘put-downable’. It has a great setting using Alexander Dumas’ characters from his Three Musketeers to solve a murder.

The story opens just as D’Artagnan has challenged Athos to a duel.  Porthos and Aramis are nearby when the four of them are attacked by the Cardinal’s men.  The musketeers fend off the attackers and then go off to celebrate.  Their drinking lasts until way into the night.  As they leave the last pub, they encounter another musketeer, who has been murdered, and they discover it is a woman in disguise.  Naturally, the musketeers take it upon themselves to solve the murder of this woman who has a remarkable resemblance to the Queen.

Most of the antics of the story take place during night times, and it seems that no one in France sleeps at night.  It doesn’t matter what hour it is, everyone seems to be awake, and the musketeers seem surprised to realize they have awakened someone. 

D’Almeida keeps true to the spirit of the Three Musketeers but it seems odd to have them try to solve a mystery, using their heads instead of their swords.  The story involves a plot to discredit the Queen using the Duke of Buckingham, which we’ve seen before in Dumas’ work. There are times when D’Almeida has a character reminisce or goes off on a tangent to describe the surroundings.    Okay, you’re an expert on 17^th century Paris. We get it. 

Other readers might find this one more satisfying than I did. This is the first one of a series, but I'm not interested in reading anymore.

I give it one musketeer out of three.

Book review - "Nightshade" by P. C. Doherty

Nightshade, Doherty’s sixteenth installment of his Hugh Corbett medieval mysteries is a jumble of plot lines that seem to have no rhyme or reason until, of course, Corbett unravels the conundrum, but it still doesn't make a lot of sense.   

In Nightshade, Corbett is sent by King Edward I to recover a treasure trove stolen from the Templars during the Crusades from Lord Oliver Scrope, a ruthless and wealthy man, who ordered the slaughter of a dozen innocents in a settlement near his manor.

One of the problems I had with this book is the attacks by the mysterious sniper-bowman Sagittarius. When Corbett, Ranulf and Chanson arrive, they find Sagittarius has claimed several victims and they soon witness one of his attacks.  With a blast from a hunter’s horn, people are killed randomly by his deadly arrows.  Although Corbett describes how an archer can blow a horn and kill people in the middle of a busy marketplace, it still seems a bit far-fetched. 

One of the characters in this story is Scrope’s sister, Dame Marguerite who is a member of the community at St. Frideswide.  Could she be a forerunner of Margaret Frazer’s Dame Frevisse, who lives in the sixteenth century?  It could happen.  If so, St. Frideswide fell on hard times, since it is prosperous during Corbett’s time.

Nightshade was hard for me to get into and follow.  I started it before Christmas and now it is well past Easter.  As I mentioned earlier, Corbett’s solution to the mystery is convoluted and confusing.  Not one of his best, IMHO.

Book review - "The Prince of Darkness" by P. C. Doherty

I’m enjoying reading P.C. (Paul) Doherty’s medieval mystery series featuring Hugh Corbett, because the books seem to be getting better and better.  I just finished the fifth book, The Prince of Darkness, and I’m not sure if Doherty was referring to Prince Edward (who would become Edward II) or Satan, who apparently walked the corridors of the nunnery Corbett is investigating.

A goodly portion of this story takes place at Godstowe Priory, a nunnery where Lady Belmont, former lover of Prince Edward has died mysteriously, her body found at the foot of the stairs.  An uneasy truce exists between Edward I and Philip IV of France.  It is hoped that a marriage between Prince Edward and Philip’s daughter Isabelle will bring about lasting peace.  But Philip is trying to get out of the deal by creating scandal around the Prince of Wales.

Not that Prince Edward is above reproach.  His close relationship with Gaveston is the worst kept secret in Europe and nobody believes the death of his ex-paramour was anything but murder.  King Edward I sends his favorite clerk and spy, Hugh Corbett, to Godstowe Priory to find out what happened and keep his estranged son out of any scandal that would jeopardize the union. 

A tale involving naughty nuns, a mysterious death and political intrigue reminds me of Margaret Frazer’s Dame Frevisse novels or Peter Tremayne’s Sister Fidelma.  This one ranks right up there with the best.  The final solution is a surprise but then Doherty puts a surprising twist at the end as well, giving the reader another shock.

This is why we read whodunits!

Book review - The Apostate's Tale by Margaret Frazer

Warning:  Contains spoilers!

I don’t know if Margaret Frazer intended this to be the last Dame Frevisse novel, since she passed away in 2013, the final book ends on a high note.  Without giving away the mystery, I’ll just say the last words in the book are “Domina Frevisse, prioress of St. Frideswide’s”.  Okay, enough of the spoilers.

Other than the non-surprising ending, The Apostate’s Tale was a let-down given the excitement of the previous novel, The Traitor’s Tale.  This final installment lacked the politics and intrigue of Henry VI’s disastrous reign, but it also lacked its enjoyability. 

The story takes place entirely within the confines of St Frideswide.  Frevisse isn’t sent away on an errand and her cousin Lady Suffolk isn’t even mentioned.  That being said, there really wasn’t much mystery to this novel.  The story centered around an apostate nun who had fled St. Frideswide nine years before with a man, and is back with young son in tow.

The sisters are none too happy to see her and send for Abbot Gilberd, Domina Elisabeth’s brother to help them with what to do with Sister Cecely.  Thrown into the mix are a young woman who wants to be a nun (much against her mother’s wishes) and Sister Cecely’s paramour’s family, who think she has stolen important papers from them.

All right, one more spoiler:  There is no murder in The Apostate’s Tale.  Only two close calls.  And the solution isn’t a total surprise.

I was really expecting something more from Frazer’s final Frevisse tale.

Book review - The Traitor's Tale by Margaret Frazer

I think this is one of the best Dame Frevisse novels Margaret Frazer has written.  “The Traitor’s Tale” takes Frevisse out of St. Frideswide for most of the novel (as usual) and puts her into the midst of the scandals and treasons of the lords surrounding King Henry VI.

Frevisse’s cousin Lady Alice de la Pole has once again summoned the good sister from her idyllic life in St. Frideswide to help her with a conundrum.  The former duchess of Suffolk feels the enemies of her late husband, who was hated by just about everyone, may not be satisfied with his murder and might exact their revenge on her and her son. She feels Frevisse is the only one she can confide in.

Meanwhile, Joliffe is being sent on his own mission by the duke of York.  The powers that surround the king are trying to discredit him and find evidence (i.e. make up something) to charge him with treason,   truth and facts notwithstanding.  It isn’t long before Joliffe and Frevisse meet and their paths become intertwined, whether they want them to or not.

The biggest mystery here is a letter, written by the duke of Suffolk, which supposedly calls out a number of people involved in a treasonous plot.  The previous king, Henry V, scored a major victory over the French, but in a generation his son has lost everything.  Not so much Henry VI’s fault as much as the corrupt, greedy lords around him.

Joliffe and Lady Alice’s man Vaughn risk a lot to find the letter and deliver it to the duke of York and Frevisse is right in the middle of it.

As Joliffe is nearly killed retrieving the letter but manages to get the letter to Frevisse, Frazer’s writing style turns from mystery to action.  “The Traitor’s Tale” becomes an exciting page-turner. Toward the end I had trouble putting it down.  Usually Frazer has twists and turns as Frevisse reveals ‘whodunit’, but the excitement builds as Frevisse, Joliffe and Vaughn near their destination. 

Frazer takes Frevisse in a different path from her usual cozy murders and it works.

Book review - "The Sempter's Tale" by Margaret Frazer

Over the past few books, Frazer has concentrated mainly on the corruption that surrounded Henry VI.  Her sleuth, Dame Frevisse, is cousin to the duchess of Suffolk, Alice de la Pole.  Alice’s husband was the duke of Suffolk, who was murdered after years of usurping the king’s power and treasuries for his own gain.  Frazer’s novels have taken an interesting turn from Frevisse solving murders in and around the quiet nunnery St. Frideswide, which is a safe distance from the dangerous London, to her in the midst of the court intrigue with its backstabbing and vices, usually culminating in someone’s murder.  A series that started out as cozy mysteries is now historical fiction based on the life of King Henry VI.

In "The Sempter’s Tale" (‘sempster’ a medieval term meaning ‘seamster’), Frazer addresses the vile hatred toward the Jewish in mid-fifteenth century England, where Jews had been banned, but lived in utmost secrecy to save their skins.  The sempter/widow Anne is hopelessly in love with Daved, a secret Jew.  She knows who he is and knows the dangers to him will also be hers if they are found out. 

Against her will, Frevisse is forced to become a pawn yet again, in another of her cousin’s troubles.  This time, Alice wants her husband’s gold to be secretly brought back into England, without paying the required taxes but also without attracting the attention of the late duke’s enemies.  Anne and Daved are part of this plan to return Alice’s gold to her as well.

Then a boy, who is part of Anne’s household disappears and is found later murdered, with wounds that are similar to a crucifixion.  Immediately, suspicion falls on the Jews, although there aren’t supposed to be any in London.  Later, when Daved is unsurprisingly discovered, a fanatical priest blames him for the murder.  Frevisse, again, must sort through the convoluted clues and events to discover what happened to the young man.

Frevisse has her own doubts about Jewish people, but having known some in her youth, she isn’t as prejudice as almost everyone around her.  I found it interesting some of the horrible arguments and feelings that Londoners used to justify their oppression of the Jews.  But as Daved points out in his ‘discussion’ with the fanatical priest, Christians don’t mind them when Jews are helping them make money. 

   

Frevisse does not get into any arguments about faith, but has to withhold her own judgment when she discovers the depth of Anne and Daved’s relationship. 

Not much on mystery in this one, but definitely another great insight into the environment of fifteenth-century England, Henry VI included and not included.

Book review - The Widow's Tale by Margaret Frazer

And she’s back!  In my review of “The Bastard’s Tale” last week, I theorized there were two people writing as Margaret Frazer.  One likes to write exciting murder mysteries while the other likes the more subtle, intrigue-laden stories.  “The Widow’s Tale” was written by the first writer, which means it moves at a much faster and therefore, must better pace.

The novel focuses on a young woman who loses her husband to an untimely and unidentified illness.  After his death, his greedy cousins immediately move in, taking over his manor and its holdings.  They kidnap the widow Cristiana and cart her off to a nunnery for “penance”, telling the nuns many lies and forbidding anyone to talk to her. Of course, the nunnery turns out to be St. Frideswide and soon Dame Frevisse is up to her eyeballs in a new mess.  When Master John Say, a close associate of Cristiana “rescues” her, Domina Elisabeth and Frevisse are obligated to go with her.

The future of Cristiana and her daughters is caught in a tug-of-war between Say and Cristiana’s cousins-in-law.  Fortunately, Frevisse can watch from the sidelines and not get sucked into the middle of everything.

Until her cousin Alice de la Pole, duchess of Suffolk, charges her with finding a traitor among the household.  The real murder mystery doesn’t begin until three-fourths of the way through the novel.  Still there is enough action to keep the reader interested but this pattern of alternating slow-fast stories, one can predict how the next book will read.

Book review of "The Bastard's Tale" by Margaret Frazer

Sometimes I think Margaret Frazer is actually two people writing, both with expert knowledge of fifteenth century England but with different ideas for mystery. One writes an exciting, fast-paced story where Frevisse’s intellect is put to the test.  The other puts more emphasis on scandal and intrigue in the courts of King Henry VI and his noblemen.

“The Bastard’s Tale” is one of the latter.  Frevisse is called to wait on her cousin, Alice de la Pole, who is married to the duke of Suffolk.  The duke is in a power play for the king’s favor with the duke of Gloucester.  Whoever the king favors controls the king. 

Frevisse would much prefer to stay at St. Frideswide where the quiet days and nights are structured with the Offices and the duties and tasks assigned to the sisters.  However, since she has no choice, she is drawn into the intrigue surrounding King Henry VI and the suspicious death of the duke of Gloucester.

Joliffe, the performer with whom Frevisse has worked before, is present but this time his actions suggest he’s up to much more than performing.  And Frevisse is worried.

Joliffe and Frevisse befriend the duke of Gloucester’s illegitimate son Arteys.  The duke had never shunned Arteys and neither had his wife, who had been arrested and imprisoned by the king.  They were hoping Henry will grant her freedom, but tragedy strikes.

One thing that sets “The Bastard’s Tale” apart from Frazer’s earlier novels is the finale.  I won’t put any spoilers here but Frevisse does something she’s never done before.  My jaw dropped.

This one started out slow but the last third of the book was a page-turner!

 

 

Book review - "The Clerk's Tale" by Margaret Frazer

After reading “The Squire’s Tale”, I was a little disappointed because it almost felt as if Margaret Frazer had given up.  The novel was slow and predictable.  Reluctantly, I read the next book in her Dame Frevisse series, set in the 1400’s during the reign of Henry VI.

“The Clerk’s Tale” restored my faith in Frazer.  The mystery is set within the first few pages and doesn’t slow down. The novel opens with the murder of Master Montfort, crowner and frequent thorn in Frevisse’s side.  He’s found stabbed in the cloister garden of St. Mary’s where Domina Elisabeth and Frevisse are visiting the prioress’ dying cousin.

Since Master Montfort and Frevisse butted heads every time they met (and she was always right), she finds it difficult to be sorrowful, but soon discovers no one else is, either.  To her big surprise, Montfort’s son Christopher, the new crowner, is nothing like his father.  He is more interested in finding the truth, rather than making a rash, simple decision.  His methodical, not greedy.  He and Frevisse quickly form an alliance to discover who killed his father.

At the heart of the problem is the legitimacy of Master Stephen, grandson of Lady Agnes.  His inheritance of her vast fortune is being brought into question by the boy’s aunt, who is convinced he is not her sister’s son.  There doesn’t seem to be any connection between the murdered crowner and the contentious family.

Frevisse, Christopher Montfort and the clerk John Gruesby persevere, questioning everybody and doing heavy footwork. Their tenacity pays off.  Unlike the previous novel which was rather predictable and slow, Frazer has some surprises for her readers.

“The Clerk’s Tale” is head and shoulders above “The Squire’s Tale”.  Frazer returns to the old school sleuthing that we’re used to.

Book Review - Margaret Frazer's "The Squire's Tale"

Sometimes I wonder if authors who write a series of novels run out of ideas or get to appoint they have nothing left to offer their readers.  Such is the case for The Squire’s Tale, the tenth in Margaret Frazer’s Dame Frevisse series.  In The Maiden’s Tale, we got a glimpse of the intrigue of King Henry VI’s reign.  In The Reeve’s Tale, we saw how convoluted land ownership could be by family ties, who bequeathed what to whom, who has the most money, etc.

In The Squire’s Tale, Frazer attempts to show us how disputes were settled without turning to lawyers or some form of government, but it's mostly a family feud.  Fully three-fourths of the novel passes before the mystery starts.  Up to that Point, Dame Frevisse and Sister Claire have been asked to escort a young lady back to her guardian, Sir Robert Fenner, whom Frevisse met in Frazer’s first novel of this series.  Robert had been wounded when family members who have a quarrel with his wife attacked him to confiscate his ward and force her into marriage.  Katherine is sent to St. Frideswide for protection.

When she is recalled back to the manor, Frevisse and Claire accompany her.  For most of the novel, Frevisse watches the drama around her, wishing she wasn’t there, wishing she didn’t have to see everything, and hear everything.  The story tends to bog down.

I enjoy reading Frazer’s works but this one is far from her best output.

Book Review - The Reeve's Tale by Margaret Frazer

 

 

Silly me.  In the beginning of The Reeve’s Tale, the ninth in Frazer’s Dame Frevisse series.  St. Frideswide’s reeve, Master Naylor’s freeman status is called into question and is temporarily relieved of his duties until the matter can be resolved.  Domina Elisabeth charges Frevisse to assume his duties as reeve until that time.  I thought Frazer had run out of ideas to get Dame Frevisse out of the convent and into the secular world where her sleuthing abilities are needed.

I underestimated Frazer’s creativity, since nothing in her novels is superfluous. 

Although Frevisse spends most of her time in the confines of St. Frideswide, she is not uninformed about the world outside the cloister.  Almost from the moment she takes on Master Naylor’s duties, she becomes involved in a land dispute over a tract up for grabs.  One contender a wealthy man with a Midas touch and therefore not well-liked.  The other is the brother-in-law of the village’s reeve, Master Perryn, Naylor’s counterpart.

Mary Woderove, Perryn’s sister and Matthew’s wife, has the disposition of a rabid wolverine. It’s no surprise to the village when Matthew disappears and nobody is grieving when his body is discovered a few days later, miles away. Not even Mary who turns to her paramour for comfort. And to take up her cause for the tract of land.

But things don’t go in her favor and soon her lover is killed.  Frevisse and Master Perry struggle to find out who hated the two men few people even cared for, less kill them. Although unpopular, neither man was hated.

The king’s crowner, Thornton, shows up in his boisterous manner, more interested in lining his pockets than finding the truth.  As before, he and Frevisse clash but this time she finds an ally in Thornton’s son.   He’s not like his father and is eager to find the truth, as much as Frevisse does. 

The Reeve’s Tale is the first novel that I found to be an actual page-turner, not that the others were not, but during the Reeve’s climax, Frevisse takes Mary head-on with an anger and coldness she hasn’t exhibited before. It was interesting and exciting to see Frevisse shed her nun’s habit, so to speak, and bring out the claws!

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.

The Boy's Tale by Margaret Frazer

I was serious when I mentioned in my review of The Bishop’s Tale that I couldn’t wait to read the next Margaret Frazer novel. So I picked up The Boy’s Tale devoured it, for a second time. It was as exciting as the first time I read it.

Dame Frevisse is a captivating sleuth, humble and unassuming, yet intelligent and sharp witted. She can lock horns with the best of them: bishops, duchesses and know-it-all crowners.

In The Bishop’s Tale, Frazer introduced us to medieval medical literature as Frevisse searched for poisons. In The Boy’s Tale, she portrays the intrigues and scandals of Henry VI’s court. The young king’s mother has remarried in secret, without the approval of the regents in charge of Henry. More than that, she has had children by her new husband.

The king’s half-brothers are in jeopardy by those who would control them and, through them, the king. For their safety, the Queen Mother sends them off on a journey to Wales as fast as they can travel. The first part of the book is told from the young boys’ perspective, the excitement of traveling to far away lands; the confusion and frustration of riding for days while avoiding towns and well-traveled roads; and the horror of losing favorite servants in an ambush. Their governess, a young maidservant and the boys barely manage to reach the safety of St. Frideswide Priory.

Dame Frevisse recognizes the governess, Lady Maryon, from an experience several years before. Although she distrusts Maryon, she understands the boys need sanctuary.

Especially after attempts on the boys’ lives are made outside the cloister. Fully aware of the situation, Frevisse wonders what will happen to the priory if it is learned the boys are there. She’s managed to keep their identity a secret to everyone except Domina Edith, the aging, dying prioress.

There was never a shortage of political intrigue in any court of the English kings and queens, and from what I understand Henry VI was no exception. Frazer weaves a terrific story around the controversy and the danger to the king’s half-brothers as people risk their lives to deliver the boys to Wales where they will be safe with their father’s family. The interesting thing about the situation is that the boys have no claim to the English throne. Through their father, however, they have a strong claim to the French throne.

I enjoy the way Frazer can intertwine fifteenth century politics with the culture of the period in The Boy’s Tale. It brings the series to a whole new level.

The Bishop's Tale by Margaret Frazer

This is the third time I've read The Bishop's Tale by Margaret Frazer, the fourth in her Sister Frevisse series.  And it still entertains.   Even though I know 'whodunit', I still enjoy reading it.

In this tale, Dame Frevisse's beloved uncle Thomas Chaucer passes away.  She travels to the home she knew as a child and is reunited with her aunt and cousin Alice.  During the funeral wake, an odious man whom everyone dislikes challenges God to strike him down.  To everyone's amazement, he begins to choke and collapses.

Later Frevisse is sent to see how he is doing.  The man, Sir Clemente Sharpe, is feeling better, but has a relapse and dies on the spot.

The powerful Bishop Beaufort isn't ready to assign Sharpe's death to the hand of God.  He appoints Frevisse to find out what she can.  Did anyone at the funeral party have a hand in his demise?

Frazer must have an incredible grasp of medieval literature, since Frevisse and her companion from St. Frideswide Priory Dame Perpetua scour the impressive library of Chaucer's to find important clues about poisons.  It's interesting to read references to other tomes that were available in the first half of the fifteenth century.  Back then, before the Gutenberg press was invented, books had to be copied by hand, so they were not widely accessible.  Most of the populace had no such access.  Even St. Frideswide had only nine books.  During their search, Dame Perpetua finds a book that she remembered as a child.  Naturally, she momentarily forgets their quest to revisit a favorite childhood memory.

Throughout The Bishop's Tale, Frevisse and others quote numerous other works, but generally the only people who could read were the clergy or the extremely wealthy, i.e. royalty. 

I've mentioned before how Frazer brings the fifteenth century to life in her previous novels, but she always has something new.  She describes Ewelme Manor in rich, vivid detail and shows how such a large estate is managed, the responsibilities of the household and the expectations of the lord and lady of the manor. 

The emotional stakes are higher here as Frevisse's family deal with the loss of a beloved husband, father and uncle.  Frazer tugs at the heartstrings as one of characters, a young man, contemplates his bleak situation and even worse prospects for the future. 

Some authors I cannot read their books back to back but Frazer isn't one of them.  I can't wait to read the next.  I hope it's worth reading three times, too.

The Outlaw's Tale by Margaret Frazer

I searched high and low for The Outlaw’s Tale, the next book in Margaret Frazer’s incredible series featuring Dame Frevisse. Finally I found and downloaded the Kimble version. The wait was worth the effort. The Outlaw’s Tale delivers as much action as mystery.

The story opens with Dame Frevisse accompanying Sister Emma who is on her way to a family christening when they are take by a band of outlaws. They are treated well and Frevisse finds out to her surprise the outlaws are led by her cousin Nicholas, whom she hasn’t seen in sixteen years or more. He swears he has changed his ways and implores her to write to their uncle, Thomas Chaucer (son of Geoffrey) to see if he can arrange a pardon for him and his men.

Frevisse is unsure but happy to help her cousin. Before all this can happen, the fragile, flibbertigibbet Emma is taken ill from her exposure to the elements. Nicholas arranges for them to seek help for her at the manor of a man with whom he has done business.

She is doubtful about what these business dealings might include but busies herself taking care of Emma. The widowed sister of the manor lord is eager to help and Frevisse discovers the reason why. There may be a connection between the widow and Nicholas or one of his men.

Frevisse finds her self in the middle of a family feud after a brutish, despicable man wanting the widow’s hand in marriage is murdered. Despite her cousin’s reassurances that he has changed his ways, Frevisse isn’t quite convinced. Nicholas appears to be more involved with the family than he lets on.

The Outlaw’s Tale is either a short book or an easy read because the pages flew by. I read it in two sittings over a weekend. I like the references to Frevisse’s family and the memories she has of her childhood, since it brings her to life, which other characters similar to Frevisse lack. She is humble but not unassuming. She’s someone with whom the reader can connect and root for.

I didn’t find it to be as complex as the other Frevisse mysteries but as I mentioned before, it has action and suspense. I devoured it like all the others and am ready for the next.

The Servant's Tale by Margaret Frazer

My favorite part of The Servant’s Tale, the second installment in Frazer’s excellent Dame Frevisse series, is when a member of a traveling troupe of players quotes a line from Geoffrey Chaucer, which contains an expletive, to a nun. He immediately apologizes but Dame Frevisse is not offended. When she tells him of her connection to the great author, the player is stunned. It’s moments like these that make reading Frazer so enjoyable.

She also gives us a wonderful view of a priory during the disastrous reign of Henry VI and the struggles and hardships faced by the peasants. She creates a plethora of colorful characters: a poor woman with a boozing husband, a self-effacing novice nun, a lusty laundress and an overbearing arrogant crowner. The number of characters alone could bog down a story, but Frazer’s writing style is amazing. She spins a wonderful tale of desperation during the post-Christmas season of 1434, the peasant woman desperate to raise money to right her husband’s wrong during his bouts of drunkenness, a group of travelers desperate for an audience and Dame Frevisse desperate to find the murderer before he or she strikes again and before the crowner arrests the wrong person.

What makes Frazer so enjoyable to read is her ability to pull the reader into the imagery she creates of fifteenth century England with its customs, beliefs and the lifestyle of its citizens. The reader is pulled into the story and feels like a part of the events. Frazer makes you feel the chill in your feet as Frevisse crosses the freezing courtyard or the stone cold floors of the sanctuary in her thin shoes. You feel the feeble warmth of a low fire as it tires to chase the coldness from your bones as the players do.

The second novel of the Frevisse sequence introduces the travelers who become the main characters of her spin-off ‘A Play of’ series. In both series, we see life from some of the humblest and destitute beings on earth; a nun with a vow of poverty and a group of players dependent upon the benevolence of equally impoverished people.

The Servant’s Tale opens with the players bringing a man seriously injured in a cart accident to the nuns. He is the husband of the peasant woman, a servant in the priory. Although he seems to be on the men, he dies suddenly. Then her oldest son, a chip off the old block, is killed after a brief barroom fight with a player.

Frevisse sees easily that the crowner will blame the player, especially after a nun is killed after a run-in with the members of the troupe. Dame Frevisse is eager to prove the innocence of the players because they remind her of the travels she took in her youth with her family.

The aging but worldly-wise prioress, Domina Edith warns her against being too anxious to clear their names that she becomes blinded to the truth.

Fighting a cold, the frigid weather and even an angry mob of townsfolk, Frevisse races against time to solve the murders before the crowner makes his own misguided conclusiosn.

Margaret Frazer has a growing number of novels in this series. With stories like these, one wonders why there haven’t been TV shows or movies from her works.

The Novice's Tale by Margaret Frazer

Margaret Frazer has a long and successful series of medieval mysteries featuring nun sleuth Dame Frevisse and it all started with The Novice’s Tale. Set in 1431, the ninth year of Henry VI disastrous reign, Frazer’s novel portrays a vivid picture of the simple lives of nuns during that era.

The novice of the title is Thomasine, the young frail girl who is two weeks shy of her final vows when her great-aunt Lady Ermentrude bursts into St. Frideswide unannounced. The lady is no lady. Loud, boozing and bossy, Ermentrude is impressed however when she meets Dame Frevisse’s uncle, Thomas Chaucer, untitled but very well connected. Even she won’t dare snub him.

Soon after Ermentrude departs on a sudden unplanned trip to Thomasine’s sister’s estate, and then returns, just as surprising, to St. Frideswide, the next day. Shortly after she returns, a woman who was formerly in Ermentrude’s employ dies under mysterious circumstances. Then the lady, the stuck-up crab herself meets her demise.

Dame Claire the infirmian declares that the cause of death in both cases was poison. The crowner quickly decides that Thomasine is the vicious killer and Frevisse’s problems are confounded by Ermentrude’s son, who is a chip off the old block. She is forced to take the novice into sanctuary to keep her from being nabbed by the crowner and his men at the angry command of the son.

The prioress of St. Frideswide, Domina Edith, aged but shrewd and intelligent, charges Frevisse to clear Thomasine’s name and find the real culprit.

Frazer’s eye for detail and her ability to portray the political nuances of life at court and elsewhere give the reader a sense of realism for life without the modern conveniences and nuisances. It was simple but not necessarily miserable.

Earlier, I criticized Ms. Frazer’s work A Play of Dux Moraud for its lack of suspense and action but The Novice’s Tale has no shortage of intrigue and mystery. I’m glad to start reading Dame Frevisse’s adventures from the beginning, since Ms. Frazer is a wonderful and talented writer and Dame Frevisse is an exciting sleuth on a par with Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael.

A Play of Dux Moraud by Margaret Frazer

The second series following Joliffe Ripon and the band of performers is a bit of a let-down, which disappointed me since Margaret Frazer is one of my favorite authors. Set in fifteenth-century England, Joliffe’s Lord Lovell sends his performers to one of his feofees, whose daughter is soon to be married as a wedding gift. The daughter Mariena was betrothed earlier but her fiancé, hearty and hale, took ill and died suddenly. Lord Lovell has reason to believe that all may not be well at Sir Edmund Deneby’s household. Joliffe is instructed to find out what he can.

The rest of the book is a slow moving story with Joliffe asking many questions but getting few answers. There was little suspense in any of Joliffe’s experiences. Even the “accidents” Mariena and her younger brother add little to the sense of mystery. Unfortunately, these few events were all there was for any intrigue, and did not entertain. Joliffe spends most of his time pondering the same questions over and over, that we heard from Lord Lovell at the beginning of the story.

The final solution is revealed, but it is rather unsatisfying, since we are already given a strong sense of what may come through Joliffe’s musings. There are very few surprises at all through out the book.

Although the book was disappointing, Frazer still tells a great story, bringing fifteenth century England to life, with historical facts as the backbone of the novel, embellished with Frazer’s own brilliant imagination.

Her Dame Frevisse is far better than what we’ve seen of Joliffe so far. As she develops this character and his friends, perhaps this off-shoot of Frevisse will improve.

(previously published on ezinearticles.com)