The harbinger of demons sweep before them!
The Twice-Hanged Man (Medieval Mysteries #15)
by Priscilla Royal
Autumn of 1282. Prioress Eleanor, of Tyndal Priory, the faithful Sister Anne, healer and sub-infirmarian, and Brother Thomas escort Eleanor's brother Robert's pregnant wife out of the their Welsh Marcher lands into one of Robert's lesser holdings, Wynethorpe manor, just inside the English border.
Apart from the threatened difficult birth, the three are plunged into a community troubled by the supposed apparition of a ghost, the shade of a dead man, Hywel, the village stonemason, recently hanged! Twice! And there's a dead priest the ghastly figure was seen leaning over. Dark, demon ridden tidings indeed!
The local abbot, having "failed to exorcize this malign spirit", wants Eleanor to investigate this stark deed, to "save [the village] from this malignancy", and send the demon back to whence it came.
Well actually, half Welsh Abbot Gerald wants a bit more than that and watching Eleanor maneuver around the Abbot's other agenda is fascinating. Eleanor is unconvinced that this is an ecclesiastic matter. Brother Thomas and Sister Anne are initially, sent to "determine if death was caused by a mortal hand."
The situation becomes more complex when two more deaths follow suit.
Amidst the roiling politics of the time, what with Edward I's war against the Welsh, and beyond the troubling deaths, it was Brother Thomas I felt for. Thomas is suffering a whirlpool of emotion and guilt as he fights his natural inclinations troubling his sacred vows, indeed his very being, because of his love for the wine merchant Durant, even as he's tempted by the spice merchant Lambard. The poignancy of his repudiation of Lambard really points to his agony.
The twist being that Eleanor has her own demons to face concerning Thomas. She has been strongly attracted to him and fought those feelings fiercely, even as she goes about obeying her calling. An unspoken love that she constantly battles.
When Eleanor finally realizes Thomas' proclivities she fears for him. The times were becoming more dangerous for men like Thomas. Along with this comes the realization that "her love over time had grown far more complex than lust."
Always a strong advocate for justice, Elinor has her hands full and I suspect in future sequences, despite being sworn to her life's path, her heart will be heavy.
An intriguing novel of murder, beliefs, politics, love and practices in medieval England.
A Poisoned Pen ARC via NetGalley
*****
by Priscilla Royal
Apart from the threatened difficult birth, the three are plunged into a community troubled by the supposed apparition of a ghost, the shade of a dead man, Hywel, the village stonemason, recently hanged! Twice! And there's a dead priest the ghastly figure was seen leaning over. Dark, demon ridden tidings indeed!
The local abbot, having "failed to exorcize this malign spirit", wants Eleanor to investigate this stark deed, to "save [the village] from this malignancy", and send the demon back to whence it came.
Well actually, half Welsh Abbot Gerald wants a bit more than that and watching Eleanor maneuver around the Abbot's other agenda is fascinating. Eleanor is unconvinced that this is an ecclesiastic matter. Brother Thomas and Sister Anne are initially, sent to "determine if death was caused by a mortal hand."
The situation becomes more complex when two more deaths follow suit.
Amidst the roiling politics of the time, what with Edward I's war against the Welsh, and beyond the troubling deaths, it was Brother Thomas I felt for. Thomas is suffering a whirlpool of emotion and guilt as he fights his natural inclinations troubling his sacred vows, indeed his very being, because of his love for the wine merchant Durant, even as he's tempted by the spice merchant Lambard. The poignancy of his repudiation of Lambard really points to his agony.
The twist being that Eleanor has her own demons to face concerning Thomas. She has been strongly attracted to him and fought those feelings fiercely, even as she goes about obeying her calling. An unspoken love that she constantly battles.
When Eleanor finally realizes Thomas' proclivities she fears for him. The times were becoming more dangerous for men like Thomas. Along with this comes the realization that "her love over time had grown far more complex than lust."
Always a strong advocate for justice, Elinor has her hands full and I suspect in future sequences, despite being sworn to her life's path, her heart will be heavy.
An intriguing novel of murder, beliefs, politics, love and practices in medieval England.
A Poisoned Pen ARC via NetGalley
*****
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