I'm hooked to this series, but this is just not the best; it could be reader fatigue. ( )

This is the second of the Sister Frevisse medieval mysteries that I've
read, but it is actually the eleventh in the series. Conveniently, the
murder victim in this installment was the 'bad guy' in the first book,
the crowner Montfort, so I felt up-to-date with the goings-on. In this
case, Monfort had been assigned to deal with an inheritance dispute,
which he was dealing with when he is found dead in a convent garden.
As he was never a sympathetic character, there is no shortage of
people who disliked him. Frevisse herself did not like the man - but
she finds it her duty to discover who might have been responsible for
his murder. In her investigations, she finds an ally in Montfort's
clerk, a likable man whose future is now uncertain.
As in the first volume, I found this to be a fairly typical mystery
genre novel, but brought well above the average by the author's
attention to period detail and entertaining characterizations. ( )

An enjoyable introduction to a series I haven't read before; I didn't start at the beginning (of the series--this is the tenth book) but don't think it matters a lot. The detective, a nun, Dame Frevisse, is a well-drawn character--she spends a lot of time trying to get away from people and tries to turn her mind to prayer when she is really thinking about the questions surrounding the murder. She asks penetrating questions in her efforts to get to the truth.

The medieval setting is well-done also; the author doesn't overwhelm the reader with details but makes it seem quite natural. One thing I liked was the descriptions of meals--it looks as though the author has done her research and might be using menus of the period to describe dishes.

I did find the writing style a bit odd at first, as I thought the sentences were a bit run-on, but got used to it. I'll probably look for more books in this series.

http://otter.covblogs.com/archives/018701.html ( )