Book review - "The Canterbury Papers" by Judith Koll Healey

It is not easy to keep reading a book when you don’t like the main character.  That’s the conundrum I had with The Canterbury Papers by Judith Koll Healey.  The novel follows Alais, daughter of a king, sister to a second king, former betrothed to a third king and mistress to a fourth.  Girl gets around.  But soon the reader finds out that not only is she stupid (she realizes her room at an inn has been broken into but decides to ignore it), she is also a mean girl.  After finding this out, I had to make a decision to finish the book or stop because I no longer cared what happened to the Princesse Alais.

I chose to press on.  The story is centered around Eleanor of Aquitaine, demanding that Alais travel from Paris (again?) to Canterbury in England to retrieve some hidden letters that would be extremely awkward to the Queen mum if they were ever made public.  In return, Eleanor promises information about the son Alais believed had died shortly after she gave birth to him.  She feels she has no choice but to do the queen mum’s bidding.

When Alais arrives at Canterbury, she comes face to face with the man whom she and her royal siblings tormented as a boy, because he was smarter than they were.  William has grown into a formidable man and Alais discovers there is much more to him that meets the eye. 

The issue with the letters is a little anticlimactic since Alais learns their existence and content are the worst-kept secrets in England and France.  

Despite that the book was well-written with few head-hops, but had great details of thirteenth century England and France without all the data dumps.  The kidnapping scene, which opens the book, isn't suspenseful after the first chapter.  

Three ♕ out of five.

Book review - "A Spy in Chancery" by P. C. Doherty

When I started reading this series, I thought Doherty had discontinued his Hugh Corbett mysteries, but I found out he’s still going strong.  These books are great short reads, and they are exciting enough to keep the reader interested.  Hugh is also a character that the reader can sympathize with and cheer for.

A Spy in Chancery takes place some four years after the events in The Crown in Darkness.  Hugh is still mourning his late wife and daughter, and Alice, the conspirator who was burned as a traitor.  Edward I is also still faced with enemies all around, and has realized there is a spy in his chancery. 

Corbett’s boss Royal Chancellor Robert Burrell has passed away so Hugh is feeling a little lost.  Edward I sends Corbett to Wales, unfriendly territory, to find out what their plans are.  Are they plotting war?  Are they siding with the French? Do they know who the spy is in Edward’s chancery?

As with the previous two novels, Corbett’s life is in danger and it appears that everyone around him want him dead.  Fortunately, he escapes all the assassination attempts, even the ones in France, where Edward sends him next.

This book dragged a little because while Hugh is in Wales, he makes little progress so reading became slightly tedious.  Once he makes his escape from Wales, the novel picks back up.  It is a satisfying read and, of course, the surprise ending is worth the wait.

Book review - "The Crown in Darkness" by P. C. Doherty

The Crown in Darkness is a satisfying follow-up to P.C. Doherty’s first Hugh Corbett novel, Satan in St. Mary’s.  Where the first one was more of intrigue and action, the second was whodunit and action.  In The Crown in Darkness, Corbett is sent by the Royal Chancellor Robert Burrell to the Scottish capitol Edinburgh.  The Scottish king Alexander III has just died under mysterious circumstances and Burrell wants to know what exactly happened.  Was the king murdered or did he die in an unfortunate accident?  With Alexander dead and no heir, the throne appears to be up for grabs and powerful families are beginning to jockey for position.

Corbett is sent to find out what will all of this mean for England and King Edward I.  He starts asking questions as soon as he arrives and subsequently, attempts are made to kill him.  In the previous novel, Doherty gives Corbett a sensitivity and vulnerability by falling in love with a femme fatale, but there is no such depth in this one. 

Corbett is all business and realizes there is more to his mission than Burrell has let on. 

I enjoyed this story much more than the first one, but the formatting in my hardback version of The Crown in Darkness was non-existent.  Usually, there is a new paragraph each time the speaker changes but in this version, the publishers or whoever did not believe in hitting the ’return’ button.  I had to re-read many passages to realize who was talking.

The story was great but the formatting took away from the enjoyment. 

Book review - "Satan in St. Mary's" by P. C. Doherty

I decided to read P.C. Doherty’s medieval mystery series featuring Hugh Corbett, starting with the first novel, Satan in St. Mary’s, and read almost all of it on a plane ride.  I enjoyed the story but it does address some disturbing topics.

Hugh Corbett is a clerk in the employee of King Edward I, in the mid-thirteen hundreds.  Some thirty years prior to the story, Edward I had to battle Robert de Montfort for the crown and eventually won.  

De Montfort was hacked to death.  Apparently, de Montfort was a devil-worshipper and was a member of a large group of such vile people.  Despite de Montfort’s death, his fellows carry on their religion and plot the assassination of Edward I.

The Royal Chancellor assigns clerk Hugh Corbett to look into the suicide of the Chancellor’s spy.  Corbett quickly discovers the man was murdered and sets out to find the people responsible.  During his investigation,, he becomes the target of the devil-worshippers and falls for a beautiful woman, known to be very dangerous.  That part of the story is rather predictable.

Although the final solution is not a big surprise, the story is exciting and a fast read.  Doherty gives Hugh intelligence and tenacity, but also a soft side.

Review of Daughters of Summer by Sara Conway

I read Conway’s first Lord Godwin mystery Murder on Good Friday and enjoyed it enough that I didn’t hesitate when I saw her second novel, Daughters of Summer.


I should’ve hesitated longer.

Murder on Good Friday actually had a basis in historical fact, young boys being murdered on Good Friday to focus blame on the local Jewish population in thirteenth century England. Nothing like that in Daughters of Summer, in which a wealthy merchant is poisoned shortly after learning his wife is being unfaithful. Suspicion immediately falls on the old man who gave the merchant herbs for a stomach ailment, the villagers thinking he made a simple mistake.

Unfortunately, most of the novel focuses on Lord Godwin’s relationship with the Lady Constance. The cunning Fulk d’ Oily (how’s that for a bad guy’s name?) is determined to marry her, despite her refusals.

The mystery takes a back seat to the adventures of Lady Constance and Godwin figures out the mystery only when he overhears an unrelated remark.

Since he has no proof, he’s content to let the matter be. The conclusion almost seems to be an afterthought by the author, as if she suddenly realized Daughters was a mystery, not a medieval romance.

The author’s writing style also makes this book a difficult read, e.g. changes in point of view from one character to another within a scene, telling instead of showing. It’s enough to put me off reading any more of Conway’s work.

The Cloisters - New York City, NY

We drove to New York City and picked up a friend from Dallas on Dec. 16.  After visiting Elizabeth Taylor's jewels, having lunch at Sylvia's in Harlem we drove to the Cloisters, a collection of medieval art and treasures in an ancient abbey on the far northwest corner of Manhattan.  It is now a state park.

The statue of St. Margaret: ca 1330-1340. 

Stained glass from the castle of Ebreichsdorf south of Vienna near the border of present day Hungary.

Cloister arcades from the Cisterian Abbey at Bonnefront-en-Comminges and other nearby monasteries made of marble from the late 13th or early 14th century.

Two Riddles of the Queen of Sheba from the Upper Rhineland, Strasbourg, 1490-1500.

Doorway and Staircase Entrance from the courtyard at 29 rue de la Tannerie, Abbeville, France, Picardy (Somme), late 15th or early 16th century.

A view west across the Hudson River. 

Embroidered hanging with Old Testament Scenes: Silk on linen, Germany, Lower Saxony, late 14th century. 

The Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duke of Berry: Completed in 1408 or 1409, the Belles Heures is a private devotional book.

Day 9 (cont.) - Toompea Castle, Estonia

Toompea Castle is the seat of the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia - the Riigikogu.

The castle complex is made up of several parts: the west wall and the Tall Hermann tower belong to the medieval fortress of the Order of the Brothers of the Sword, the Government Administration building represents the Czarist era and is classic in style, and the building of the Riigikogu, in the castle couryard, was built in the beginning of the 1920s.

It is known that already in the 9th century there was an ancient Estonian fortress on Toompea, which was conquered by the Danes in 1219. From then on until the first decades of the 20th century, Toompea belonged to various foreign rulers. In 1710 the ownership of Toompea was changed from Swedish to Russian Czarist. Catherine the Great ordered construction of the Estonian Government Administration building on the east side, completed in 1773.

On Feb 24, 1918, Estonia became an independent state.

The Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky.

The government administration building constructed by Catherine the Great.

The skyline of Tallin.