The Faithful Dead by Alys Clare

Alys Clare’s fifth Hawkenlye mystery with Josse d’Acquin and Abbess Helewise, The Faithful Dead, takes a walk on the strange side. Clare has introduced some interesting characters in the forest people that inhabit the woods around Hawkenlye Abbey and they give a bizarre element to the stories. But in this novel, Clare mixes a little bit of the supernatural with a touch of magic.

Much of the book takes place in the past (prior to the events in the novel) and focuses on Josse’s father Geoffroi and his adventures in the Crusades in the Holy Land. After saving the young son of a powerful Muslim, Geoffroi is given the Eye of Jerusalem, a large sapphire set in gold that has arcane powers. Geoffroi puts the jewel to the test and it surpasses his expectations.

He finally returns home with a friend known as the Lombard, but keeps the jewel hidden. He uses its power once to save the brother of his beloved doesn’t disclose its presence to anyone. After the Lombard has returned to his home, Geoffroi realizes the jewel is missing.

Years later, Josse receives a visit from Prince John, who gives the knight a cryptic reason for seeking him out. The prince asks the whereabouts of a man Josse has never heard of. After the royal departs, Josse travels to Hawkenlye Abbey to enquire if the man had sought out its healing waters, as many travelers do. He learns plenty from the monks and the nuns but it’s only when his brother Yves arrives unannounced, that the clues start to come together. The reason his younger brother made his way across the Channel to seek out Josse is directly connected to a mysterious death six weeks prior near the abbey.

In addition to the strange powers of the Eye of Jerusalem, another character brings an mysterious twist to the work; a seer in the service of Prince John. He appears to have precognition among his many powers. And he’s not the only one.

Sometimes The Faithful Dead reads more like science fiction/fantasy. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It’s just not expected in a medieval mystery. It seems to put Abbess Helewise in an awkward stage of character development. Some of the strange aspects of magic and the supernatural, she accepts but others she dismisses. It’s confusing at times. Josse seems to accept everything for what he’s told.

I enjoy Clare’s Hawkenlye series but I hope they take a step back from the edge of strange.

The Chatter of Maidens by Alys Clare

Alys Clare just keeps getting better and better. In her fourth Hawkenlye Abbey installment, The Chatter of Maidens, she surpasses her previous works easily with a complex and deliciously twisted plot. Abbess Helewise and her close friend Sir Josse d’Acquin join forces to discover the mysterious origin and truth behind the lies of three sisters who have come to Hawkenlye. The oldest, Alba, is a professed nun from an distant abbey that she refuses to name. She brought her two younger sisters to take the veil. Meriel and Berthe are more timid than she is and are also cowed by Alba, who is uncaring and disobedient.

Helewise suspects something is amiss with ‘Sister’ Alba, but when she chastises her for countermanding an order from her, the defiant nun takes a swing at her. At her wit’s end, the Abbess locks her up and sets off on a journey to find the abbey from whence she came, using what little clues she has.

Meanwhile, Sir Josse is laid up in the abbey’s infirmary, recovering from a near-fatal infection brought on by an old wound. Facing the brutal facts that he almost died, he must stay behind and continue his recovery while Helewise with two of the brother monks set out for Ely.

Clare takes her characters on an interesting journey through England’s fens and swamps where they find a Templar monastery and a strange abbey where the abbess seems to know Helewise’s intent before she tells her. They also find a burned out building with a body inside. Suddenly, Alba and her sisters are mixed up in murder.

Clare’s knowledge of religious communities in the twelfth century adds a new dimension to historical mysteries. She paints the grittier side of life in the cloister next to those more prosperous with stark vividness.

It’s also interesting to note the development of her main character. Although, the readers know she is in love with Sir Josse, Abbess Helewise is slow to realize it even though she is otherwise shrewd and intelligent. It is fun to see the upright and proper Helewise struggle with her own feelings, which conflict were religious vows. Will she ever realize that she is a woman, regardless of her vocation?

Clare always brings something new and unexpected in her novels. She brings the twelfth century alive with her words.