Description
From Publishers Weekly Once again, Gellis proves herself a master of the medieval historical in her third outing (after 2001's A Personal Devil) to feature whorehouse mistress Magdalene la Batarde. In June 1139, Magdalene's patron, William of Ypres, calls her to Oxford, where King Stephen is holding his great council. Her reservations that something may be amiss are confirmed when the detestable Aimery St. Cyr is stabbed to death, and one of Sir William's men, Niall Arvagh of Murcot, is the prime suspect. Ensconced at her old whorehouse, the Soft Nest, Magdalene joins forces with Sir Bellamy of Itchen to find the murderer before there's a political scandal. The plot is as skillfully woven and as intricate as a medieval tapestry, though the large number of characters means the action plods at times. (The author's note at the end does much to clarify the many historical personages involved.) Meticulous attention to detail, from the takeout of cookshop food to the mail shirts men wore, and believable human characters, notably the intelligent, courageous, caring and compassionate Magdalene, help put Gellis at the forefront of this popular mystery subgenre.Achievement Award.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist In a tale where the cast of characters is longer than your arm and there's enough governmental conspiracy to make Watergate look like a two-bit burglary, Gellis' plucky heroine, Magdalene la Batarde, once again goes undercover, literally and figuratively, to solve a series of murders set in twelfth-century England. As a London whoremistress under the protection of William of Ypres, Magdalene is a medieval madam whose beauty and political patronage place her at the center of a courtly power play. But when a brutish cur is murdered and one of William's henchmen falsely accused, Magdalene and her lover, Sir Bellamy, team up to track down the killer, but not before two other men meet their deaths. A harlot with a heart of gold and a head for intrigue, Magdalene is more than just another saucy wench; she's smart, compassionate, and fearless, handy traits for any detective, no matter what century she's born in. With a commanding knowledge of medieval history and customs, Gellis infuses this ancient world with contemporary relevance. Carol Haggas Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Roberta Gellis has a master's degree in medieval literature and another in bio-chemistry. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Romantic Times' Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy and the Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award. Read more
Features & Highlights
- Magdalene la Bâtarde obeys William of Ypres, her great patron, as a vassal obeys his overlord--even though William would have a laughing fit if he knew how she felt. However, when King Stephen summons his barons to a great council in Oxford, William can smell the stink of treason--and William has enemies who might spread that stink over him. He needs a safe place to talk to friends and cajole enemies, so he summons Magdalene. What could be less political and more innocent than visiting a favorite whore?Magdalene knows she will find trouble in Oxford, but she doesn't expect that it will be murder or that the threat against William will come through the naming on one of his men, Niall Arvagh of Murcot, a killer. No one believes Niall would stab a man in the back, not even so gross and disgusting a creature as Aimery St. Cyr. But this is a special case. Did Niall kill St. Cyr because he claimed to be betrothed to the pretty heiress Loveday of Otmoor, whom Niall wanted for himself? Or as rumor claimed, did Niall kill on orders of his master, William of Ypres, for political reasons?William bids Magdalene untangle the ugly mess, which makes her grateful that Sir Bellamy of Itchen has been ordered to attend the Council and will escort her to Oxford. Bell says he is willing to try to discover whether Niall is innocent--but can Magdalene trust him completely this time? A dangerous complication has arisen. Has Bell become so jealous of William that his sense of justice could be overwhelmed?Fortunately, Magdalene still has friends in Oxford--whores and barmaids--who will bring her news and help her pick the strands of romance apart from the rope of treason and reweave them into a net to entangle a murderer.
